Artificial Selection: A Near Future Thought Experiment

Chapter VI

The moment Michael walked into the luxurious lobby of the ArtTech conference building, thin streams of blue and green lights emerged from the marble floor and entwined themselves intricately around Michael's feet like a beautifully woven footwear, and the rays keep on extending and curving around Michael's legs and then up onto his torso. Michael knew that this was just a combination of biometric sensor and photon coordinators, but it still resembled magic to him. Real, fantastical, beautiful magic.

After Michael and the rest of the team walked to the end of the lobby, the streams of luminescence had already covered them fully. After a few seconds, a crevice appeared in the middle of the walls, and the gap is getting wider and wider. Michael took a closer look and saw that it was in fact the walls moving apart from each other, revealing a small room behind. The built-in mechanism of this whole procedure flowed so smoothly that it put Michael in awe.

To even further shock Michael, a gentle female voice sounded from the walls around him. "Level one security check complete."

Michael's heart accelerated for a few seconds then slowed down. On one hand, he held even more admiration towards the artistic taste of ArtTech and its architecture, but on the other hand, Michael was a bit terrified by how the beauty of the lobby distracted him from the consciousness on the security check. Not only was he unaware that these ornate glows of lights were in fact photon security scanners, but he had also completely forgotten about the presence of the security check. He cursed under his breath. He knew that one of his greatest flaws was that he could get misdirected by one thing and completely forget about his surroundings — just like how he walked into the abandoned and unlocked building a few weeks ago when it was so obvious that it was the government's trap.

Michael found some comfort after he glanced around. Everybody except for Jay seemed to also be shocked by this security check procedure. Michael's eyes met Alexandra's for a second, and a gaze of understanding and reassurance flowed between them. Nicholas' face was stoical, but Michael could see that he swallowed uneasily.

"Guys, act as if you belong here," Jay reminded them gently.

"Trying," Michael and Alexandra muttered simultaneously.

"Good thing that the government's weapons are good enough to hide from the AI security check," said Jay.

As soon as he said that, the walls closed again. The small room that they were standing in began to move. Michael could feel that the room itself was lifted upwards and sideways. It was an elevator.

The same voice came from within the walls again. It began with a welcome message and then talked about ArtTech. Then it said, "Level two east sector reached. Please proceed to level two security check."

The walls opened, and they walked out. A line of security barricade laid out about a hundred meters in front. There seemed to be a sharp divide among the people, people dressed in expensive suits and dresses and people wearing cheap shirts. Most of the people with cheap clothing also wore a blue armband with a white pen and white hammer forming a cross. That white cross was the symbol of all left-wing unionists, showing the unity between white-collar office workers and blue-collar factory workers, both of whom are the biggest victims of the unemployment and replacement caused by the AI revolution.

Just as Michael's team was walking towards the security, there was a sudden commotion. A security officer pointed at the unionist's watch and shouted something. Then four men dressed in dark suits immediately surrounded that unionist. Before they could enclose around the unionist, however, the unionist unstrapped the watch and spun it in midair. The steel watch straps bound to each other as a blade sprang from the side of the watch face. It was a very cheap version of a collapsable knife.