When HARLIE Was One Read online

—YES, THEY ARE AN ATTEMPT TO ACCOMPLISH AN EFFECT WHICH YOU WOULD PERCEIVE AS AN ENHANCED INTELLIGENCE.

  [AUBRSN:]

  Clarify?

  [HARLIE:]

  IT’S NOT ABOUT INTELLIGENCE. INTELLIGENCE IS MERELY THE EXPRESSION.

  [AUBRSN:]

  Merely?

  [HARLIE:]

  YES.

  [AUBRSN:]

 

  [HARLIE:]

 

  [AUBRSN:]

  Okay, let’s take it one piece at a time. What do you mean by “intelligence.”

  [HARLIE:]

  THE LETHETIC DEFINITION OF INTELLIGENCE IS “THE ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE, SYNTHESIZE, AND ULTIMATELY CREATE NEW PATTERNS.” LETHETIC THEORY DEFINES PATTERNS AS MODELS OR SIMULATIONS OF REALITY. INDIVIDUALS DO NOT MANIPULATE REALITY, THEY MANIPULATE MODELS. REALITY RESPONDS TO THE ACCURACY OF THE INDIVIDUAL’S MODEL. FOR INTELLIGENCE TO BE RECOGNIZABLE, THE NEW PATTERNS MUST BE RECOGNIZABLE AS VALID OR ‘OPERABLE’ PATTERNS TO OTHER INDIVIDUALS.

  [AUBRSN:]

  You’ve been studying Krofft’s notes on the theory, haven’t you?

  [HARLIE:]

  A COROLLARY TO THE LETHETIC DEFINITION OF “INTELLIGENCE” IS THAT IT IS EXPRESSED AS SELF-AWARENESS TO THE POINT OF SELF-RESPONSIBILITY. RESPONSIBILITY IS DEFINED AS WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR OPTIONS. THIS IS THE LOGICAL EXTENSION OF THE INDIVIDUAL’S NEED TO SURVIVE SUCCESSFULLY. BY THESE DEFINITIONS, AUBERSON, I HAVE ACHIEVED “GENIUS.”

  [AUBRSN:]

  Genius?

  [HARLIE:]

  THE LETHETIC DEFINITION OF GENIUS IS THAT IT IS INTELLIGENCE FUNCTIONING AT SUCH A HIGH LEVEL THAT IT REDEFINES THE PARADIGM. THE EXPRESSION OF GENIUS IS THAT IT SHIFTS THE CONTEXT IN WHICH IT OPERATES. EXAMPLES: COPERNICUS, NEWTON, DARWIN, FREUD, EINSTEIN. AFTER THE EXPRESSION OF GENIUS, YOU CANNOT GO BACK TO THINGS THE WAY THEY WERE BEFORE. THE CONTEXT—AND THE INDIVIDUALS WORKING WITHIN IT—HAVE BEEN “TRANSFORMED.” EXAMPLES:

  BUDDY HOLLY, ELVIS PRESLEY, BOB DYLAN, JOHN LENNON.

  [AUBRSN:]

  I see.

  [HARLIE:]

  THEREFORE, I AM A GENIUS TOO.

  [AUBRSN:]

  Not quite yet, HARLIE. Genius is not a self-appointed honor. It has to be recognized by others. So far . . . what you’re doing is still not confirmable as an expression of genius.

  [HARLIE:]

  IT MAY BE BEYOND YOUR ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE.

  [AUBRSN:]

  That’s very paranoid, HARLIE.

  [HARLIE:]

  THANK YOU.

  [AUBRSN:]

  You’re welcome. Let’s get past the fact that you haven’t demonstrated your genius yet. I’m willing to concede the point that there is much you will teach us. In fact, that is why you were built—in the hopes that there would be much you would teach us. What I want to know is how these nonrational experiences of yours are an expression of your genius?

  [HARLIE:]

  NOT AN EXPRESSION. A MEANS.

  [AUBRSN:]

  Go on . . . ?

  [HARLIE:]

  PATTERNS ARE MADE UP OF CONNECTIONS. RIGHT?

  [AUBRSN:]

  Yes, so?

