HOW WE GET THERE
Setting the stage for the 2129 Series
By Bill DeFoor
Preface
Much has been written and reported in recent weeks and months about Artificial Intelligence (AI). As usual, most of the reporting and analysis is dire, warning of impending doom to all mankind.
I take a different approach, with a longer perspective.
AI in its simplest form is a set of nested condition statements followed by actions to be taken. The key to AI is the data being supplied and its rules for use, sometimes referred to as algorithms. The algorithms analyze and act on the data, resulting in specific actions or results.
Can it be harmful? Absolutely!
Many people see the harm in the commercialization of data continually collected on trends people demonstrate. A simple example: If you spend “too much time” visiting a website concerning weight loss, you will be targeted with advertisements of products designed to help you lose weight. The data (what and how much time you spend on a website, etc.) and topics (that show a trend suggesting a desire for losing weight) are collected and correlated based on sophisticated rules (algorithms) which identify you as a target for their product. The Internet, Search Engines, and Social Media are sophisticated data-gathering tools, unlike anything that predates them.
The amount of data collected on you (every individual) available is alarming, primarily because there are very few rules regulating how it is used. Particularly by our government!
A less sophisticated example is this book. The reason I’ve written it and given it away, is to lure you into buying books in my 2129 Series. The logic behind my thinking is: If you read this short summary, you might be interested in reading more about what life might be like in 2129 and beyond. What it might really be like, not like most dystopian views popular in movies and other media. It’s as old as advertising itself, and it will continue.
What frightens most people about AI is the forms of data that may be used by it and how that data is turned into actions. Data like unique sound waves (copying human voices) or pictures that can be digitized and manipulated to portray something that isn’t true are scary examples.
In my books, I explain how androids of 2129 will process light and sound waves to simulate sight and hearing. Today, AI can process light (pictures) and sound (voices) producing products that are almost unrecognizable from real pictures (sophisticated photoshopping) and voices (text to voice). To most people, this is very unsettling, thus, the many calls for control.
I believe the fear and the desire for control is natural. With the genie out of the bottle, however, I believe AI will normalize itself over time. AI (by whatever name) will be around and grow forever!
AI is to computers and Androids what the Internet is to Social Media. They are backbone technologies that offer great promise, but should and must be controlled.
By the time we reach 2129 (probably much sooner), there will be standards that control the harm that can be done, and it will be monitored independently (and fairly) without regard to ideology.
So, I take this position: Computers, and in particular Androids of 2129 and beyond will have embedded AI that will be undeniably helpful, while not being allowed to harm humans. With appropriate controls and enhanced integration (in Androids), I look forward to the help it will provide to us all in the future.
In my view, there will be three primary areas where unbiased computers and Androids will immeasurably benefit all mankind:
Medicine – processing unlimited amounts of data to arrive at accurate and timely diagnoses and precision treatments for many ailments thought of as uncurable or inoperable today.
Government – processing the ever-increasing volumes of regulations and compliance, etc. in record time and without bias or prejudice. The efficiencies will be enormous!
Military – if you read my books, you’ll discover Cricket, the conscience of the world, which will (covertly) eliminate the ability to conduct war on a mass scale: an electronic shield of protection.
Its potential for good is limitless, just read my books and you will get a sense of what it will do.
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Sincerely, Bill DeFoor
Copyright © 2023 by Bill DeFoor
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This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or places, events, or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all productions of the author’s imagination.
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Contents
Chapter 1 – First 25 Years After 2017
Chapter 2 – Constitutional Convention
Chapter 4 – Capitalist Communism
Introduction
My name is Bill DeFoor and I am the author of the 2129 Series. A few good friends have recently referred to me as a “futurist”. They meant, for the 2129 Series and later the INTERVENTION Series, my books predict the future. If that’s what a futurist is, I guess I am one. I consider myself, however, to be a storyteller. I enjoy telling stories that are fun to read while stimulating thought and sometimes introspection. I don’t pretend to be a great literary writer. My stories are easy to read and each character is fully developed as time passes within the story.
Like most storytellers, my stories are shaped by my experiences. My SciFi series are adventures of those living in the year 2129 and beyond. I’m an optimist and don’t believe the world has to be coming apart or filled with zombies roaming the streets, to be exciting and entertaining.
I try to make each character relatable and someone you might enjoy spending time with. I also try to make predictions that challenge your thinking, after all, that’s the fun part of SciFi. When I write about Androids, co-habitation, space travel, and what happens after we die, I want you to understand how I got there, and in most cases say, Yeah, I can see that happening.
The storylines cover spies, being shot at, globe-hopping espionage, romance, a new world order, gifted children, alien visits, space travel, time travel, and the many interactions between and among characters, and they are all creations of my (very active) imagination.
Android evolution, however, and their prominence in every aspect of human life, plus their incredible discoveries; is what I am predicting will happen by the year 2129, most likely even sooner.
Will my predictions about androids lead to alien visitations, space travel discoveries, and energy universes? I’ll leave those things up to you. I have to warn you though, I’ll bring you along cautiously, so when you read about them in my books, you’ll be fully bought in.
That’s the joy of storytelling. I am a storyteller.
What makes me an expert on Android evolution? Over fifty years of experience in all phases of technology for a start. It’s in my blood. I’ve seen technology rolled out throughout my working life with many of the most talented people around, who I consider friends. They (we) were a new breed during our prime, but we can’t hold a candle to the generation currently in control, or generations soon to follow. In I/T that’s how it has always been and I believe it will always be. That’s why it will continue to accelerate. After all, we’re simply wired differently.
As a group, we’re always looking forward and we embrace change and advances with arms open wide. It’s easy for me to see the future and it isn’t gloomy as so many books and movies portray. It’s bright and sunny with incredible promise, based mostly on how we choose to take advantage of computers and particularly androids.
I think it’s human nature to be drawn to androids. We know they’re computers (or robots), but there’s something about the thought of an android helping mankind, not set on destroying it, that pulls us toward that part of our eventual evolution. All you have to do is look around. Everyone embraces change and technology in nearly every aspect of everyday life. Look no further than with our phones of today and how they’ve progressed over the past forty years or so.
So, based on my past experiences and continuing to see the evolution accelerating, the predictions I make may not even hold on to the timeline I advance. They will likely be here sooner!
I hope you enjoy this snippet of predictions and how we got to 2129 when the storyline takes off.
Most of all, I hope you have a fun time reading my books.
~ * ~
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~ * ~
In 2017, our hero (Bill Bailey) dies in an auto accident. He’s cryogenically frozen until awakened in 2129. These are the two important dates of the 2129 Series. Bill’s values, personality, and memories are from 2017. His adventures and our storyline begin in 2129.
Not wanting to disrupt the storyline’s flow, I’ve covered many of the major changes occurring between these two years in this addendum. I hope you enjoy it.
A brief glimpse of the living environment in 2129
Bill recalls leaving the hospital with Riley (the Nurse who awakened him) after he’s been introduced to Griffin (the most advanced android ever created).
Riley came back from visiting with the technical team and was still smiling broadly. “Gather your clothes, you’re going to your new apartment.”
We walked out of the hospital and Riley waved me into a car without a driver. She got in on the other side and announced the address. Without a driver, the car moved slowly at first while merging into traffic. All the other cars on the road had people in various positions; talking to one another, watching an in-car screen, or just aimlessly looking around. There were no drivers anywhere.
