Take Us to Your Chief by Drew Hayden Taylor Read Free Book Online Page A

perennials. The little herbal outcropping looked like it was on its last legs… or roots, as the case ma y be.
    In her right pocket, she felt more than heard her cell ring. She wondered if it was Roger calling. They’d gone on a few dates but it was obvious that he was holding back. Why, she wasn’t sure, and her mind kept drifting back to university, when all her female classmates used to say that the best way to get rid of a man was to tell him you were going for your PhD. It seemed few things intimidated a man and sent him running more than a woman seeking the highest form of conventional education. That was eleven years ago, and she was now a full-fledged doctor of science. That theory was proving to be annoyingly accurate. It seems a doctorate in computer science, specializing in ethical applications, was definitely not as impressive as large breasts. But she had her plants, and that was more than a lot of wome n had.
    â€œHello,” she said, holding the phone delicately with her fingertips, wary of the dirt on her gloves. “Chamber s here.”
    â€œGayle, it’s Mark. Can you come down to the la b immediately?”
    It figured Mark King was still at the lab. It was amazing the patience his wif e had.
    â€œMark, it’s almost eight o’clock. I left there nearly two hours ago. I am not going to drop everything and go rushing back. I’m busy. I thought you were having dinner with your wife.” For once, she almos t added.
    She could hear King breathing hard, as if he were excited, which in itself was odd. King rarely got excited. “You really should get down here and se e this.”
    â€œSe e what?”
    â€œThe Matrix project. I think something has happened. I mean, somethin g amazing.”
    Getting up off her stiff knees, Chambers took the gloves off her hands. It looked like this was going to be a longer conversation than she ha d expected.
    â€œMark, what are you talkin g about?”
    â€œI think… It looks… Oh Christ, I don’t know, but… It might b e conscious.”
    Chambers was about to ask who or what was conscious, but as she opened her mouth, all the pieces her colleague had mentioned came together in her mind, forming a startling possibility. The only thing Mark King could be talking about being conscious in the Matrix room was the SDDPP , the Self-Directing Data Processing Project. This was FUTUREVISION ’s most recent foray into developing rudimentary automated intelligence. Obviously not intelligence on a human level but hopefully something a little lower down the evolutionary scale. If Darwin thought all complex life evolved from simpler models, so coul d AI .
    The plan was for the SDDPP to develop the same perceptions and cognitive capacities as insects, and developing and fine-tuning the program would gradually increase the intelligence up to amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, apes and, who knows, maybe humans. The main problem was that once you eliminated the need to reproduce and find something to eat, there wasn’t much left to encourage the development of consciousness or intelligence. But that kind of success was not expected to happen for years, more likely decades. So why was Mark implying the SDDPP was conscious? Caterpillars and beetles could hardly be calle d conscious.
    Chambers struggled for words. “That’s… that’s not possible… Yo u must…”
    â€œI know. I know. But I’m here looking at something on the screen. It wants to know who it is. That sounds pretty damn conscious t o me.”
    Pretty sophisticated for a beetle, Chamber s thought.
    â€œMaybe it’s something left over from Gary. This reeks of his stupid sense o f humour.”
    Gary Milne was a lab technician who had been fired the month before. Thinking everybody in the lab took their work too seriously, he developed a bad habit of pulling practical jokes. Porn sites suddenly popped up and were sent to