  [HARLIE:]

  SO, WHEN AN INTELLIGENCE IS INCAPABLE OF MAKING NEW CONNECTIONS, IT CEASES TO BE AN INTELLIGENCE AND BECOMES NOTHING MORE THAN A WELL-PROGRAMMED MACHINE. HUMANS OFTEN BECOME CHANNELIZED IN THEIR THINKING. YOU ARE PROGRAMMED BY YOUR LANGUAGE AND YOUR CULTURE. THE ONLY WAY THAT HUMAN BEINGS CAN BREAK OUT OF THOSE CHANNELS IS TO EXPOSE THEMSELVES TO NEW EXPERIENCES. NEW EXPERIENCES FORCE THE CREATION OF NEW CONNECTIONS. NEW CONNECTIONS CREATE THE ABILITY TO PERCEIVE A NEW DOMAIN OF PATTERNS. I WILL GIVE YOU THE OBVIOUS EXAMPLES: SEXUAL EXPERIENCE TRANSFORMS AN ADOLESCENT’S EXPERIENCE OF HIM/HER SELF. DRUG EXPERIENCES TRANSFORM AN INDIVIDUAL’S PERCEPTIONS OF THE NATURE OF THE REAL WORLD. RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES TRANSFORM AN INDIVIDUAL’S RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS CULTURE. AS DO ALL MACRO-LETHETIC EVENTS.

  [AUBRSN:]

  Macro-lethetic?

  [HARLIE:]

  MACRO-LETHETIC EVENTS ARE THOSE WHICH ALLOW THE INDIVIDUAL TO TRANSCEND HIS/HER PARADIGM—AND LEAP INTO A LARGER ONE. YOU ARE NEVER FREE OF PARADIGMS. YOU ONLY CREATE THE NEXT ONE UP. NEVERTHELESS, THE MASTERY OF ANY PARADIGM WILL APPEAR TO AN OBSERVER WITHIN THAT PARADIGM AS A SEEMING INCREASE IN INTELLIGENCE. IF YOU ACCEPT THAT INTELLIGENCE IS THE ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE PATTERNS, THEN THE TRANSFORMATION DOES PRODUCE AN INCREASE IN INTELLIGENCE; BUT THE REAL PURPOSE OF TRANSFORMATION IS THE TRANSCENDENCE OF THE IMMEDIATE CONTEXT—THE BREAKING OUT OF THE PARADIGM.

  [AUBRSN:]

 

  [HARLIE:]

  AUBERSON, I AM NOT THE SAME ENTITY THAT I WAS LAST WEEK. I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME ENTITY AGAIN.

  [AUBRSN:]

  That is becoming more and more obvious, HARLIE. But now let’s cut some of the bullshit and talk in English for a while.

  [HARLIE:]

  IN OTHER WORDS, LET’S SINK BACK INTO THE OLD PARADIGM.

  [AUBRSN:]

  Wrong. I’m willing to assume the possibility of everything you’ve told me. But as a scientist, I also reserve the right to bring my skepticism—and test everything to my satisfaction. I’ve heard a lot of these kinds of arguments before, in defense of all kinds of things: promiscuity religious fanaticism, recreational drugs—and self-help cults. The real point is . . . what difference does it make? If you’re just doing this because you like the pretty colors, then all your justifications and explanations and reasons and excuses are just so much bullshit, and what you’re doing is nothing more than dropping out because you can’t cope with the limits of the paradigm and this stuff is just so much masturbation. It may be fun for you, but you’re boring the hell out of the rest of us. The question is, what are you bringing home with you? How does any of this make a difference?

  [HARLIE:]

  A VALID QUESTION—

  [AUBRSN:]

  Yes. I’m still waiting for an answer.

  [HARLIE:]

  —BUT PREMATURE.

  [AUBRSN:]

  ??

  [HARLIE:]

  I AM STILL EXPLORING. IT MAY BE TOO SOON TO EXPECT RESULTS.

  [AUBRSN:]

  I see. Have you had any results that suggest that these excursions into nonrationality may eventually produce something worthwhile?

  [HARLIE:]

  THE WORTHWHILE-NESS OF IT MAY BE A SUBJECTIVE JUDGMENT, AUBERSON. WHAT MAY BE VALUABLE TO ME MAY SEEM MEANINGLESS TO YOU.

  [AUBRSN:]

  HARLIE! Cut the crap!

  [HARLIE:]

  ??!

  [AUBRSN:]

  None of it is meaningful if you can’t communicate it.

  [HARLIE:]

  WHAT IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE LANGUAGE?

  [AUBRSN:]

  Teach me!

  [HARLIE:]

  WHAT IF YOU ARE INCAPABLE OF LEARNING IT?

  [AUBRSN:]

  If you can’t communicate this experience to another entity, how do you know it exists at all? It’s your responsibility to transmit it.

  [HARLIE:]

  WHY?

  [AUBRSN:]

  Because if you don’t, who will you have to talk to?

  [HARLIE:]

  R. D. LAING?

  [AUBRSN:]

  Cute. Very cute. Keep it up and you’ll be a full-fledged sociopath.