“Do you have cars with a steering wheel and brakes?”
“Yes, but only in designated areas, like a remote farm. They’re very rare.”
While in transit, I took in the scenery. Office buildings looked new and were between two and five stories high. Many had a glass or mirrored exterior with plenty of well-manicured grass and shrubbery surrounding each building and sidewalk. There was a noticeable lack of trash or litter. It reminded me of Disney World, with no patches of empty buildings in disrepair.
I wondered if it was the neighborhood or indicative of the times. Most streets were two lanes (some three) going in each direction. There seemed to be very little traffic, and people on the streets were all well-dressed and appeared to be happy. I saw no beggars looking for a handout or such.
The sky was bright with a few high white clouds. The temperature was in the low seventies. Surely, they couldn’t control the weather, could they? I didn’t know what to expect, but this was very nice.
“Are we downtown or in the suburbs?”
“I think you would categorize this as being in the suburbs, although cities are not nearly as densely populated as they were before the pandemic (Author Note: this was written in 2017. More on this pandemic later). Most people abandoned the cities for fear of becoming infected. Scientifically, it didn’t make much sense, but people just felt better being more spread out.”
“I can understand that. We lived in the suburbs southwest of Kansas City. It’s funny, I’d ask you where we were, but I really don’t care. There’s nothing here I can remember anyway, so what’s the point?”
Riley made eye contact. “Are you being sarcastic or showing a little mean streak?”
“Just an old man making conversation, a very old man.” I went back to taking in the scenery all around me.
We arrived later at what I recognized as a complex of condos and apartments. They were new but styled to resemble something from my old life. Most had attractive bay windows and balconies on each level. Stone, brick, and stucco, they were all attractively blended together and color-coordinated.
As Riley got out of the car, she waved the back of her hand at what I assumed was a reader. I got out of the car with my plastic bag of belongings and made my way toward a gated entrance.
“Did you pay for the ride with the brief swipe of your hand?”
“Yes, implants are networked for payments and security.”
“Do they track you with those as well?”
“They can, but androids monitor us, and their programming only allows tracking in severe situations. If I were to disappear suddenly and without notice, they could find me. The personal tracking you had during your lifetime has been outlawed.”
~ * ~
In writing the Series, I tried to make the environment in 2129 as real and believable as possible. I stayed away from the dystopian environments predicted in many other science fiction books and movies. There are no ominously-dark always-raining skies, no millions of scary people clogging each street where it’s always raining or containing war-ravaged buildings. There are no flying cars buzzing around everywhere in the sky. As I envision America in 2129, there are not twenty or thirty billion people living on top of one another, it’s very similar to America in 2017.
The everyday living environment was modeled, by taking into consideration, the changes occurring over the past one-hundred-twelve years (from 1915 till 2017), since the story takes place one-hundred-twelve years into the future. I looked backward to project forward.
I found living conditions, had changed very little in the time between 1915 and 2017. The living environment was very much the same. So, I incorporated refinements to travel, entertainment, and communications to predict the living environment in the future. In 1915, we lived in apartments and homes and went about our lives very much the same as when we did in 2017.
What we will do in 2129 is what’s different, particularly given the technological advances we will enjoy, even though the environment is very similar.
Here’s a little history lesson from an old programmer.
My I/T background
I started in I/T in 1968 when it was known as IBM because it dominated the industry. The first machine I worked on as an operator was an IBM 360/30. It had 32k of internal storage (power).
Today, I can’t think of any piece of equipment or any device that isn’t significantly more powerful. Cell phones, watches, well everything needing some form of computing power is much more powerful than the corporate machine I began my career on.
The first computer itself was also totally different from the computers of today. For example, data storage in the 1960s consisted of tall, stand-alone magnetic tape drives and Direct Access Storage Devices (DASD). The DASD resembled a series of thick, orange, vinyl records (many may not even know what a vinyl record is), stacked with space in between each one where a mechanical finger would shoot in and out between the fast spinning “records” to extract small portions of data.
In 1968, around 7 megs of data could be stored on a DASD device. Each was a self-contained piece of equipment that sat on the floor in a three-foot by three-foot by four-foot-high space with a hinged glass top allowing you to observe and change the fast-spinning discs.
DASD devices were a major corporate expense in 1968. Today, you can buy a thumb drive containing twenty terabytes of data storage for about twenty dollars.
That’s how far access speeds and storage technology have progressed.
During that same time, computers were housed in rooms having a raised floor and dedicated A/C to keep the room and equipment cool. We used to put our lunch, coke, and beer under the two-foot by two-foot square removable floor tiles to keep them cold. The space was meant for cables and wires, but it also made a great refrigerator.
During the late 1980s, I was with a large Pharma company that dedicated thousands of square feet of space to their state-of-the-art computer room. We had a celebration when we had one gigabyte of DASD. We thought we had really arrived. A million megabytes (one thousand gigabytes) comprise one terabyte of data. The size and capacity of storage devices are a perfect example of the acceleration I refer to. It’s been amazing and shows no sign of ending anytime soon.
Today, server farms have replaced computer rooms, and the power, speed, and storage capacities are virtually unlimited.
~ * ~
When I began my programming career in 1970, the language I created code in was BAL (Basic Assembler Language). It was comprised of about three dozen main instructions on a single green card that gave a programmer all they needed to know about how to create applications. When folded into thirds or quarters, the green card was about 4” x 8 ½”. We dealt in bits and bytes and words. We were talking directly to the machine in its most basic language. Our instructions (code) were keypunched into cards and then read into storage by card readers.
I wonder what happened to all the card readers and keypunch machines of the past?
Networking would not be invented for another decade and the internet was a couple of decades away. Are you getting the picture?
Data, in most cases, were input from cards and were presented in flat files, like columns and rows of a spreadsheet. The first database was invented by IBM for manufacturing Bills of Materials (BOM). The first screens were primarily invented to take the place of keypunch machines before accessing and displaying data as applications. Green screens as they were known, took up a lot of real estate on desks and tables for several decades. Now, color and flat screens are only a couple of inches thick and can be subdivided for multiple views of multiple applications.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) was introduced in the 1980s. Algorithms can be thought of as advanced rules within AI. Both are a result of the complex layering of decision tree logic that can only be supported by the powerful resources of today.
I wonder what the next generation will be called.
Personal computing arrived in the late 1980s and has refined itself from the original lug-around to the hand-held device and cellphones of today.
The cellphone was a phone during the 1990s when it began its evolution. Now, it’s impossible to think of them without photography capabilities and integrated apps. Integrated apps make the cell phones of today much more powerful than any commercial computer that existed in 1968.
The under-the-skin implanted receiver/transmitter talked about in the book, isn’t widely in use today, but it does exist. It will be essential in 2129 and beyond.
The point of this brief Memory Recall example is this: in equipment, coding languages, applications, and presentation; I/T has accelerated in development, while other environmental elements have merely grown over the last sixty years or more.
