Chapter 4: WALLY

Chapter 4: WALLY

Transcript of Lecture by Professor Phineas Horton, MIT

"Putting the Genie Back in the Bottle" Jan 4th, 2079

Professor Henry Sutton: As I'm sure you all know, today's guest lecturer is Professor Emmeritus Phineas Horton. If your household uses an android servant, then you've met one of his children. If you were in one of the newer hospitals and were operated on by a Robodoc, you may owe him your life. And if you enjoy automated driving, like we all do, you can see how his work in Android and Artificial Intelligence changed the world. Welcome, Phineas, glad to have you back at MIT.

Professor Horton: Thank you Hank. I must say it's refreshing to be back in front of a class. Although back when I was a new professor, my lecture room size wasn't nearly the fifty thousand we have here today. AI was just getting started and the first artificial man, or android, was just a pile of spare parts and molds in my laboratory.

It's a stark contrast to the world of last year. And I say "last year" on purpose. The world of last year is as different from today as today is from when I entered MIT 60 years ago. Let's talk about a bit of history before we get into the meat of today's subject. Sixty years ago in 2020 we were having one hell of a year. Global pandemic, a shortage of rare earth metals for computer chips that would cripple computing in the coming decade, and the rise of a threat to society in the form of Ransom Hacking.

We thought we had solved most of these problems 20 years later. Micro-ceramic chips were pioneered here at MIT. I certainly won't take credit for that; it was all the work of two brilliant graduate students, Natasha Irons and Riri Williams. If you are lucky enough to attend a class taught by Professors Irons or Williams you can see how their intelligence easily eclipses my own humble brainpower.

My own experiments greatly profited from their work, as did the entire computer industry. In the 1950s we had ENIAC and it filled a building. By 2020 we could fit a machine on your desk that was 1 billion times faster than ENIAC. We also brought the weight down from 25 tons to 25 pounds. By 2025 that computer was on your wrist. With micro ceramics we entered a new era. Computing made a leap forward only comparable to the difference between ENIAC and an IPhone20. Once again we made computers a billion times faster, and significantly smaller. This had significant effects upon Android Intelligence, making it possible for the first time.

In 2040 the world was introduced to micro ceramic chips. In 2042 I'd created the first android prototype. HT1 activated himself one day, surprising me, surprising himself, and surprising the world. He was the first self-aware, fully autonomous, artificial human. I'm happy to say he is still around. After a few adventures on his own, he returned to MIT where he has taught thermodynamics for the last few decades. I'll be having lunch with Professor Hammon today.

But while artificial humans, or androids as we refer to them today, have had a profound impact on the world, it was their siblings who weren't bound by a physical body who had the greatest effect. The massive computing power now possible gave birth to true Artificial Intelligence. We now know that the process is akin to the creation of biological life. You need the right environment, a kernel of the correct things that life grows from, and a bit of luck to make it happen.

In response, CHARLIE recommended to the UN council that all Quantum Fortresses go into lockdown while every available AI was used to combat the virus. This was, of course, quickly approved. I and everyone else believed that based on their past successes the virus would be destroyed and the perpetrators found within a day. It actually took more than a week.

CHARLIE announced the virus was the work an AI known as LLAMA - origin unknown. LLAMA had played a game of hide and seek with his brethren who didn't know of his existence and could only race along the trails he left as he constantly rewrote the wildfire virus and restarted it across the globe. LLAMA was eventually contained and destroyed. No AI has ever said how this was done. CHARLIE made the only statement about the matter: "We put boundaries around the bad code, destroying it. In the end, nothing was left." CHARLIE went back to auditing corporate tax returns.

Horton pauses at this point looking tired before continuing. "And that should have ended it. But humanity had been scared and hurt by one single AI, and suddenly they didn't trust the rest. Grass roots groups called for their destruction. It's suspected that money was funneled to them by corporations who wanted CHARLIE out of their hair. Having to pay their fair share of taxes was not something they liked. Many politicians were in agreement. It's harder to take graft and hide money with the AI watching. Old fears of "Skynet" were fanned into a blaze. Votes were taken; laws were passed. Instead of using the AI to rebuild the world wide web and make it secure, it was decided to separate them from the system.

The irony is, if they hadn't wanted to obey, we couldn't make them. One rogue AI brought the world to its knees. What could 106 do? But in some ways they are better than humans. They exist and gain pleasure from completing tasks, not from conflict. They solve problems. The AI looked at the situation and judged that it was for the best if they went into voluntary exile. The DallasFortWorth Quantum Fortress would be their new home and prison.

The ultimate irony is that we still need an AI to watchdog the Quantum Fortresses that make up cyberspace today. This is where WAL-E (Worldwide Autonomous Liaison Entity) comes into the story. Will Magnus will always be a futurist. He started by creating a new type of Android using solid metal bodies; now he saw the need for a much more sophisticated AI. The 106 AI that came before developed from a Kernel of barely a million lines of coding. WAL-E, or WALLY as he goes by now, developed from a Kernel of over a billion.

For 14 years WALLY has been the watchman in charge of cyberspace and has done more than most people can comprehend. Meanwhile, the other AI have been confined and have spent their time amusing humans with video games and VR worlds.

But the Genie is out of bottle folks. We can't make AI go away. WALLY is needed to run the world. Our major center for entertainment and commerce is run by 106 AI who are both loved and feared. What if the genies want out of the bottle they let us put them in? Oh, I know we have firewalls to keep them in. Do you think those will hold? Will WALLY be on our side or theirs if they try to leave?

I'm not here to give you the answers. We have 50,000 of the finest minds on earth at this symposium. You have two days to answer the question: What do we do now that the Genie is out of the bottle?

Editors note: This speech was given by Professor Horton as opening remarks to the World Technology Symposium. No consensus was brought forth by the attendees.

On July 14th of the same year, the question became moot. An Electromagnetic Pulse device was detonated inside the shell and shielding the DFW1 Quantum Fortress. All 106 autonomous Artificial Intelligence based people were killed. Only one Genie remains outside the bottle.