Chapter Two
The robot that Janus was designing would understand what someone was saying and where
their mind was "going" and start talking before the person had finished her sentence.
Although the robot was both being efficient and being correct, he had a 'personality problem'.
It is not about 'being right' but it is about letting someone finish their sentence and giving them
the feeling that you heard what they said and understand them.
One personality wants to be social, another one wants to be intellectual. I am trying to analyze
my motivations by breaking myself into different personalities and another is mindful of my
parental duties, another of my duties to the future of technology. One personality wants to be
social, another one wants to be intellectual, another is mindful of my parental duties, another
of my duties to the future of technology.”
”What are the things that one can do with his or her life?” he thought. “Let me make a list.”
Medical:
Be a physician and be dedicated to helping people one at a time.
Be a medical diagnostic instrument designer: dedicated to helping people by the millions
without having personal contact with 99.9% of those millions.
Be a genetic engineer and redesign humans to have fewer defects at the time of their birth.
Be a parent or teacher who encourages young people to become physicians, instrument
designers or genetic engineers.
Energy:
Invent or promote cheap energy source which will allow society to continue to advance without
fear of ecological damage.
Create a method for…
Janus’ thoughts were interrupted by a nearby noise. He decided it was time to stop
daydreaming and get back to work. Janus had quit his job designing androids and had taken
a job with a customer who had purchased a number of these androids. His new boss was an
anonymous wealthy man named Mr. M., who had a few projects that required “special
treatment.” Janus was the only human working on this new project. His daily communications
were with the androids ‘whom’ he had created. No doubt the use of ‘whom’ when referring to
an android is strange to many people. But if you worked with them all day and conversed in
English (plus engineering buzz words), you would start thinking of them as humans and calling
them ‘whom’ and 'who' as well. Basically the new job assignment was to supervise a group of
his androids in “special projects” for Mr. M.
Janus’ first job was to supervise a group of his androids in creating a computer model of the
earth which would accurately reflect the tension between the earth’s tectonic plates. He had
access to many seismic microphones placed all over the earth. When a earthquake occurred,
tremors moved through the crust and sound waves traveled through the earth’s core. These
sound waves reflected off of the earth’s mantle and came back across the core of the earth
again. By comparing the pattern of the sounds received at the earth’s surface with the
computer model of the earth, Janus and his androids were able to “improve” the model to
reflect the reality shown by the patterns of sound in the earth. The job of analysis was similar
to the Computerized Tomography (CT) scans of the brain used in the medical field. If you
know the received density of every beam of x-rays passing through someone’s head than you
can perform the reverse transform and derive the original structure. Such it was with
calculating the earth’s structure using random sound rather than focused x-rays. The next
step was to simulate the placing of hydrogen bombs in various locations so as to create small
earthquakes that would relieve the tension between the plates and thus prevent larger
earthquakes from occurring. Placing such bombs in holes at the bottom of the ocean seemed
the most logical thing to do but one had to consider the disturbance to the ocean that would
occur.
The wealthy individual who funded Janus’ work had concluded that no international
organization would ever be able to set off such bombs simply because of the potential liability.
If nature does something by itself, it is called “an act of God” by the insurance companies and
liability lawyers of the world. But if humans were to cause an earthquake to occur, even if the
best of intentions were involved, the lawsuits and insurance claim disputes would be going on
for decades.
Janus’ mind started to wander again. He recited a poem he had set to memory in his youth,
“Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,
Grew lean while he assailed the seasons;
He wept that he was ever born,
And he had reasons…”
But unlike Miniver, Janus was not sad that he wasn’t living in the past, Janus was sad that he
wasn’t living in the future. He dreamed of a time in the future when he didn’t have be so
secretive about what he did for a living. He envisioned being able to walk up to the common
man and have him understand that nature is not quite as friendly as commonly portrayed, nor
are human-created H-bombs our “unnatural enemy”. Humans have only a vague memory of
“Noah’s flood” which is quite contorted and confabulated mixture of stories from survivors of
floods and mega-tsunamis from our distant past. You cannot blame people for trusting nature
and distrusting technology. After all, humans evolved in caves, on mountainsides and next to
bodies of water. They didn’t evolve in an environment where they would say to themselves, “I
can tell that a tsunami is coming and if I only had an H-bomb, I could prevent it.”