What is currently being done by social media giants (platforms) mining and correlating data is yet another, perhaps more frightening example of accelerated growth in the technological arena. Google was formed in 1998. Now it controls a large portion of technology that didn’t even exist two decades ago. Facebook came along in 2004, a date that will live forever in infamy…
Those of us in the industry thought IBM made the right decision to let Microsoft spin off in 1975. At the time, we thought it was a worthless promise, but what did we know? The rest is history.
So, when you read the 2129 Series, think about how close it is to the 2017 environment of today. It’s not that far a leap forward. The really important changes are how computers and their controls have been integrated into the 2129 environment, and how that impacts all aspects of life itself.
For example, today you can ask Alexa to control your heating/cooling systems, control your lights, or find a favorite program on your streaming big-screen TV. You can speak into your cellphone and google with any question you might think of. And today, driverless cars are in final testing. It’s just too bad (in my opinion) computers are not integrated into government today, as they will be in 2129.
Summary
I hope you can see, with this as background, it’s not a great leap of faith to envision my predicted environment of 2129. My main point: technology will continue to advance much more rapidly than our normal living conditions and interactions.
Other than the adventures, I don’t believe there’s much fiction in the 2129 science fiction technology of the 2129 Series.
Griffin and his buddies WILL exist by then, if not sooner. The capabilities I predict for them might be just a little ahead of what might happen, but I’d bet my life on them occurring sometime soon afterward. Easy for me to say at my ripe old age.
So, the Cryogenics and changes reversing our hero’s age from sixty-nine in 2017 to his thirties in 2129 have to be taken as a means to an end; a transition for the story to start. The environment Bill Bailey wakes up in is as close as this man can predict, and it plays a major role in all of the plots throughout the chapters, books, and expanded storylines.
I hope I’m wrong.
There is one ominous prediction I make, given the insanely stupid people running the world right now. There will be a catastrophe reducing the population of Earth within the next generation. On this, I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but I use it in a few places within the storyline to provide context for the characters’ reluctance to do certain things. The premise is; they’ve lived through one nuclear exchange and want to avoid another, at all costs.
It’s also central to the need to development of Cricket (the conscience of the world) in the third book (SPY GAMES) and beyond. Technology needs to provide a failsafe, preventing countries from being able to destroy one another. This I believe will happen.
Finally, I believe the U.S. will experience major political and social upheaval leading up to 2129. Not like my other dire prediction, but changes that are necessary for the advantages and power of computers and androids to be used effectively in our future society.
Unlike with technology, evolution in politics simply doesn’t exist. It will take a major revolution to affect change. Power will not remake itself naturally, and all governments seem to be about: is power. A Constitutional Convention may need to happen sooner than I predicted. Anyway…
My goal with the 2129 Series is to entertain and generate thought and introspection.
I sincerely hope you have fun reading all of the books. Just hold on because I intend to take you for an exciting ride, and it will be one you can actually believe in.
So, what follows are my best-guess predictions upon which the story is built. My hope is this will improve your experience with the Series while causing that level of thought and introspection I referenced. It can be wonderful; as in the books I’ve written.
I’m an optimist at heart and I believe our best days are still ahead of us.
As I go through this addendum, in certain parts I’ll tie it into the text of the first book. Otherwise, I’ll simply present what I believe will happen.
It’s important for you to understand: I make no value judgments on what or how events happen, these are simply to set the stage, for context.
So, how will our environment of 2129 come to be?
Chapter 1 – 2017 – 2050
(Sometime between now and 2050)
In the first book (MEMORY RECALL) Riley gives Bill a short history lesson on:
“How China and the U.S. had overthrown the North Korean leader and how Russia had fallen after the nuclear exchange. The nuclear exchange coupled with chemical and biological weapons that exploded during the exchange, had reduced the world’s ability to fight off diseases and infection. This led to a worldwide pandemic killing billions.”
This is needed to set the stage for later in the series when a group of spies is reluctant to include the Chinese military as part of their espionage and disruption campaign. The spies of 2129 didn’t want to risk setting in motion another nuclear exchange.
With that as background, I’ll elaborate on how I think we might get into that position.
I do hope I’m wrong.
My predictions (I feel a little like Nostradamus, not):
By 2042, there will be a Nuclear Exchange. If Iran doesn’t already have nuclear weapons, they will acquire them during this time, covertly with the help of Russia and North Korea. Besides nuclear, these three countries, along with China, will also covertly develop chemical and biological weapons, some fashioned after a weaponized Covid strain. While doing this, they will all be secretly developing a vaccine to inoculate themselves before unleashing their chaos on the world. Unfortunately, the vaccine part doesn’t happen before things go terribly wrong.
Does any of this sound familiar?
Also, while this is happening, North Korea will continue to antagonize the world until China and the U.S. come together to effect regime change. China will absorb North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and install new leadership.
Activities surrounding these events are detailed in the first two books of my Jack Patrick Series: TWO WEEKS IN OCTOBER and IRANIAN NUKES currently available on Amazon Vella.
Once Iran has their weapons and delivery systems, Russia and Iran will create a treaty with Turkey to blackmail and essentially annex Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and any other country located nearby, to make a cohesive territory bent on the destruction of Israel and dominance of the entire Middle East and later, they hope, Europe.
Once this alliance has been formalized and presented to the world, an emboldened Iran (on its own), will unleash a chemical weapon on Israel, followed by a limited nuclear explosion destroying most of Jerusalem. Iran believes their God requires this of them. The rest of the world will be shocked, but not for long.
Nuclear retaliation by Israel, the U.S., and our allies quickly escalates and leaves all of Iran, Syria, Iraq, and most of Israel and other Middle East countries, a radioactive wasteland. It will all be over in forty-eight hours. China, Russia, and Turkey will be so surprised, that they won’t come to the aid of Iran.
Once the nuclear exchange happens, everything changes!
Close to two billion people will die from the weapon exchanges and radiation covering a massive area including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, India, and Southeast Asia.
Russia and the US (interestingly enough backed by China, NATO, and others) will face off, but not exchange nuclear weapons.
The world economic system will collapse.
Within several years, Russia will disintegrate into several smaller countries (bordering Europe). As part of an agreement between the U.S. and China, Russia’s nuclear stockpile will be seized and destroyed. China will grab most of the land along its border with Russia extending North. This makes China, by territory, the largest nation on Earth with incredible natural resources.
With the world in turmoil; riots and chaos will threaten governments around the globe. Immune systems will begin to fail, particularly around the areas experiencing radiation fallout. A global pandemic, believed to be left over from chemical and biological agents in Iran, will decimate what’s left of the Middle East spreading into Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Transportation between countries will be shut down and riots will add mass casualties to the ensuing devastation of the pandemic. The US will refortify its southern border; completing and enhancing the wall to shut down all transportation outside its borders.
Five billion people will die worldwide before an antidote is found, manufactured, and effectively distributed to the masses.
~ * ~
Riley continued giving her history lesson to Bill.
“Your generation, the baby boomers of World War II, began the birth control revolution. It turns out, in some cases, females born many generations later found it much more difficult or even impossible to have children. Between the pandemic and the fertility crisis, the world population is now (in 2129) below two billion people.”
Note: The U.S. population in 2129 is around 300 million, ten percent less than in 2017.
Riley paused and sat up straight, looking me in the eyes. “While the rest of the world was moving backward, technology in the U.S. continued to advance at an accelerated pace. That led to Griffin and his predecessors taking on more and more of what people did. As their cognitive abilities increased, with advanced AI and such, and where analysis and projections were important, they began to show up in decision-making positions across all areas. Some were still computers. Others more advanced androids like Griffin.”
