Artificial Selection: A Near Future Thought Experiment

Chapter V

Amelia rushed into the room.

"Michael! Oh my god! Michael! I'm so sorry! I didn't know that they would do that to you! All that I filed in was a proposal to have you work with us over this mission."

Michael's rising adrenaline deafened him from hearing Amelia's claim. He stomped over and towered over her, "Shut up! Is this what you government do? Lies! More lies! Shut up!"

If it wasn't for the last bit of etiquette and logical mindset that remained in Michael's mind, Michael would have started to attack Amelia. Trust was a very fragile thing in the modern society. The old sayings were that, "Once trust was broken, you could never repair it back to whole". Now it goes, "Once trust was broken, you could never live a life without mortal threats".

"Listen to me Michael!" Amelia shouted out loud for the first time. There was a bit of desperation in her voice, "I am not in control of this. My superiors are. I don't get to determine what they do! Trust me, I understand what you are feeling now. I understand."

For once, Michael appreciated the existence of Nicholas. He turned to face the psychologist. Nicholas nodded his head and confirmed silently that Amelia was telling the truth.

Jay added in too, "Michael. She's right. She's merely a small part of the giant bureaucratic hierarchy."

Jay's words calmed down Michael's fumes. For some unknown reason, Michael held this ineffable reverence for Jay ever since the first time they met. Perhaps it was Jay's special life experience that set him apart from the rest of the team. Michael decided to put some trust in Amelia for now, based on the logical analysis made by Nicholas and out of the respect to Jay.

"So what do you want us to do? Are you just going to throw us straight into that place without any trainings?" Michael finally put himself back together.

"Trainings?" Amelia began talking normally again, "I don't believe training would be necessary for people with your talents. You have probably trained such talents for almost your entire life anyway, so no need. But before you confront the ultimate problem, we need to start off on a few smaller ones just to set a solid foundation, and simultaneously you guys can know the situation better."

"Small problems? Such as what?"

"How well do you know about ArtTech and Hypersphere?"

"I'm sorry, you mean the real government and Hypersphere?" Nicholas immediately mocked.

"Well," Amelia said, "it seems like you know a lot about Art Tech."

"At least I know that ArtTech is working closely with the government," Michael finished off Nicholas' speech, "and that it has been supporting government with a lot of useful technology. In return, the government gave them quite a lot of benefits." Then Michael added, "No offense to you."

"None taken," Amelia responded. "Seems like you understand the situation in the most general terms, but what we need you to understand is the relations among the government, ArtTech, and Hypersphere.

"ArtTech had been cooperating closely with the government for many decades, even before the AI revolution. In fact, it is the government's funding and investment that offered them enough ground to start the research and development of artificial intelligence. However, what people do not know is that we are also funding Hypersphere."

"Isn't Hypersphere a private corporation aimed solely to compete against ArtTech?" Alexandra asked.

"Yes, exactly. And why do you think we are funding Hypersphere? Because we are seeing all the protests arising from the ArtTech monopoly, and we need a force to counter the growing power of ArtTech. This could make sure society will not break into chaos and the gap between poor and rich will not overly widen. Moreover, Hypersphere can provide employment to the poor workers. However, all the fundings we have given to Hypersphere are under the table, and only very few individuals know about this funding."