Janus’ friend, Somorh, worked on calculating the trajectories of all asteroids in the asteroid
belt around the earth. His second job was to create computer simulations of how an asteroid
which was on a collision course with the earth could be deflected. This was another secret “H-
bombs for peace” project funded by the same individual that Janus was working for. Janus
and Somorh could tell each other about their projects but couldn’t tell another living soul
except Mr. M., their sponsor.
Janus and Somorh “compartmentalized” their lives. In fact, they decided that having totally
separate personalites for work and for social interactions was quite necessary.
Here are some scribblings found in Janus’ journal. The original notes are quite terse and use
abbreviations that most people would not understand. These notes have been ‘padded out’
so as to be more comprehensible to the average reader:
Maslow had his hierarchy of human needs. How about a hierarchy of jobs in various fields?
Real Estate hierarchy of jobs:
Selling homes to people.
Design and build homes.
Design and build housing developments.
Design and build skyscrapers.
Design and build cities.
Guide governments.
Prevent asteroids and comets from colliding with the earth and wiping out much of the
progress to date.
Moving our Sun's other planets to positions where they are more habitable.
Harnessing enough energy to be able to visit other solar systems and establish living quarters
there.
Harness enough energy to be capable of moving planets in other solar systems into more
hospitable locations relative to their suns.
(Reminder: moving planets is a real estate project in which one realizes the importance of
location, location and location.)
Geology:
Warning the people of the world about the impending ice age.
(Note the growing glaciers: http://www.iceagenow.com/Growing_Glaciers.htm)
If the next ice age is like the last one, where will we get the vast amount of energy that will be
required to prevent 2-mile thick ice over Canada and the northern part of the USA?
Philosophy:
Teach the true meaning of life so that people’s goals may be more focused an attainable.
Advanced Society mixed with advanced engineering:
Which of the following methods is most economically feasible?
Design various ecologies for Mars including a complete set of creatures to inhabit that
neighboring planet.
Move Mars to an orbit such as perhaps the earth’s orbit plus 180 degrees, in order to make it
more inhabitable for humans.
Create structures on Mars that would enclose an environment that would sustain human life.
Design a family of androids which would be able to live under the ecological conditions of Mars.
Do the same thing for Venus.
Astrophysics:
Astrophysicists tell us that a Type I civilization consumes the energy of its planet of origin, a
Type II civilization consumes the energy of its star and a Type III civilization consumes the
energy of its galaxy. Each of these civilizations is roughly 10 billion times larger than its
predecessor in terms of energy consumption. These definitions are based on observing that
past civilizations on the earth have been roughly proportional to their energy consumption.
The earth is currently considered a Type 0 civilization, too small to be significant in the grand
scheme of things. Confronted with this reality, some people want to harness the power of
fusion atomic reactors and then of our sun itself in order to move on to a Type I civilization.
Meanwhile other people actually want to restrict the use of energy and go back to the horse
and buggy. These people need to be educated as to the meaning of life and how we are
meant to strive to higher and higher types of civilizations which require the consumption of
more energy.
Galileo believed the teachings of Copernicus and was persecuted for it. Can I tell anyone
what my job is? Can I freely reveal my deepest thoughts? I am trying to picture myself at a
party telling someone what I do for a living. “Well, yes, I am working on a directional H-bomb
that can be deployed in great numbers and detonated in a sequence which will create a series
of small earthquakes. These smaller earthquakes will relieve the tension in faults so that we
can avoid having earthquakes whose Richter reading exceeds six. I am working on this project
without the knowledge of any government or the United Nations. Well, enough about me, what
do you do for a living? ”
Janus, it appears, was a very lonely man.