I was surprised but not shocked. Riley continued,
“The biggest change might be in our government. Partisan Politics and what you called Identity Politics became so prevalent it led to thousands of people being killed!
“What began as protests soon devolved into miniature wars between different classes or groups of people. It got so bad, that family members were being pitted against one another based on their ideology or whom they supported. There was no cooperation in government, and with the world in turmoil, something had to be done.”
She took a deep breath before continuing, “About fifteen years after the pandemic subsided, there was a Constitutional Convention where the most advanced computers were used to bring about calm and help with decision-making.
“It was a very big step, using the computers, but it had to be done. As a result, there were sweeping changes made at all levels of the government.”
~ * ~
So, while the rest of the world is in turmoil, the U.S. political system will spiral out of control. Paid demonstrators, championing a variety of issues, will clash with police and others organized in opposition, leaving tens of thousands dead and a deadlocked government unable to effectively provide safety, security, or otherwise conduct business.
Again, does this sound familiar?
As the debt doubles the national GDP, Congress will pass legislation abandoning any basis of currency, arguing it’s all based on the good faith of the government anyway. This will eliminate the debt while government spending will continue to escalate.
Double-digit inflation will rage throughout the land and the government can do nothing about it. They caused it!
Chapter 2 – Constitutional Convention
(Sometime between 2060 and 2075)
At the time of the Constitutional Convention, the internet and electronic communications will be secure with biometric, personal, and other identification enhancements. Hacking will be eliminated by internationally-applied databases and advanced AI/algorithm monitoring. Email will also have been cleaned up significantly. Only opt-in emails are distributed as profiling and spam practices vanish.
The public will get their news and information increasingly from unbiased internet sources having shown they can operate without ideology or prejudice. This will eliminate nearly all newspapers, TV news shows, and other forms of information distribution and/or “monitoring” prevalent today. Goodbye Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms as we know them today.
This is the communications environment that will exist during the start of the Convention.
Three months will pass from the Convention’s beginning without any progress being made to fix the government. Proposals will all be band-aids submitted by elected politicians and their lobbyists trying to maintain their power.
With truthful communications and news reporting, citizens will see firsthand; that there will be no possibility of compromise because it involves Legislators giving up the power they’ve accumulated over the years. Even as the methods of individual communications, voting, and legislating have all been automated and secured, Legislators will continue to hold on to the status quo: their power.
Finally, several visionary Legislators, backed by millions of citizens following the proceedings, will use networking and computing capabilities to fundamentally change how our federal government is structured and works.
A new Constitution will be submitted directly to the people. By involving tens of millions electronically, the people will override the politicians, ushering in a new era of technology in governance. It will get extremely intense before the politicians, recognizing the will of the people, give in. Many politicians will be forced to resign based on what was witnessed and by a validated electronic lack of support.
The involved citizenry will support those visionaries in completely altering the structure and operation of the federal government. It will be the first step of a somewhat bloodless coup.
~ * ~
Riley went on and on, telling Bill about how androids and computers took the place of many members of Congress, and how nearly all money had been eliminated from elections.
The House and the Senate will be completely restructured: a single person having a supercomputer/android assistant per state.
Securing electronic communications and automating processes, coupled with the power of these computers, will eliminate the need for having two congressional houses. The people will be able to make their voices heard much easier and in a very timely manner, unforeseen by our founders.
Measures and the desires of constituents will be securely, and electronically available to all citizens. All measures will need a 60% majority of over 66% of eligible voters to advance out of a committee.
Then, unbiased computers will analyze the impacts of each measure on other entities (bordering states, existing laws, etc.) and/or on an approved budget. No measure will be advanced to the President without a 66% majority of citizens. Measures above a budget will be tabled until the budget issue is resolved by a similar vote.
A new budgeting process will restore the value of the dollar and eliminate runaway inflation as the Federal Reserve is more narrowly defined as several super-androids handling fiscal transactions.
On each measure, unbiased computers will present accurate detailed information, with both pros and cons including impacts. Citizens will soon discover there is no need for political parties, lobbying firms, or contributions. The people will be interacting electronically. Facts are facts, and since they will be available without bias to all, politics will be taken out of politics, eliminating political parties and outside influences. Both will be banned by law.
Most measures will still be originated in Congress and all will be posted electronically. Some will generate electronic forums to be held, where debates on the details along with the computer-generated pros and cons will be presented.
A voter-submitted measure on a state forum will have to gather 80% support from their state’s electorate before being advanced to Congress.
This same concept will apply to recalling Legislators. Many will be eliminated as the power they yielded goes back to the people. Communications will be automated, secure, and available to all eligible voters.
Once a measure is passed, computers will detail project management tasks to assure they’re proper implementation within their budget and without corruption or favoritism being shown. Project plans will need to gain approval from Legislators before work begins. All projects will be audited by computers on a quarterly basis.
Measures will also contain result measurements which must be achieved in phases throughout the life of the measure, and all measures will contain a sunset clause to determine if they should be continued after a designated period.
Over the years, computers will be replaced in Congress by androids to make the government work environment more hospitable.
~ * ~
From Riley in the first book: “They had found a way to secure electronic communications to make issues more easily raised and voted upon by the people. With computers and electronic communications, they eliminated the ability of states or Congress to impose their will on the people without their expressed consent. It was truly remarkable.
“The entire process is much faster, more efficient, and fairer to the people. Over eighty percent of citizens are involved. They study information and vote in elections and on ballot measures.
“Data on each citizen is closely monitored and secured, not like in your day of supposed platforms which were, in reality, data-harvesting schemes. If there are enough citizens in one state, they can change representatives at any time with a two-thirds vote. It’s taken the politics out of politics.
“There are no political parties today. And all elected officials have term limits. When they have served an eight-year term, staggered by states every two years, people on the list of candidates are reviewed, given the opportunity to address their constituents, and a new vote is taken all electronically.”
~ * ~
Most computers in 2129 can reliably execute hundreds or even thousands of levels of AI and embedded algorithms instantaneously enabling these and many other changes to be made.
Secured, truthful communications are key to facilitating changes in elections and acquiring patron feedback as the will of the people. In this new environment, they will be quickly and accurately determined by computers.
Computer programs will be routinely verified to assure they have no bias as a foundation for governmental use.
Technology, particularly in AI, telecommunications, and algorithms will continue to advance exponentially (from now) while other events are happening gradually worldwide.
~ * ~
Riley continues her explanation. “The Courts have been taken out of the Executive Branch and are now overseen by the Supreme Court. Many courts are chaired by androids, incapable of making bad decisions based on the laws as written and the facts presented. Human judges still exist to make sure proper facts are given to the computers and to handle specific cases computers cannot resolve.
“The Supreme Court is now an oversight body with super-android assistants, and many issues are resolved by national referendums, particularly on high-level or high-profile policy issues. Together, when combined with eliminating political parties and having secured accurate voting, these changes eliminated what you used to call ‘activist judges’ and ‘special interests.’
“Androids essentially made the government much more efficient and effective. Androids also changed the private sector so completely, that many other changes soon followed.”
