Looking Forward by Kenneth Jr. (reading diary .txt) 📕

They gradually began to replace the old-time politicians, who came to power either through votes or strong-arm methods. In the United States in 2003 over 93 per cent of the senators and representatives in Congress had postgraduate degrees! No one without advanced multi-scientific training had a chance to be elected to the office of either President or Vice-President or to be appointed to a cabinet position. Similar reliance on multi-scientifically trained people occurred in Russia, China, India, and throughout all the other less populous countries of the world. The people found that the man-machine complex of a multi-scientist and his associated computers could make decisions that resulted in a better life.

“As the functions of government were gradually performed more and more by people with multi-scientific training, international cooperation became a way of life. It was found that global weather control could not be accomplished without international cooperation. The problem of providing all nations with an adequate flow of metals, oils, and other resources could best be engineered on an international basis, rather than a national one. It was found that the best way to give the people on this earth the highest standard of living was to plan a world-wide system of production and distribution. The European Economic Committee formed in 1957 was a first step in this direction. Gradually the artificial national boundaries were bypassed so continuously that they became meaningless lines on the maps of history. No one ever abolished the nation of Germany or Mexico. But everyone began to realize that this way of thinking and classifying was only of historical interest and added nothing to meeting the common problems of billions of men and women.

“There is no specific time at which we became one world. The scientists in charge hesitated to pinpoint or commemorate the functional passing of nationalistic classifications because they were afraid that certain of the older inhabitants of the earth would be disturbed. Since everything was going so well, they minimized the drum beating and concentrated on the global redesign of the planet to bring a more fruitful life for all.

“About the middle of the twenty-first century, it became evident that the man-machine complex was functioning so well that very few multi-scientists were now needed to perform governmental functions. The master computer that you see before you was found to be capable of making decisions with almost 100 per cent predictability. It even learned to search for additional facts when these were needed. In seconds it could scan the enormous memory banks that you see beyond the sphere so that every bit of information ever collected by man or machines could be sifted for its relevancy in making a decision about any problem. Time after time after time, whenever the computer disagreed with the panel of government scientists, it was found that the computer was invariably correct. No scientist can base his decision on even a millionth of the relevant data required for predictability in some areas. No human mind can deal with complex multiple correlations involving billions of bits of information. Soon people acquired such a trust and acceptance of this master computer that they just decided to let it do the work.

“Some of the older people expressed grave concern about turning over the operation of our civilization to Corcen. They felt that this machine might turn on us and destroy us. Those who had the greatest experience with the man-machine complex felt confident that Corcen would remain the powerful servant of man. Corcen has no ego or hostile feelings. Experience showed its fantastic ability to serve man in every capacity. We thus went forward in our attempts to perfect our man-machine symbiosis.”

Hella thinks of the words of Arthur C. Clarke in the last century:

The popular idea, fostered by comic strips and the cheaper forms of science fiction, that intelligent machines must be malevolent entities hostile to man, is so absurd that it is hardly worth wasting energy to refute it. I am almost tempted to argue that only unintelligent machines can be malevolent; anyone who has tried to start a balky outboard will probably agree. Those who picture machines as active enemies are merely projecting their own aggressive instincts, inherited from the jungle, into a world where such things do not exist. The higher the intelligence, the greater the degree of cooperativeness. If there is ever a war between men and machines, it is easy to guess who will start it.

Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future (New York: Harper & Row, 1964), pp. 226–7.

The telescreen now shows interior diagrams of Corcen. “The master computer that you see before you contains one thousand billion more neurons than any brain. It operates on a multi-channel basis that is trillions of times faster than any human brain. Since about the only limitation of this computer was the factual input, we equipped it with trillions of sensors located throughout the entire globe. Almost every room in all buildings throughout the earth is connected through their associated cybernators to Corcen. Every mechanism of every factory, every meteorological measuring station, every traffic controller, and the communications of every individual, to name only a few are either directly or indirectly connected to Corcen. As all of you know from your intimate interaction with Corcen, it gives you a power and ability to be yourselves that your ancestors never had, regardless of their wealth.

“Corcen was never formally constituted as the government of the world. It just evolved. Scientists who were making political decisions gradually needed to spend less and less time at their work. Their staffs dwindled. The ego needs of the past that made a political bureaucracy grow in accordance with Parkinson’s Law were no longer present. These multi-scientists were no longer motivated by prestige or power. They were too fulfilled in their own personal lives to be concerned with their ego image in the eyes of other people. Since they lived in a world of abundance, there was no monetary incentive to hold on to their