The sociologist blinked rapidly a few times.
“I’m not sure that ‘tyranny’ is the word Plato would use.”
Oops. Hamish was suddenly aware that others had turned to watch his outburst. Damn. I got so into story mode, I wound up portraying the clade aristos as villains! My next step would have been to explain how a trio of quirky heroes might proceed to bring the whole edifice crashing… in less than ninety minutes of view-time.
He worked at his plate while thinking. How to get out of this?
“No, of course not,” he murmured after chewing and swallowing. “In fact, such perfect security would likely lessen the harshness of future rulers. No need for the iron-boot cruelty portrayed in that George Orwell novel. Why bother? Perfect rulers, all knowing and secure, would scarcely need brutality. They would, in fact, try for platonic paradise.
“But please,” he urged, “go back to your point about how a pyramidal social order will be improved by Confucian ways.”
She nodded, clearly as eager to get on track as he was to be quiet a while.
“As I was saying, Mr. Brookeman-”
With his most disarming smile, he reached over to touch her hand.
“Call me Hamish.”
“Very well… Hamish.” Her fine complexion changed hue and she smiled shyly, charmingly, before hurrying on. “Way back in the twentieth century leaders of Singapore and Japan, and then Great China, pondered non-Western ways to manage a complex modern society. Finding the occidental enlightenment far too brash and unpredictable, they cleverly designed methods to incorporate technology and science-along with limited aspects of capitalism and democracy-into a social order that also remained traditional and essentially pyramidal, without the chaos, friction, and unpredictability found in America or Europe. Much of their inspiration came from Asian history, which had much longer stretches of stable and noble governance than the West.”
Yeah, sure, he thought while she kept talking. But will any of this really matter when brainiac machines burst upon the scene? They’ll have priorities. And first will be a humanity that is well ordered. Predictable. They won’t try to exterminate or enslave us, though I’ve exploited that cliché many times, in books and films. No, they’ll want us calm and ruled by our own kind, in ways they can easily model and guide.
It had taken Hamish years to reach this conclusion, after decades spent loathing and resisting the notion of artificial minds. Only recently did he accept the inevitable. Especially when he realized-Whatever logic applied to other elites will apply to the new AI lords. They’ll want us to tithe resources to support their passions and goals. Beyond that, they’ll want their human vassals to be content. Happy. Perhaps even imagining we’re still in charge.
Illusions like the one being spun by the alluring sociologist, who talked on-as a palate-clearing salad was consumed and cleared away, making room for the main course of farm-raised realbeef, deliciously tender and rare-about how the East Asian version of aristocratism was so much better than any other feudal order.
The sociologist appeared blithely unaware that Hamish’s thoughts had split-part of him paying attention, another portion distantly contemplative, and a third greedily wondering what her body was like, under the silken sari.
“Even in olden times, the Confucians mixed deep conservatism and belief in hierarchy with the concept of meritocracy. The brightest children of the poor and merchant castes could sometimes test their way into higher levels of the pyramid, applying their talents to augment the prestige of their liege.” She chirped a short, proud hiccup over the double rhyme, then took a quick sip of wine.
Hamish found amusing how her model interlaced with his own, though with one difference-that he knew what cool, cybernetic entities would sit, inevitably, at the very top of the social order, above even the First Estate. Still, this woman was generally on the right side… and more interesting than anybody else at this end of the table. And she was clearly smitten-most likely by his celebrity status.
Anyway, he decided to accept the inevitable by the time dessert arrived-an Earth-shaped medley that their host gleefully opened with a saber, exposing alternating layers of crusty pastry, gelato, and chocolate that, like the planet itself, terminated in a delightfully molten core.
Even later, though, as they staggered side by side, giggling, on their way to her room, Hamish remained partly detached-the same detachment that had kept Carolyn at a cool distance all those years, till she finally left. And even then, he could not stop picturing the AI minds deciding to formulate themselves as ideal Confucian mandarins. So serenely confident that they might tolerate and reward the best of those below. Might the new uber-lairds allow a few humans to rise, through “merit” and join them, at the pinnacle? Perhaps as cyborgs, enhanced to operate at their level?
It represented everything he had preached against for decades. Yet, to be honest, Hamish found his views shifting gradually. For there was also a strong temptation to want that destiny. The mad dream of the godmakers, its tug was undeniable.
If we handle the transition right, the New Pyramid will be smart, gracious, calm. People will have their elections, and other toys. Above them, aristos will maintain stability. And at the peak? Ais will slip into their top niche gracefully, with hardly a ripple.
Then, after a few centuries of tranquility, maybe we’ll be ready to unbury that damned Havana Artifact from some cold, dark closet, and talk about the stars.
Optimists offer evidence that things will be all right, like the fact that major war has been evaded-despite some burns and narrow scrapes-and that most individuals today know far more peace than their ancestors did. Even in this economy, hundreds of millions strive each day with real hope of climbing out of poverty, seeing their children healthier and better educated. Except in the toxoplasma hot zone, interpersonal violence is down again, on a per capita basis.
Yes, there are rumors and worried models predicting a coming conflagration-one between classes, rather than nation states. But who really yearns for such a thing to happen?
What if the optimists are right? Suppose we in this generation are-on average-growing both smarter and more sane at a decent clip. That average still leaves a billion human beings, out of almost ten billion, who are steeped in rage, or dogmatic rigidity, or delusional repetition of discredited mistakes. You know such people. Do you recognize those traits in some of your neighbors? Or perhaps that face in the mirror?
Remember that one harm-doer can wreck what took many hands to build. A thousand professionals may be needed, to counteract something virulent released by a single malignant software or bioware designer. It’s not that sociopaths are smarter-they generally aren’t. But they have the element of surprise, plus the brittleness of a society with many vulnerable points of attack.
Suppose the ratio of goodness and skill continues to rise-that each year far more decent and creatively competent people join the workforce than sociopaths. Will that suffice? Perhaps.
But then, imagine someone finds a simple way to make black holes or antimatter using common materials and wall current? Even if 99.999 percent of the population refrains, the crazy 0.001 percent might kill us all. And there are other scenarios-conceivable ways that one lunatic might outweigh all the rest of us, no matter how high a fraction are good and sane.
If the ratio improves, but the series doesn’t converge, then there’s no hope.