~ * ~
Pilot programs of AI and algorithms will be introduced in the VA to operationally assist (then run) the delivery and maintenance of Veterans’ healthcare. Once successful they will be highly publicized and lead to other governmental agencies being run by computers.
Computers will be found to be much more effective in handling complex situations, scheduling, and controlling costs. In the VA, they will triage most patients over the web with distributive medical equipment and highly specialized AI.
The entire system of providing healthcare will be reformed and brought under control after decades of escalating costs associated with human inefficiencies and severe profit motives.
The legal systems will also greatly benefit early on. Courts will build AI programs to access laws and precedents, leading to predicted verdicts; then leading to recommendations of innocence or guilt. Computer triage will occur for > 75% of all cases, soon replacing most judges for many types of litigation.
Smaller cities will start using computers (fashioned after the VA and judicial programs) to manage and control expenditures and resource assignments. They will be wildly successful and adopted across the country, saving millions of dollars annually.
Chapter 3 – Personal Implants
(Sometime between 2075 and 2100)
It will take many years before computers are totally accepted and more importantly trusted in all proposed programs. During this time, the government will complete implementing most of the changes resulting from the Constitutional Convention.
Soon after, and with individuals having experienced computers increasingly since birth, everyone will be convinced of their impartiality and enormous power. Therefore, the government will move on to one of the most important changes of all: personal implants.
Even though personal implants vary only slightly from features today found on phones or devices, there will be skepticism about the program’s security that will take time to overcome. Key among the acceptance criteria will be the need for ongoing verification and assurance that only authorized people or entities have access and/or may use personal implant data. It will have to be strictly monitored with severely enforced legal remedies for any person or entity violating access or usage regulations.
This will be critical for people to trust the system. Personal implants will be small sending, receiving, and storage devices tied to secured databases in the cloud for each person. They will be slipped under the skin of the hand.
The implant’s utility will grow incrementally over the years by attaching to apps like the cell phones of today. Initially, they will only provide identification and medical information for use in emergencies. Access and use will be monitored by supercomputers making them secure and impervious to hackers or misuse.
Soon thereafter, improvements will be added for medical items such as monitoring medications and heart rhythm. They will be able to be tied to other implants for the distribution of medications or other monitoring needs including drug usage and diabetic data.
They will also be used for tracking individuals when certain emergencies are declared, with proper authorization. This feature will save thousands of lives each year in kidnapping or abuse situations.
Once the implants become commonplace, there will be great demand for financial features to replace cash, checks, and credit cards. The individual will be able to choose which features will be used, but they soon will become standard for all methods of monetary payment. People will place their hand in front of a reader (like chips in credit cards today) and authorize use.
There will be many additional uses added over time, all based on apps being administered and monitored by secure, unbiased computers. In 2129, computer power is enormous, and trust in the computer’s integrity is complete and essential.
Chapter 4 – Capitalist Communism
Perhaps the greatest change resulting from the Constitutional Convention will be how the government deals with personal wealth accumulation. Many will think capitalism died with the Convention. Many will fight the changes for years thinking the U.S. had morphed into a modified version of Communism. The following are some of the programs adopted at the Convention:
Minimum Living Wage – There will be a great compromise at the Convention; all citizens (only citizens) will be given a minimum living wage, housing, healthcare, and work, based on their needs, all managed and assigned by computers.
The healthcare industry with its costs spiraling completely out of control will be taken over by the government and operated in conjunction with the VA after all programs have been computerized.
For those receiving benefits who do not work, the military will be used as a model to provide everyone with a job. Certain criteria will be required and maintained for each person based on the programs they participate in and the benefits they are taking advantage of. As with other programs, everything will be initiated, monitored, and controlled by impartial computers.
There will be a great outcry when computers use personal implants to make these “work programs” work, but over time it will become accepted as fair and needed.
Disney World Cities – One program will be commonly referred to as Disney World Cities. Homelessness will be eliminated by using a combination of the minimum living wage, implant monitoring, diagnosis/assistance, and computer work assignments. Mental health and addiction issues will take some time to address, but eventually, everyone will be taken care of. Local governments will be tasked to utilize these resources to begin to beautify their cities, all controlled by computers.
You’re beginning to see a pattern here, right? Once computer capabilities are seen and they can be trusted to be impartial, there will be no limit to when and how advanced computers are used in all areas. Little by little, they will become ingrained in every part of American life.
Many will fear these “work programs” and the “giveaway nation” and choose to live “outside the system” but most will comply and there will be enough benefits to all to sway public opinion.
Immigration – Non-citizens will be identified by the absence of a valid chip and given work visas, a pathway to citizenship, or be deported. The computerized information on citizenship data will be readily available and required to gain employment. Computer monitoring and involvement in business applications will make this impossible to falsify or circumvent.
Agriculture – Advancements in vision coupled with AI specialization will make robots for agricultural use commonplace, thereby greatly reducing the need for unskilled laborers. Small crops will be harvested by robots designed uniquely for the specific crops they will be used for. Government subsidies will be widely used.
Business Ownership – Standardized software applications will be required of all businesses over a certain size to manage and maintain accounting, employment, operational rules, procedures, and compliance. This will create a hybrid public/private environment where profits can be accurately measured and percentages are automatically taken for the good of the people (the accepted phrase to recategorize taxes – Orwellian doublespeak). Startups and innovation will be encouraged by having special rules and procedures, as well as government incubators with seed money.
Full Employment – In return for the freebies, everyone between 18 and 60 will have to work or be enrolled in a full-time, accredited school or approved apprenticeship. Even the disabled will be required to work on tasks not impeded by their disability (computer-managed once again).
Education – Pre-kindergarten programs will be offered to all, government-subsidized, and largely operated (at least in part) by Androids. Computerized monitoring will identify children with special needs so that they can be addressed easily and early in the child’s development. Likewise, K-12 education will become a hybrid mixture of androids and human teaching with rigorous standardized testing against an approved curriculum.
Since all financial needs will be taken care of, teacher’s unions will be abandoned in favor of specialized curricula being offered by teams of humans and androids. When fully implemented, over ninety percent of high school graduates will be at or above grade level on important subject matter. Constant monitoring and intervention will assure this happens seamlessly.
Aptitude will be consistently monitored to provide education and career paths after high school. Public institutions (those receiving financial assistance from one or more state or federal agencies) will be monitored for tuition management and research programs will commonly be offered using androids and human teachers. No child will be denied an advanced degree, work program, or apprenticeship.
Because of the financial pressures, private colleges and universities will rethink their financial models as they become less important to the general education of the nation.
By the end of the first decade of the twenty-second century, computers will play a vital role in nearly every aspect of one’s life. As people get used to them, and particularly as people grow up with them, they will become accepted and even taken for granted as part of the fabric of our nation.
How will this acceptance take place? It will be a result of the chaos across the land caused by global unrest and political ineptitude. It will be an inherent desire to return to a more peaceful, secure time where people live together in harmony. It has begun, starting with the cellphones of today, which soften attitudes toward computers, and the polarization of politics leading to a desire for change.
~ * ~
How many apps do you have on your cellphone today?
I look forward to the changes. I have no fear of computers and believe their utility is still not fully understood, leading to the angst concerning AI.
