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Something Old Is New Again
Oaky this isn't the big story I am attempting to write, but something I came up with on the plane last night, so enjoy...
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Something Old is New Again
The band leader heaved a palpable sigh of relief as he received the signal to begin. They had been standing out in the hot sun for over an hour and the crowd below was growing restless. He had drilled and practiced his martial band until they could play in their sleep. The Chairman’s “tolerance” for even the most minor of mistakes was well known, near legendary in fact. But the group to which he now turned his attention would no more foul up such a technically simple peice as ‘Chairman’s Regalia’ than they would that old terran standby ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb.’
It was his job to set the musical introduction for the Glorious Leader, Chairman Shen-ji Yang of the Human Hive before he in turn gave the Address to the Hive, and word was this address would be momentous indeed. He picked up his baton, looked his first chairs’ in the eye and motioned for the inital leitmotif to begin.
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“My People, we have won!” spoke Shen-ji Yang in his charicteristically soft yet forceful manner. The amplification equipment carried his force over the massive assembly below, yet it was not an electronic magic that caused his voice to penetrate into the very hearts of the people below, but rather some quality of the Chairman’s alone. He continued.
“The troublesome Spartan Militia has been routed, their bases destroyed and their people enslaved!” Thunderous applause and cheering ensued. Yang paused calmly and allowed the people this momentary outburst of emotion. After all these were the common citizens and could not maintain the rigid, constant vise-like grip over their emotions as the military could. “We have triumphed not through technological superiorty, or deviousness, or massive numbers, but rather through purpose, will and sacrifice. The personal sacrifices each and every one of you has made for the greater good of the Hive has sustained our fighting forces and now gives us an opportunity to climb even higher!”
As the Chairman worked his charismatic magic over the people, several technicians began to erect a view screen behind him. “Today we will shift our priorities away from war and towards growth, growth of the mind, and growth of the Hive. I announce to you all assembled, the beginning of The Great Leap Forward!”
During the ensuing applause and whispering as the populace attempted to decipher meaning from the words their leader spoke, two older men in white coats took places upon the stage to the left and behind the Chairman.
“Doctors Hideoshi and Narul have recently made some stunning discoveries while analysing the data cores recovered from the compound formerly known as Sparta Command. Their work has extended the basic research the Spartan dogs were pursuing and has given us, the glorious embodiement of humanities potential with a chance to leave behind the rest of Chiron and move beyond, far beyond the realms of the old terran science that has been our guide to this point.”
The mounting excitment below was reaching levels of display and exhuberance that were in truth, rather annoying to Shen-ji Yang. ‘When,’ he thought to himself, ‘will the common man realize that only through an iron control of the will can he hope to surpass the limitiation inherent within his being. Those who cannot do so will not be of any assistance in what is to come.’
“The Workers of Discipline Halls have recently begun the construction of a type of computational device that will eventually extend it’s branching to every base in our realm. Each of you will contribute to the purpose of this massively distributed computer. Every single local terminal in your habitation compounds, work structures and transports will be linked to this new effort. When not in active use for other purposes, each termnial will actively link into the ongoing program and accomplish a small portion of the larger whole, effectively extending the Hive Mind a thousand fold. I have dubbed this effort The Universal Translator, for it’s first goal is to decipher the ancient alien script we have found in various locations during our exploratory missions. By deciphering their texts and learning from them, we shall transcend the merely human and become super-human!”
Yang knew there would be no control over emotions after such a bombshell. As usual, his thoughts were confirmed, even the military precense was displaying an uncharacteristic exhuberance and astonishment at this point. ‘And now for the final masterstroke,’ he thought. “My People, come with me into this bright future, let us leave behind the trappings and limitations of our pitifully frail condition and leap into our birthright!”
*********************************************
The holoview meandered across a vast wasteland of urban decay, picking up a worn down skeleton here, a crashed and decaying hovertank there, but no where finding any signs of life. Or at least human life. There are signs that some of the native species have been here recently, or still are. The characteristic trails left by massive mindworm ‘boils’ are clearly visible over the dusty surface. “And so Chairman Yang led his people to their deaths through his own lack of foresight. Just as his honorific namesake Chairman Mao once began the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward that caused mass starvations, depradation and suffering for the Chinese people over 400 years ago.” With these last few words, the now-still image in the holoview faded away, and the room lights brightened on the striking figure of Lady Deidre Skye. As the image faded from view, so too did the profound look of sadness in her eyes begin to fade away. She spoke once more, “Doctor Che, please continue.”
“Certainly my Lady,” replied the young man dressed in colorful robes that somehow appeared to mimic the facinating array of colors in the fungal beds all over Planet. “Ironically, the Hive was on the right patch, they simply did not have the proper frame of reference with which to visualize, calibrate and realize their goal. As the members of Hive plugged themselves into the distributed computing enviroment, they essentially unplugged themselves from life, or at least from corporeal existence.”
