Jacob's ladder

“We are losing control of the experiment!”

“Max! Put it in stand-by.”

“Done!”

“What’s happened? What do you think, Igor?”

“Perhaps the boundary conditions were unstable.”

“I made the theoretical study. They weren’t.”

“You should revise it, Marco.”

“I tell you, it isn’t that! Actually, I know what’s happening.”

“What?”

“Sabotage.”

“Impossible!”

“There’s no other explanation.”

“Who’d want to spoil the experiment? How’d they do it?”

“Blatsov, Nikomakos! Who are they? Where did they come from? They are not in history books, I’ve checked. Also, when Pierre fired, he didn’t miss. Blatsov seems to be invulnerable.”

“What do you make of it?”

“There are two possibilities: he is a zombie, or he is a human being; but he is too alive to be a zombie, therefore he must be human.”

“Human? Don’t be a fool. He would have to be one of us.”

“Or a very clever hacker, who has got into our computer through the connection to the world-wide-web, skipping all our firewalls, and is trying to gain control.”

“But he cannot have got into the experiment! One needs especial materials and a deep knowledge of the system.”

“You underestimate hackers. They are capable of that, and much more.”

“Then what can we do? This is getting worse every moment!”

“I think it would be best if we turn it off and correct our security before starting again.”

“Just a moment! Before taking such a drastic decision, couldn’t we try to save them?”

“Again at it, Lydia? You are so sentimental!”

“I’d like to help Luis. His cry for help was so touching!”

“You must remember that they are not real, they are just simulations. This is a virtual world, a historic experiment in a computer, so we can introduce bifurcations and study alternative scenarios: what would have happened if... if Napoleon had won the battle of Waterloo, for instance? Lydia, you are behaving as though they were persons.”

“Let’s have a discussion.”

“Do you think it’s the proper time?”

“No time could be best, if we are about to take a life and death decision about them.”

“Don’t be so dramatic!”

“I can’t be otherwise.”

“All right, you win! Let’s discuss it. A small philosophical pause will be relaxing. Lydia, you have the floor, try to convince us, but be concise, please.”

“O.K. Do you think that only human beings have rights?”

“Of course not! Animals have them too, although not so many.”

“If we found intelligent extraterrestrial life, would they have the same rights as we do?”

“Of course.”

“I declare that the characters in our virtual worlds make a new form of intelligent life and they should have the same rights as we have.”

“But those characters do not exist outside the computer. We’ve built them.”

“So what? We also build our children and they have rights.”

“That’s different!”

“Why?”

“Because our characters don’t exist outside the computer!”

“We don’t exist outside the universe, at least before dying.”

“If we are going to discuss life after death, I quit.”

“No, what I mean is that, for our characters, our historical simulation is the universe.”

“But we are outside their universe.”

“However, they are inside ours.”

“What do you mean?”

“That the virtual universe simulated inside that computer is a part of our universe.”

“You know? I think Lydia is right!”

“Our characters possess artificial intelligence, a basic knowledge about their world and the capacity to have feelings and take free decisions. How do they differ from us?”

“Because they don’t actually exist.”

“Don’t they? We can follow them, detect their feelings, observe their actions. They exist, the same as we do.”

“Just a moment, Lydia, let me understand this. You are a believer, aren’t you?”

“You know that very well, Igor.”

“You believe that there is a God who created the universe and gives every man an immortal soul, don’t you?”

“I believe that God puts something in every one of us, something that does not disappear with death and has something to do with our free will. I don’t care if you call it soul or any other name.”

“O.K., let’s call it soul for the time being. Do you then believe that the characters in our worlds have souls?”

“Why not?”

“But we have built them!”

“So what? We also build our children. If I believe that God puts something in our children when we conceive them, why can’t I believe that He can do the same with our characters, if we have given them intelligence and free will similar to ours?”

“But are they really similar to ours?”

“I am not able to distinguish them, are you?”

“We are missing the question. Where do you want to go with all this?”

“I believe that our characters are intelligent beings with the same rights as we have. We shouldn’t destroy them flippantly.”

“So you think that we cannot disconnect our virtual world because we’d destroy a few characters and they have a right to live. Does that mean that we have to keep the computer and the historical simulation program working all the time?”