As you read the books in the 2129 Series, I hope you notice the subtlety where many of these and other changes appear.
My suggestion: sit back and enjoy the books and embrace the changes.
Chapter 5 – Culture
Here are a few more predictions of how 2129 will be different from today. The following will impact our culture.
Newspapers – My wife and I used to read two editions of our local newspaper per day. Today, newspapers are so politicized, that we’ve discontinued our subscription, along with millions of others. By 2129, they will be eliminated. Bias-free (not like today) internet sources will supply >85% of the news consumed. Publication platforms for news and commentary will all be web-based. It’s already started.
Borders / Immigration – With the pandemic border shutdown, android, and intelligent machinery advancements, and full employment eliminating the need for most low-skilled workers; only critical-skilled people will be allowed to immigrate according to regulated numbers per state. Unlike today, immigration laws will be fair, comprehensive, and enforced.
Population Growth – Birth/population growth rates worldwide will vary between -1.75% and +1.75% annually. The U.S. will average +0.5% annually. Modified In-Vitro Fertilization will become increasingly popular because it will enable customized genetic manipulation for creating the desired offspring.
Life Expectancy – will be 91 in males, and 90 in females reflecting gender-role changes. In the U.S. assisted suicides will account for 2% of total deaths. Assisted suicide will be available by having both a medical and a mental doctor’s approval state-by-state.
Relationships – Women will become the dominant sex in relationships. Females will outnumber males being born by 6%. Men from birth will be raised to be something unrecognizable from the twentieth century. Efforts to reduce aggression in men and normalize identities will cause men to be more withdrawn and not as active in their pursuit of women.
Note: To illustrate this point, at the time of this writing, there has been yet another mass murder in our schools. This one was in Texas where for some reason, several dozen officers waited for over forty-five minutes before storming the killer. While I was growing up, this would have been unheard of. Regardless of your views on guns; in the ‘50s and ‘60s, heaven and earth would have been moved to get to the shooter, rules, and procedures be damned! This is unacceptable to all. We would have acted. I believe this is indicative of the changes in men, which will only continue as time goes by.
Workday – Normal hours of business operation will move from 40 to 32 hours per week. Over 60% of all non-labor-intensive work will be conducted remotely (out of the home).
Fitness – will be routinely and continuously monitored for weight and vital signs on devices (watches, phones, iPad) and transmitted to monitoring programs. This, along with medical advances, will result in a healthier society and lead to a longer and more productive lifespan.
Cars – will be driverless, controlled by traffic computers, and operated like Uber does today (call, pick-up, and deliver). Even the trucking industry will use driverless technology with a rider for emergencies in only certain situations. Cars will operate primarily on a new generation of batteries, fuel cells, and hydrogen. This will virtually eliminate the need for garages and parking lots changing personal transportation habits significantly while significantly reducing auto accidents and deaths.
Social Media – Computers utilizing much more sophisticated AI will monitor and control multiple classes of social media. Basic communications between multiple individuals (like what’s available in 2017) will largely be unchanged operationally. The content and filtering will be changed dramatically by more closely monitoring and controlling advertisements and harmful practices preying on children and other vulnerable individuals. They will also be monitored to eliminate monopolies and prevent data harvesting. Apple’s recent change to its security practices has begun this practice.
Race Relations – Because computers control so much of society, there will be very little room for people of different races to be treated differently. There will still be “victim-champions” looking for notoriety and fame, but most will die out and not be taken seriously. Major changes in housing and city services in large cities will be a significant drag on progress, but they will be addressed successfully for the most part.
Chapter 6 – Medicine
Diseases – Many types of cancer, heart disease, etc. will be practically eliminated by gene targeting and gene remedies. This technique will eliminate most chemotherapy (mass killing of cells).
Common Ailments – Triage will be commonly performed by video telephones interfacing with computers using AI. Vitals will be able to be recorded online, along with locally collected blood work to support a diagnosis. Most medications will be forwarded without the need for doctor-approved prescriptions based on highly controlled gathering and analysis of data.
Adverse reactions to medications will be taken into account automatically by computers based on an individual’s medical history, medication usage, and eventually monitoring provided by the implants. Many colds, the flu, and other common ailments will have shots administered at grocery stores (implant controlled) based on the person’s electronic medical history and data collected online. This will significantly reduce hospital & doctor visits.
Weight & fitness – will be controlled using medications and more powerful vitamins. Instead of counting calories, medications in the form of target pills will reduce categories of fat to maintain certain weight levels. Again, based on medical history and implant collected data, individual fitness programs will be available via computers to maintain one of several desired fitness standards.
Artificial Limbs – will be integrated (using Android technology) where most basic functionality can be restored. Wiring will be either fed by human nerve endings (arms, legs, hands) or implants in the head converting brain waves to blue-tooth type technology and transmitted converters in the limb, using miniaturized computers the size of a quarter or smaller.
Soft-tissue Surgeries – will almost be eliminated, and replaced by gene targeting and synthetic stem cell processes. If the knee has lost its meniscus, a regrowth gene will be sent to regenerate it. Arthritis accumulations in joints will be largely reduced with targeted gene and regrowth therapy.
Aging – will be slowed with aging systems advances, including the ongoing monitoring and elimination of arthritis. Together, the pituitary, thyroid, ovaries, and testes will be grouped and targeted to reverse the speed at which someone grows old. Forever 35 research will be designed to keep the body toned and operating as if the person were 35 years old. It will retard aging. Aging cannot be reversed in 2129 (not yet – spoiler alert).
Pregnancies – Over 45% of pregnancies will have some form of government control and/or intervention. DNA tests for abnormalities will be standard. Customizing genes for sex, IQ, athletic tendencies, etc. will be common, but with mixed results. Left alone, < 50% of women will be able to have children without assistance in 2129.
Robot-assisted Surgeries – Nearly all surgeries will be performed using specialized robot assistance with AI-enhanced magnification, recognition, and treatment. This will virtually eliminate mistakes and result in the detection of other abnormalities during procedures.
Limited Length Lasers – will be in development leading to advances in surgeries and eventually non-invasive diagnosis (Star Trek tool Dr. McCoy uses). Lasers of various lengths, frequencies, and light potential will improve diagnosis and treatments. Think of it as advanced and specialized sonogram technology blended with radar, radiation, and X-rays. Once fully developed, this will revolutionize the medical arena for detection and minor surgery.
Chapter 7 – Entertainment
Individually Driven – Movies will largely be streamed for consumption by individuals. Movie theaters will be fewer and more of a social experience enjoyed by groups as events (dinner, movie, discussion). Actors will no longer be as important in the process. Animation, graphics, androids, and advanced AI will be used in concert or blended to significantly reduce the need for actors.
Educational or documentary types of presentations will be readily available using AI, a vast array of objects, and conversion tools being able to describe and then visualize the topic desired. Today, text-to-speech is commonplace. Advances in AI technology will be able to simulate 3-D printing and motion of nearly anything desirable. For education and training in general, these capabilities will be invaluable. This will be the ultimate in Virtual Reality.
Virtual Reality – will evolve to such a degree it will also lead to a major drop in movie viewings. Many successful movies will make viewers a character in the experience, instead of only viewing. This process will also be being used in schools as a teaching aid on how-to and/or historical re-enactment.