The Professor of Mentalics explained further, “Shen-ji Yang had a fascination with the concept of the ‘Hive Mind’ exhibited in many terran lifeforms such as bees, ants, schools of fish and such. In these colonies, an individual organism had little existence as an individual, but was part of a larger whole. The concept was a failure in Earth’s Socialist nation-states, but was proved to have immense value in the electronics field. The development of distributed computing arrays provided man with the ability to break any manner of problem involving mathmatics, yet never rose to the level of self-awareness.”
“Yang envisioned a marriage of the massively distributed computer with the awareness of man. He succeeded beyond his expectations. The Human Hive, as he called his colonies truly did evolve into a hive-mind organism. Individuals plugged in, and never left. The infrastructure supporting life crashed and within one Chiron year, all human life was gone.”
“From his manifests, it would appear that Yang believed that by linking together several hundred thousand of minds into a single meta-mind, humanity could achieve the next stage of human evolution. Unfortunately for his people, the Chairman left out two important variables in his calcuations. One, man did not evolve on this planet naturally. Two, other lifeforms did. The consequences of forced evolution under such unnatural conditions could not have been forseen.”
“Thank you Che,” spoke Lady Deidre. “We are still not sure, even after all of our evidence gathering over the last Chiron decade, exactly what happend. Did humanity evolve before the Hive disintigrated? We simply do not know.”
“However, there is evidence that something happened. As you all know, certain individuals have learned to make rudimentary contact with Planet, or at least are able to make mental connections with some of the native lifeforms. But no one has been able to sustain or fully control these contacts. My current hypothesis is that Planet itself is, at some level, sentient. This is hardly a new theory in itself. However, I also believe that the hive-mind entity which Yang’s community became briefly, was able to sustain and control contact with Planet. Most likely this contact could only be acheived when an two organisms of a certain accreted size exist in proximity to another.”
“If Planet is sentient, then It has become so through the interlinking of It’s hundred of thousand corpoeral individuals, the mindworms, isles of the deep, locuts etc. A single individual human mind could scarecly hope to communicate with an ‘mind’ of such vastly different scale. But when Yang’s people reached the treshold at which the interlinked individual minds began to meld into one form, that communication developed.”
“Representatives of the Chiron Council,” intoned Lady Deidre in a formal voice as she turned to face them, “armed with this knowledge we must begin to assess how to proceed with our relationship to the planet and with Planet. Thank you for your time this day.”
As Deidre walked from the Coucil Chamber she thought to herself, ‘That was disingenuous of me, but necessary. If the Council finds out that I have been communing with Planet for extended periods, my work will have been wasted.’
********************************************
*******************************************
Something Old is New Again
The band leader heaved a palpable sigh of relief as he received the signal to begin. They had been standing out in the hot sun for over an hour and the crowd below was growing restless. He had drilled and practiced his martial band until they could play in their sleep. The Chairman’s “tolerance” for even the most minor of mistakes was well known, near legendary in fact. But the group to which he now turned his attention would no more foul up such a technically simple peice as ‘Chairman’s Regalia’ than they would that old terran standby ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb.’
It was his job to set the musical introduction for the Glorious Leader, Chairman Shen-ji Yang of the Human Hive before he in turn gave the Address to the Hive, and word was this address would be momentous indeed. He picked up his baton, looked his first chairs’ in the eye and motioned for the inital leitmotif to begin.
*******************************************
“My People, we have won!” spoke Shen-ji Yang in his charicteristically soft yet forceful manner. The amplification equipment carried his force over the massive assembly below, yet it was not an electronic magic that caused his voice to penetrate into the very hearts of the people below, but rather some quality of the Chairman’s alone. He continued.
“The troublesome Spartan Militia has been routed, their bases destroyed and their people enslaved!” Thunderous applause and cheering ensued. Yang paused calmly and allowed the people this momentary outburst of emotion. After all these were the common citizens and could not maintain the rigid, constant vise-like grip over their emotions as the military could. “We have triumphed not through technological superiorty, or deviousness, or massive numbers, but rather through purpose, will and sacrifice. The personal sacrifices each and every one of you has made for the greater good of the Hive has sustained our fighting forces and now gives us an opportunity to climb even higher!”
As the Chairman worked his charismatic magic over the people, several technicians began to erect a view screen behind him. “Today we will shift our priorities away from war and towards growth, growth of the mind, and growth of the Hive. I announce to you all assembled, the beginning of The Great Leap Forward!”
During the ensuing applause and whispering as the populace attempted to decipher meaning from the words their leader spoke, two older men in white coats took places upon the stage to the left and behind the Chairman.
“Doctors Hideoshi and Narul have recently made some stunning discoveries while analysing the data cores recovered from the compound formerly known as Sparta Command. Their work has extended the basic research the Spartan dogs were pursuing and has given us, the glorious embodiement of humanities potential with a chance to leave behind the rest of Chiron and move beyond, far beyond the realms of the old terran science that has been our guide to this point.”