“Not at all. The temporal disconnection of the program or the computer does not mean the death of our characters. At most, it would be equivalent to our sleep, although there are some differences.”

“But we cannot cancel the experiment forever?”

“That would be killing them. Can’t we leave them get to their natural end?”

“That would take time and resources.”

“We can economize. Disconnecting them forever would be ethically unacceptable.”

“Wait, Lydia, let me speak a moment.”

“Speak up, Marco.”

“This discussion is very interesting, but hardly practical. What we must do now is decide what to do with the experiment. Have you any proposal?”

“I have.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Rather than disconnect them, why don’t we do something to save them? Why don’t we try to redirect the experiment?”

“Because things have got too far. Even though we were able to do that, the experiment wouldn’t serve its purpose, it is useless now; it wouldn’t answer the question: what would had happened, had Napoleon won the battle of Waterloo?”

“Right, it would be a different experiment, but nevertheless it would be interesting. We’d get lots of information which could be useful in future experiments.”

“You know, Lydia, what you say makes sense.”

“Thank you, Max.”

“I see you’ve got a conversion, but it’s not so easy. How would we unravel that mess?”

“I’ll get down to their world and help them unravel themselves.”

“Are you mad? Would you go into that wasp nest?”

“Why not? We’ve got them there; we should help them get out.”

“But we have never gone personally into one of our virtual worlds. We don’t even know that it’s possible!”

“It must be, since others have done it.”

“Assuming that Blatsov and Nikomakos are really hackers.”

“You don’t know what you could get into!”

“I’m ready to run a risk to save our characters.”

“I can’t approve it, it’s too dangerous.”

“Igor, don’t be so hasty, what Lydia says is very interesting, that experiment would help us a lot, and maybe in the future it will make it possible to undo other hacker attacks.”

“Congratulations, Lydia, you’ve converted Marco too. This reminds me of that theater play, what was its name?”

“Twelve angry men. You are mistaken, Igor, I’m not trying to convert anybody, I only want to do what is fair.”

“Endangering your life?”

“You exaggerate, Igor, Lydia wouldn’t be in such danger. Look at Blatsov, our characters can’t harm him.”

“Lydia may not be in danger with our characters, but you have forgotten the essential.”

“What?”

“Blatsov will be there. Do you think that he’ll let her undo his plans without reprisal? Lydia risks a direct attack by the hacker. We don’t know what may happen.”

“This is getting quite interesting!”

“Stop rubbing your hands and don’t be childish, Marco. This is very serious; we’d be responsible if something happens to Lydia.”

“No, because I’m going freely and willing, knowing what may happen to me.”

“Have you decided?”

“I have.”

“Then I can’t forbid you. We’ll watch and send you some information through your earphones, but remember: if something unforeseen happens, we may not be able to help you.”

“I’m perfectly aware of that.”

“If things get tough, come back.”

“I’ll do that if I can in conscience. What must I do to get down?”

“Max will explain.”

“Don’t worry, Lydia, I’ll make the changes at my console and in your helm controls. Remember: while you are down, you’ll lose the ability to control your body up here. You’ll be in a coma, but not unconscious: you’ll be aware of everything that happens.”

“I know.”

“We can’t leave you there more than six hours, it would be dangerous. After that time, if you haven’t solved the problem, we’ll have to bring you back.”

“Six hours. How much time is that down there?”

“Four days. The scale change is one to sixteen.”

“Will it be enough? Never mind, I’ll try.”

“Have you studied the configuration of the area where you’ll get in?”

“Perfectly, don’t worry.”

“Then we can start, but I don’t like this. If things get wrong, we won’t be able to put the system in stand-by, it could be fatal for you.”

“We aren’t sure of that, Igor. The hacker is there; perhaps he knows that he runs no risks.”

“We can’t run any risk.”

“Don’t worry, it will go well.”

“Come on then. When I give the word, Max will let the program proceed from the same place where it was stopped. I’ll send Lydia down there. You, Lydia, have to do nothing, except pray.”

“You say that, Igor? I thought you were agnostic.”

“You know very well that even agnostics pray. But I was just putting myself in your place. You need it, and if you believe, it won’t harm you.”

“Everything is ready, Igor.”

“Silence, then. Ready! On!”