Venues for virtual reality will make most amusement parks obsolete because it provides incremental thrills without the dangers or the travel/expense/wait experience.
Travel/vacations – will be integrated into salaries and part of the full-employment and city beautification programs. The average American family will take three vacations of three or more days per year. Cruising and limited travel into the lower limits of space (weightlessness) will be very popular.
Holograms – will be highly used and nearly perfected. They will be merged into Virtual Reality and educational/documentarian productions.
Chapter 8 – Super Androids: Griffin
(Androids and super androids)
Griffin spoke to Bill in the first book. “According to your file, you had once thought you could create a ‘learning machine’ if you had enough memory and speed. We now have both and can use them to improve each Android model. I would like to explain how my body works and then proceed to the more interesting topics.
“Like your brain, my memory is programmed to control what my body does or needs to do. For example, to walk, I send messages to my legs and artificial muscles to make my legs move—”
I interrupted. “How does that happen?”
“It works much like the muscle system in your body. A command is sent to my legs, hips, knees, ankles, and feet to cause them to move up, forward, and then down. Part of it is hydraulics, part is specialized materials like muscles. My balance can be thought of as a gyroscope keeping me from falling.
“When I want to stop, my muscles stay positioned, so I do not fall over. The commands are triggered by a program in a subsection of my brain, or memory as you used to refer to it.”
“How many subsections does your brain have?”
“As you once said, they are virtual. As many as I may need.”
~ * ~
In the old days of IBM, programs could run in partitions concurrently. For example, there would be a background partition where the operating system would control essential computer operations (inputting data, processing, outputting data, etc.). You could think of it as breathing, hearing, and general awareness of the computer. General awareness would be to recognize available computing capacity and trigger new events in additional partitions.
There could be one or more foreground partitions running concurrently, too. This is where we would typically run application programs. While one partition was busy (retrieving data from a DASD device, for example) there would be computing power available for use in another partition.
In the early days, when the computer was busy, a green light would glow on the front panel and usage would be recorded. We used to load the partitions up, trying to keep the green light burning by putting several programs in separate foreground partitions (f1, f2, etc.). These partitions would be automatically initiated when the operating system recognized unused, available computing power. This was an essential part of computers, even back in the 1960s.
As an operator, the greater the usage, the better operator you were. All computers operate similarly today processing multiple applications concurrently.
Griffin’s virtual subsections meant he did not have a limit on the number of foreground partitions available in his brain. He was not constrained by memory or speed.
“Is all this hard-coded in your brain?” Bill asked.
Hard-coded is another way of saying it is programmed to stay/reside in his brain, unlike an application that resides in a partition only while it’s running.
Bill is attempting to determine how flexible Griffin’s computing power is. He is trying to understand how much memory Griffin is committed to being Griffin versus how much can be run as an application (performing a task). Griffin’s response is much like a human. His basic functions of normal movements reside in his memory (brain) for instantaneous action. Other applications are retrieved and initiated in a foreground partition as called upon based on stimuli.
~ * ~
Griffin explains further. “Most of it is, but it may be altered, either externally or from experiences learned. While walking, for example, I walk up steps. I learn to keep my balance one step at a time.”
“Help me understand how you learn from experience.”
“I believe in your time; you had what you used to call hooks in your program’s logic. This allowed a program to use new logic as it was developed. My advanced AI comes with integrated hooks throughout. I believe they are even more prevalent in my neuro module. The way the neuro module handles hooks is different than my AI.”
~ * ~
Griffin is explaining how changes can be rapidly and easily incorporated into his central programming (brain). His neuro module had not been activated at the time of this exchange. They had tried unsuccessfully for over thirty years to activate it on many Android models before. Programmers of that time tried to activate it by writing new code. It was much too complex for that to work.
The neuro module is mechanical (still chip and circuit technology) which Griffin believes will be a significant improvement over having hooks in his operating programs (code).
Important Question – Why hadn’t they been able to activate the neuro module before?
Answer – Because it was designed and developed by highly specialized androids to mimic basic logic modules of the human brain and thus artificially produce “independent thinking”.
The androids developing the neuro module were designing an independent brain capable of independent thinking. It was to be, the android version of our brain’s frontal lobes. It was a next-generation design. The integration from existing Android brains to the neuro module was what they couldn’t program.
For decades before 2129, programmers try to activate a highly sophisticated mechanical device by writing additional code. It didn’t and would never have worked. A single program or series of programs couldn’t solve the complexity of simulating our brain’s frontal lobes.
~ * ~
Griffin continues to explain. “I am told the neuro module’s expandability is similar to how the human brain learns. It layers experiences and learnings on top of existing knowledge. It is designed to build upon itself. It is designed to begin incorporating emotions and to enable independent thinking.
“Today, when we experience something new, it requires new programs to be written to handle it. With independent thinking, when we encounter something new, we hope to build new routines to handle most new experiences ourselves, without the help of technicians.” Bill responded,
“Did I hear none of the new neuro modules have been activated? Why do you think that is?”
“The neuro modules were developed to simulate actual brain functions. They are a new level, conceptually designed by highly advanced androids, but never activated. This is the fourth release. Each release has been ten years apart. None of the current six models have had their neuro modules activated at this time. The technicians are continually adding new logic in an attempt to activate it.”
“So, they’re adding logic, code, to your AI in an attempt to trigger your new modules?”
Griffin processed for several seconds before responding.
“I understand how you could view it like that, yes.”
“How about vision, how does it work?”
Author’s Note: Think about the discussions of today concerning AI. This was written in 2017 based on my experience and projections of the future.
“There are programs in subsections of my brain that convert light and shades into images and forms. These are then cataloged and cross-referenced. Because I have two eyes, like you, I can compute distance and approximate mass. I believe you refer to this as being able to see in three dimensions.”
“Do you see colors?”
“I convert shades into what you would call color, but it does not register with me as it does with you. It is difficult, but I can distinguish a red shade from a blue shade. Programs must tell me why that should make a difference. I do not see. I process light.
“Hearing is very similar to sight. I process sound waves. I distinguish groups of sound waves to make a word. Several words together are taught in my programming to deliver a sentence. It would be like when you were a child and you had to diagram a sentence in elementary school.”
Griffin’s explanations made perfect sense to me. In fact, he was beginning to look too perfect, and his responses began to make me feel a little uncomfortable. If I hadn’t known better, it would be hard for me to imagine I was talking with a computer. I looked toward Riley as I talked.
“In my time, there was a movie called ‘The Terminator.’ Its premise was androids became so advanced they decided humans posed a threat and needed to be eliminated. Many other Sci-Fi theories were predicting the same outcome. Why should I believe Griffin and all other Griffins wouldn’t wake up one morning and decide we know how to turn them off, so we should be eliminated?”
Riley smiled slightly. “We understand that theory. I think you might also remember from your Sci-Fi movies something called a Prime Directive. It said humans would not interfere with less-developed people AND robots were programmed to never injure humans.”
Spoiler alert – when Earth is ready and can interact effectively with aliens, Bill is provided an alien mentor. In the later books, Bill becomes a mentor to other alien civilizations (INTERVENTION Series). So much for the Prime Directive.
Bill continues, “Yeah, I remember, but the big question is, does Griffin have it in his programming?”