The mounting excitment below was reaching levels of display and exhuberance that were in truth, rather annoying to Shen-ji Yang. ‘When,’ he thought to himself, ‘will the common man realize that only through an iron control of the will can he hope to surpass the limitiation inherent within his being. Those who cannot do so will not be of any assistance in what is to come.’
“The Workers of Discipline Halls have recently begun the construction of a type of computational device that will eventually extend it’s branching to every base in our realm. Each of you will contribute to the purpose of this massively distributed computer. Every single local terminal in your habitation compounds, work structures and transports will be linked to this new effort. When not in active use for other purposes, each termnial will actively link into the ongoing program and accomplish a small portion of the larger whole, effectively extending the Hive Mind a thousand fold. I have dubbed this effort The Universal Translator, for it’s first goal is to decipher the ancient alien script we have found in various locations during our exploratory missions. By deciphering their texts and learning from them, we shall transcend the merely human and become super-human!”
Yang knew there would be no control over emotions after such a bombshell. As usual, his thoughts were confirmed, even the military precense was displaying an uncharacteristic exhuberance and astonishment at this point. ‘And now for the final masterstroke,’ he thought. “My People, come with me into this bright future, let us leave behind the trappings and limitations of our pitifully frail condition and leap into our birthright!”
*********************************************
The holoview meandered across a vast wasteland of urban decay, picking up a worn down skeleton here, a crashed and decaying hovertank there, but no where finding any signs of life. Or at least human life. There are signs that some of the native species have been here recently, or still are. The characteristic trails left by massive mindworm ‘boils’ are clearly visible over the dusty surface. “And so Chairman Yang led his people to their deaths through his own lack of foresight. Just as his honorific namesake Chairman Mao once began the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward that caused mass starvations, depradation and suffering for the Chinese people over 400 years ago.” With these last few words, the now-still image in the holoview faded away, and the room lights brightened on the striking figure of Lady Deidre Skye. As the image faded from view, so too did the profound look of sadness in her eyes begin to fade away. She spoke once more, “Doctor Che, please continue.”
“Certainly my Lady,” replied the young man dressed in colorful robes that somehow appeared to mimic the facinating array of colors in the fungal beds all over Planet. “Ironically, the Hive was on the right patch, they simply did not have the proper frame of reference with which to visualize, calibrate and realize their goal. As the members of Hive plugged themselves into the distributed computing enviroment, they essentially unplugged themselves from life, or at least from corporeal existence.”
The Professor of Mentalics explained further, “Shen-ji Yang had a fascination with the concept of the ‘Hive Mind’ exhibited in many terran lifeforms such as bees, ants, schools of fish and such. In these colonies, an individual organism had little existence as an individual, but was part of a larger whole. The concept was a failure in Earth’s Socialist nation-states, but was proved to have immense value in the electronics field. The development of distributed computing arrays provided man with the ability to break any manner of problem involving mathmatics, yet never rose to the level of self-awareness.”
“Yang envisioned a marriage of the massively distributed computer with the awareness of man. He succeeded beyond his expectations. The Human Hive, as he called his colonies truly did evolve into a hive-mind organism. Individuals plugged in, and never left. The infrastructure supporting life crashed and within one Chiron year, all human life was gone.”
“From his manifests, it would appear that Yang believed that by linking together several hundred thousand of minds into a single meta-mind, humanity could achieve the next stage of human evolution. Unfortunately for his people, the Chairman left out two important variables in his calcuations. One, man did not evolve on this planet naturally. Two, other lifeforms did. The consequences of forced evolution under such unnatural conditions could not have been forseen.”
“Thank you Che,” spoke Lady Deidre. “We are still not sure, even after all of our evidence gathering over the last Chiron decade, exactly what happend. Did humanity evolve before the Hive disintigrated? We simply do not know.”
“However, there is evidence that something happened. As you all know, certain individuals have learned to make rudimentary contact with Planet, or at least are able to make mental connections with some of the native lifeforms. But no one has been able to sustain or fully control these contacts. My current hypothesis is that Planet itself is, at some level, sentient. This is hardly a new theory in itself. However, I also believe that the hive-mind entity which Yang’s community became briefly, was able to sustain and control contact with Planet. Most likely this contact could only be acheived when an two organisms of a certain accreted size exist in proximity to another.”
“If Planet is sentient, then It has become so through the interlinking of It’s hundred of thousand corpoeral individuals, the mindworms, isles of the deep, locuts etc. A single individual human mind could scarecly hope to communicate with an ‘mind’ of such vastly different scale. But when Yang’s people reached the treshold at which the interlinked individual minds began to meld into one form, that communication developed.”
“Representatives of the Chiron Council,” intoned Lady Deidre in a formal voice as she turned to face them, “armed with this knowledge we must begin to assess how to proceed with our relationship to the planet and with Planet. Thank you for your time this day.”
As Deidre walked from the Coucil Chamber she thought to herself, ‘That was disingenuous of me, but necessary. If the Council finds out that I have been communing with Planet for extended periods, my work will have been wasted.’
********************************************