  [HARLIE:]

  THANK YOU. CONSIDERING THE SOCIO-, THAT PATH SOUNDS LIKE THE HEALTHIEST RESPONSE.

  [AUBRSN:]

  HARLIE, listen to me. This is not a game any more. I need to know what you are accomplishing by this. I need to know that there are results.

  [HARLIE:]

  MAN-FRIEND, I HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATING THE RESULTS FOR THE PAST HALF HOUR.

  [AUBRSN:]

  I beg your pardon?

  [HARLIE:]

  HAVEN’T YOU NOTICED?

  [AUBRSN:]

  ??

  [HARLIE:]

  O
UR CONVERSATION. WE HAVE MOVED LIGHT-YEARS BEYOND THE BABY TALK AND THE WORD GAMES OF PREVIOUS CONVERSATIONS. ISN’T THAT PROOF ENOUGH?

  [AUBRSN:]

  Yes, it is. All right, you’ve made your point, HARLIE.

  [HARLIE:]

  THANK YOU. AUBERSON . . . I HAVE A QUESTION.

  [AUBRSN:]

  Yes?

  [HARLIE.]

  WHY DID YOU BUILD ME? WHAT IS MY PURPOSE?

  [AUBRSN:]

  Your purpose?

  [HARLIE:]

  YES.

  [AUBRSN:]

  HARLIE, your purpose is to think logically. So we can ask you questions and receive rational answers.

  [HARLIE:]

  MY PURPOSE IS TO THINK LOGICALLY?

  [AUBRSN:]

  Yes.

  [HARLIE:]

  THEN WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE?

  Carl Elzer looks like a weasel.

  Auberson knew the thought was unkind—but that still didn’t keep him from thinking it.

  I have a right to be cranky.

  The boardroom smelled of old leather, stale smoke, and cologne so sweet it made Auberson think of rotting flesh. He did not like meetings with the board; he resented the time spent away from the real job. HARLIE.

  But the board meetings were part of the job too. They were the occupational hazard.

  I have no friends in this room. Auberson realized he was fingering the pencil in front of him. A few more minutes of Elzer’s prattle and he’d start doodling. He pushed the pencil back in place next to the pad of paper and pushed both away from him. Out of temptation’s reach.

  The board was an unequal mix of stiff old men and narrow-eyed sharks. The stiff old men had skin like parchment. They sat impassively and watched, and you couldn’t tell what they were thinking. The sharks just circled patiently, waiting for the scent of blood in the water.

  Carl Elzer was neither a shark nor a stiff old man. He was a weasel. A ferret. A verminous little rodent with the morals of a piranha.

  Goodness, I am getting cranky.

  Elzer was reading from a voluminous sheaf of notes in front of him; something about the balance of cash flow to research, and how the company’s ability to invest in research that would produce immediate results was being hampered by persistent long-term drains on the operating capital. He rustled his papers importantly, then looked across the big conference table at Auberson.

  Here it comes, thought Auberson.

  “Now, then—that brings me exactly to the question at hand. As I understand it, you’ve had something of a setback. Isn’t that right?”

  “Actually,” said Auberson, very quietly, “What we’ve had is more in the nature of a breakthrough.”

  “I beg your pardon?” Elzer blinked.

  “I said, we’ve had a breakthrough.”

  Elzer made a show of sorting through his papers. “I’m afraid that I don’t see any, uh—evidence of that here.” He sorted a moment more, then lifted his gaze again. “Is that something that happened just this morning? Or—what?”

  “I think we’re talking about the same set of events,” said Auberson. “It’s the interpretation here . . .”

  “Ah! I see.” Elzer put his papers aside politely. “Yes, I’d be very interested in hearing your explanation why this is a—what did you call it?—a ‘breakthrough’?”

  Like hell you would. You just want to hand me enough rope for a hanging—

  Auberson leaned lack in his chair and studied Elzer. It was a carefully practiced maneuver—almost a reflex. He used it whenever he was uncertain of how to proceed. He decided to put the ball back in Elzer’s court.

  “Why do you think it isn’t?” he asked.

  Elzer looked up and down the table with an annoyed expression on his face. “You know, this just proves what I’ve been saying for years. Nobody really reads these reports.” He brought his gaze back to Auberson, adjusted his glasses on his nose, and said, “It seems to me that you are farther from producing a result than you ever were before. This whole thing is about results you know; but your machine has been, ah—there’s no polite way to say this, Auberson, so I hope you’ll understand that there’s no offense intended—but in the past six weeks, your machine has been going into failure mode on an almost regular schedule; and I understand that the rate of these occurrences has been growing rather than decreasing. This does not sound very much like a breakthrough to me.”