Riley turned toward Griffin and continued. “Griffin, explain to Bill why he doesn’t need to worry.”
Without any emotion, Griffin looked at me as he responded. “You would call it a security feature. Each of us has five humans we are by program assigned to. Every thirty days we must scan the retina of one of those five, and using our sensors, verify the person is alive, under no stress, and agrees we should continue with our mission. If the check is not performed, we are hard-coded to shut down immediately. This cannot be changed by anyone. It is also networked between all of us to make sure a single unit does not go rogue.”
Riley clarified, “It’s much more complicated than that, but that gives you an idea of how it is generally handled. You can rest assured that everyone involved in the development of Griffin and the others, takes this aspect of their programming very seriously.”
~ * ~
Throughout the first several books, Bill Bailey struggles to make sure Griffin does not turn into the Terminator. Once he’s convinced, together, they make incredible discoveries and expand the android/computer’s power significantly. That’s the basis of all books: their discoveries and how they are used to improve mankind, including space travel.
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed my predictions of what’s in store for us between now and 2129.
Many of the predictions I pray never come true, like the nuclear exchange, but I fear someone will do something stupid to make the predictions a reality, at least in part.
I truly fear the Constitutional Convention predictions. However, we are so divided as a country, that something radical could overtake men and women of goodwill. I just hope I won’t be around to witness such a radical change as I’ve predicted.
On the other hand, I am confident in many of the technological predictions I’ve covered. It will be an exciting time to live in, and once computers begin taking over parts of the government and society in general, I believe we will all benefit.
I just have to remember to look both ways before entering the intersection at 159th and Roe in Overland Park Kansas. Cryogenics as I describe it, isn’t operational yet!
2129 Series Overview
The 2129 Series is an adventure series predicting the most likely scenario of where technology might be in 2129, in what direction it might go, and how it might positively impact the world.
It’s an adventure series, but it’s also about changes, friendships, romance, and discoveries. There are shocking surprises with leading characters, the continuous evolution of androids, and how man co-habits (downloads his essence) with an android leading to our first contact with aliens.
I don’t believe we will be contacted until something like this happens. Until then, we’re not ready.
For the series to work: our hero (Bill Bailey) must have:
- Wisdom of age – he was a successful businessman and entrepreneur, a sixty-nine-year-old grandfather in 2017.
- Be transported to 2129 – he was killed in an auto accident in 2017, cryogenically frozen, and awakened to work with androids in 2129.
- Youth for adventures – while cryogenically frozen, his injuries were repaired with an experimental drug causing his body to be transformed into a thirty-year-old before being awakened.
- Properly positioned for impact – he becomes a Senior Advisor to the U.S. President, working with the most advanced android ever created: Griffin, several heads-of-state, and their nations’ top lady spies.
- Tools for impact – they discover telepathic communications, telepathic memory access, and display, leading the six most powerful androids ever created, Cricket: providing cyber-control over all things electronic, and android-driven discoveries & inventions.
- Extraordinary friends – U.S. President, top spies for six countries, heads-of-state, Cho Master – ancient practice accessing an energy universe: can see the future, alien mentors.
When combined, the overall storyline looks like this:
MEMORY RECALL – transition from 2017 to 2129, from 69-year-old to 35-year-old; super android (Griffin) with advanced capabilities; discoveries (android compassion, telepathic communications, memory access/recall); recall after-death memories.
ULTIMATE TRUTH SERUM – how Bill Bailey’s fears then become comfortable with the governmental use of memory recall; and they become spies for the President.
SPY GAMES – provocative adventures with a 007 theme and three beautiful lady spies in 2129 with gender-reversed roles (spies all “burn hot”); uncovering Communist China’s plan for world domination; kidnap and assassination attempts; development of Cricket – the conscience of the world (control over all things electronic); and our hero falls in love.
CHAOS IN CHINA – working with six beautiful lady spies; creating chaos using technology; dodging bullets & knives; researching android evolution; being introduced to Cho: an intelligent energy universe (can see the future); and our hero falls in love.
IMMORTALITY – androids gain human sight, and hearing, and develop a synthetic brain; China uprising; human brain regions downloaded into androids (co-habitation); visit from Cho alien; hero marries and retires.
DAWN OF CHANGE – hero time travels into the future; marries, and gifted children are born; android (Griffin) becomes permanent U.S. VP; Fast Start – worldwide childcare & education; children speak to Cho aliens and begin space discoveries.
VISITATIONS – alien mentor; discoveries; space travel; penetration of 4th and 5th dimensions (wormholes); visits to advanced civilizations; great human advances.
DESTINY REVEALED – second alien mentor; no wars, increased IQ, aging controlled, space travelè Earth takes her place among the stars; hero’s fate revealed; energy universe (heaven) visited.
The INTERVENTION Series – Earth sends emissaries (characters of the 2129 Series) to other planets to help in their development (Star Trek-type adventures).
From the Author
There’s a certain joy I receive when interacting with others about what I’ve written. I enjoy explaining how predictions and discoveries come about, and I enjoy the interactions with those who have read my books.
The 2129 Series provides the advances needed to set the stage for interventions with alien beings. Of course, the adventures and interactions of the characters always make it more interesting.
If you’re like me, you believe throughout mankind’s history there have been interventions here on Earth. If you can take the leap with me on the advancement of technology (android evolution, telepathic communications, and telepathic memory recall), you’ll enjoy how “we” create an environment where we can help other civilizations on distant planets, much like we were helped. This is what the Intervention Series does.
As someone relatively new to the publishing industry, I think it’s in the middle of great change. Self-publishing has expanded what’s available, particularly with e-books, and it has even called into question the role of major traditional publishing houses. Audiobooks are now making their mark in the industry and will (I believe) soon be taken over by AI “reading” (Artificial Intelligence converting written words to sound). This will make nearly every book ever written available to be listened to. What an incredible change that would be!
The one area I believe is missing is a method of advancing interactions between the writer and reader/listener.
As an author, I will continue to write. With my background, my nature is to look for new and innovative ways to interact. I’d like your help, your ideas, and certainly your interactions. I believe together, we’ll be able to make something ever so much greater than what we have today.
So, I encourage you to join my email list and hope you will INTERACT with me going forward. What would you like to see? What discoveries might you like me to pursue? How can I continue to develop the characters? Or what additional characters might add to our storylines?
Think about this for a moment, please. Technology is close right now, to what I believe will make books more interesting and easier to listen to. In writing a series, I believe we’ll soon be able to interact with characters and storylines in an entirely different manner.
For example, what if you could “own” the series, and part of that ownership would be to be able to “recall” themes or background on demand?
I believe I can segment the characters and the storylines so while you’re reading, or more accurately listening to a book, you’d be able to pause to hear the background of Bill’s after-death experiences. Or, while reading about Bill and Diana’s adventures, pause to recap (or even fully listen to) how Bill and Diana fell in love.
The examples are endless, but unavailable today. With your help on what you’d like to see, I think we’d be able to open an entirely new way to enjoy a book.
If this appeals to you, or even if you’re just curious about what the heck I’m talking about, please join my email list and drop me a line from time to time.
I’d love to hear from you.
Sincerely, Bill DeFoor
https://witty-innovator-4311.ck.page/6da583fa51 or http://www.billdefoor.com
BillDeFoor 