End of Chapter Two
Chapter Three
The robot that Janus was designing would understand what someone was saying and where
their mind was "going" and start talking before the person had finished her sentence.
Although the robot was both being efficient and being correct, he had a 'personality problem'.
It is not about 'being right' but it is about letting someone finish their sentence and giving them
the feeling that you heard what they said and understand them.
One personality wants to be social, another one wants to be intellectual. I am trying to analyze
my motivations by breaking myself into different personalities and another is mindful of my
parental duties, another of my duties to the future of technology. One personality wants to be
social, another one wants to be intellectual, another is mindful of my parental duties, another
of my duties to the future of technology.”
”What are the things that one can do with his or her life?” he thought. “Let me make a list.”
Medical:
Be a physician and be dedicated to helping people one at a time.
Be a medical diagnostic instrument designer: dedicated to helping people by the millions
without having personal contact with 99.9% of those millions.
Be a genetic engineer and redesign humans to have fewer defects at the time of their birth.
Be a parent or teacher who encourages young people to become physicians, instrument
designers or genetic engineers.
Energy:
Invent or promote cheap energy source which will allow society to continue to advance without
fear of ecological damage.
Create a method for…
Janus’ thoughts were interrupted by a nearby noise. He decided it was time to stop
daydreaming and get back to work. Janus had quit his job designing androids and had taken
a job with a customer who had purchased a number of these androids. His new boss was an
anonymous wealthy man named Mr. M., who had a few projects that required “special
treatment.” Janus was the only human working on this new project. His daily communications
were with the androids ‘whom’ he had created. No doubt the use of ‘whom’ when referring to
an android is strange to many people. But if you worked with them all day and conversed in
English (plus engineering buzz words), you would start thinking of them as humans and calling
them ‘whom’ and 'who' as well. Basically the new job assignment was to supervise a group of
his androids in “special projects” for Mr. M.
Janus’ first job was to supervise a group of his androids in creating a computer model of the
earth which would accurately reflect the tension between the earth’s tectonic plates. He had
access to many seismic microphones placed all over the earth. When a earthquake occurred,
tremors moved through the crust and sound waves traveled through the earth’s core. These
sound waves reflected off of the earth’s mantle and came back across the core of the earth
again. By comparing the pattern of the sounds received at the earth’s surface with the
computer model of the earth, Janus and his androids were able to “improve” the model to
reflect the reality shown by the patterns of sound in the earth. The job of analysis was similar
to the Computerized Tomography (CT) scans of the brain used in the medical field. If you
know the received density of every beam of x-rays passing through someone’s head than you
can perform the reverse transform and derive the original structure. Such it was with
calculating the earth’s structure using random sound rather than focused x-rays. The next
step was to simulate the placing of hydrogen bombs in various locations so as to create small
earthquakes that would relieve the tension between the plates and thus prevent larger
earthquakes from occurring. Placing such bombs in holes at the bottom of the ocean seemed
the most logical thing to do but one had to consider the disturbance to the ocean that would
occur.
The wealthy individual who funded Janus’ work had concluded that no international
organization would ever be able to set off such bombs simply because of the potential liability.
If nature does something by itself, it is called “an act of God” by the insurance companies and
liability lawyers of the world. But if humans were to cause an earthquake to occur, even if the
best of intentions were involved, the lawsuits and insurance claim disputes would be going on
for decades.
Janus’ mind started to wander again. He recited a poem he had set to memory in his youth,
“Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,
Grew lean while he assailed the seasons;
He wept that he was ever born,
And he had reasons…”
But unlike Miniver, Janus was not sad that he wasn’t living in the past, Janus was sad that he
wasn’t living in the future. He dreamed of a time in the future when he didn’t have be so
secretive about what he did for a living. He envisioned being able to walk up to the common
man and have him understand that nature is not quite as friendly as commonly portrayed, nor
are human-created H-bombs our “unnatural enemy”. Humans have only a vague memory of
“Noah’s flood” which is quite contorted and confabulated mixture of stories from survivors of
floods and mega-tsunamis from our distant past. You cannot blame people for trusting nature
and distrusting technology. After all, humans evolved in caves, on mountainsides and next to
bodies of water. They didn’t evolve in an environment where they would say to themselves, “I
can tell that a tsunami is coming and if I only had an H-bomb, I could prevent it.”