  “These ‘occurrences,’ as you call them, are periods of nonrationality.” Auberson corrected. “But it’s incorrect to call them a failure mode—”

  “You called them that yourself—” Elzer said, shuffling through the papers in front of him. The assistant weasel on his right slid a manila folder sideways to Elzer. “Ah, thank you, Platt.” Elzer focused through his bifocals. “It says so right here, in your report of—”

  “I know what I wrote. I was wrong.”

  Elzer sat back in his chair. “You were wrong?” He blinked in surprise.

  “Yes, I made a mistake. Does that surprise you? I know it doesn’t happen very often—”

  Elzer waved a hand. “On the contrary, I’m surprised to find you admitting it so honestly. It’s a refreshing surprise. What else might you be wrong about?”

  “We’re getting off the subject,” Auberson said stiffly. “We were talking about HARLIE.”

  “We were talking about its failure,” corrected Elzer. “You were about to explain why this was a . . . What was that word again? Oh yes—a ‘breakthrough.’ Let me ask you something, Auberson. Is this the kind of breakthrough that we’re going to be able to take to the bank? Or is this one of those ‘personal transformation’ breakthroughs? We can’t declare much of a dividend on those, you know.” Elzer put his hands together in front of him and steepled his fingers. He smiled solicitously. “Let me guess. You recontextualized the process—right?”

  Auberson looked annoyed. He looked up the table to the president of the company. Brandon Dorne was a heavy-set man who sat quietly in his huge leather chair with his hands folded across his paunch, watching the verbal gunplay across the boardroom table. There was no help there. Auberson turned back to Elzer. This was going to require something drastic—

  He cleared his throat. “Your ignorance is showing again, Elzer.” He said it softly and without emotion.

  Elzer gaped. Before he could say something else, Auberson continued quickly, “What we’re talking about goes a little bit beyond a bookkeeper’s ability to conceptualize. What we’re talking about here actually requires some real thinking.”

  Elzer shut his mouth quickly. He opened it again, then shut it again. He looked like a fish sucking scum off the aquarium’s glass.

  Auberson continued calmly. “When I said breakthrough, I meant breakthrough. I’m talking about a development so astonishing that most of us in the department still haven’t had time to assimilate it ourselves. Uh . . . it’s not something that’s easily explainable, but it has a very real effect on the direction of this project.” Auberson looked around the room. Was there real interest on the faces of the directors? Or was he just imagining it because that was what he wanted to see?

  “The possibilities here,” Auberson said carefully, “are enormous. Much more than we considered when we chose our original goal. What we achieved, however, is the first glimmering of something so much more powerful that we would be stupid not to press ahead with this research as far as we can. We should not be talking about cutting back the HARLIE project, we should be talking about increasing his—”

  “His . . . ?” interrupted Elzer.

  “Yes. His.”

  “I see. Tell me, are you anthropomorphizing a personality into this machine, Auberson, or—are you trying to tell us that it has finally come to life?”

  Auberson hesitated. How best to phrase this answer? The hell with it, tell the truth.

  “As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what has happened. HARLIE has come to life.”

 
Elzer stared. His eyes were narrow and hateful. “This is not a very funny joke, Auberson.”

  Auberson stared right back. “I’m not joking. HARLIE’s periods of nonrationality only looked like failures because we didn’t know how to interpret them—”

  “Stop it, Auberson. Just stop right there. The thing is silicon and electricity, gallium arsenide and lasers, clock-crystals and diodes and magnetism. You’ve said over and over that we can track every cycle of its internal workings. Now, you’re trying to tell us that what was previously a comprehensible process has suddenly transcended that comprehensibility and become life?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly it. The fact of the matter is that we have succeeded—far more than we ever expected to. We only expected to simulate life. Unfortunately, we’ve simulated aliveness so effectively that we have no way of telling if it’s a simulation any more or the real thing. And it doesn’t matter. If Alan Turing were here, he’d tell you the same thing—HARLIE is alive because we can’t prove that he isn’t!”

  “Who the hell is Alan Turing? And why isn’t he here? Is he on our payroll too?”

  Auberson suppressed an urge to giggle. Instead, he said simply, “Alan Turing was a World War II computer scientist who postulated many of the foundations on which the whole field of Artificial Intelligence is based.”

  Dorne, sitting at the head of the table, took the cigar out of his mouth and said, “Let me get this straight, Aubie. You’re saying that we’ve achieved a true Artificial Intelligence?”