Janus’ friend, Somorh, worked on calculating the trajectories of all asteroids in the asteroid
belt around the earth. His second job was to create computer simulations of how an asteroid
which was on a collision course with the earth could be deflected. This was another secret “H-
bombs for peace” project funded by the same individual that Janus was working for. Janus
and Somorh could tell each other about their projects but couldn’t tell another living soul
except Mr. M., their sponsor.
Janus and Somorh “compartmentalized” their lives. In fact, they decided that having totally
separate personalites for work and for social interactions was quite necessary.
Here are some scribblings found in Janus’ journal. The original notes are quite terse and use
abbreviations that most people would not understand. These notes have been ‘padded out’
so as to be more comprehensible to the average reader:
Maslow had his hierarchy of human needs. How about a hierarchy of jobs in various fields?
Real Estate hierarchy of jobs:
Selling homes to people.
Design and build homes.
Design and build housing developments.
Design and build skyscrapers.
Design and build cities.
Guide governments.
Prevent asteroids and comets from colliding with the earth and wiping out much of the
progress to date.
Moving our Sun's other planets to positions where they are more habitable.
Harnessing enough energy to be able to visit other solar systems and establish living quarters
there.
Harness enough energy to be capable of moving planets in other solar systems into more
hospitable locations relative to their suns.
(Reminder: moving planets is a real estate project in which one realizes the importance of
location, location and location.)
Geology:
Warning the people of the world about the impending ice age.
(Note the growing glaciers: http://www.iceagenow.com/Growing_Glaciers.htm)
If the next ice age is like the last one, where will we get the vast amount of energy that will be
required to prevent 2-mile thick ice over Canada and the northern part of the USA?
Philosophy:
Teach the true meaning of life so that people’s goals may be more focused an attainable.
Advanced Society mixed with advanced engineering:
Which of the following methods is most economically feasible?
Design various ecologies for Mars including a complete set of creatures to inhabit that
neighboring planet.
Move Mars to an orbit such as perhaps the earth’s orbit plus 180 degrees, in order to make it
more inhabitable for humans.
Create structures on Mars that would enclose an environment that would sustain human life.
Design a family of androids which would be able to live under the ecological conditions of Mars.
Do the same thing for Venus.
Astrophysics:
Astrophysicists tell us that a Type I civilization consumes the energy of its planet of origin, a
Type II civilization consumes the energy of its star and a Type III civilization consumes the
energy of its galaxy. Each of these civilizations is roughly 10 billion times larger than its
predecessor in terms of energy consumption. These definitions are based on observing that
past civilizations on the earth have been roughly proportional to their energy consumption.
The earth is currently considered a Type 0 civilization, too small to be significant in the grand
scheme of things. Confronted with this reality, some people want to harness the power of
fusion atomic reactors and then of our sun itself in order to move on to a Type I civilization.
Meanwhile other people actually want to restrict the use of energy and go back to the horse
and buggy. These people need to be educated as to the meaning of life and how we are
meant to strive to higher and higher types of civilizations which require the consumption of
more energy.
Galileo believed the teachings of Copernicus and was persecuted for it. Can I tell anyone
what my job is? Can I freely reveal my deepest thoughts? I am trying to picture myself at a
party telling someone what I do for a living. “Well, yes, I am working on a directional H-bomb
that can be deployed in great numbers and detonated in a sequence which will create a series
of small earthquakes. These smaller earthquakes will relieve the tension in faults so that we
can avoid having earthquakes whose Richter reading exceeds six. I am working on this project
without the knowledge of any government or the United Nations. Well, enough about me, what
do you do for a living? ”
Janus, it appears, was a very lonely man.
End of Chapter Two
Chapter Three
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