It's slightly past noon when Jo gets the text:
Yo! I have waffles! And coffee! I also have a present. You know you want to come over.
It's a trap for a college student if ever there was one, right? Even if Jo has to ride her bike all the way to get there. Dangle enough free food and caffeine in front of Jo and she'll come running -- or so Grace believes.
It's only a bit of a ruse. There are waffles, and there is always coffee. But the present is something she's unwilling to talk about in the relative openness of texts. That sort of thing got her on a Technocrat's watch-list once upon a time. It's time to extend the favor to another newbie who might not know better... yet.
Jo
Jo is a lot like a mouse. Once she knows something exists, it's open season for her little paws. Wait.. maybe not a mouse. Ferret? Rat? The point is, Jo knows there is a place with laser tag, where people with mad realty programming skills reside. That means that she's likely to make a visit a few times...or more...for the lawlz.
Worse...Grace has invited her, with the promise of goods. She doesn't even have to provide services! How wicked is that? It doesn't matter really, Grace is her computer pal, and a mean laser tag player. Jo is quite skilled in her biking, so with relative speed she's already stepping through the door. Knock? Who does that anymore?
"Yo!" Her backpack slowly being slid off her shoulders. "I heard waffles yo! WafflesWafflesWaffles!" She bounced in place, her sneakers squeaking a little on the floor; maybe it's time to get new ones.
Her T-shirt, delightfully placed over a long sleeve, sported the Enterprise with I don't want a relationship. I want a STAR SHIP emblazoned on it in white font. She didn't wait long before she was already making her way towards the dining space she was showed to prior. Because seriously? Who waits for waffles?
"So like, totally was like, kickin it on Aliens. Dude I don't know if you've like..played the new one yet, but it's just like super sweet."
Grace
She's there to let Jo in, to race her to the kitchen, and Grace, mind you, is wearing a shirt that says: "Nothing is Unpossible." It backs up this statement by showing a mermaid holding an American flag, who is riding a T-Rex, who is riding a motorcycle.
"Love the shirt!" she says, on her way up to the kitchen, where a waffle maker stands, along with a couple of pre-made ones ready to fill up.
Grace isn't nearly as fancy as Kalen when it comes to such things as waffles. Oh, of course the syrup is 100% pure maple and must have cost a fortune for the bottle, but she has a tendency by now to ignore much of Kalen's excesses. It would be hard to live with him and not. There's whipped cream too, and some sort of berry syrup too if Jo's of a mind.
"Okay. So. I'm going to tell you the real reason why I invited you up today. Do you know about the Technocracy?"
Jo
"Ah man yo. This is like..the super sweet set up. Man you guys must like, go through like a load of cash like all the time." Jo...goes for all the things. Waffle + syrup + whipped cream + berry syrup. If they had put out a bowl of sugar she might have put that on it too.
"Dude what?" Is what comes out once Jo manages to stuff nearly half the waffle in her mouth. She chipmunks the food, chewing slowly until she can manage to swallow without feeling like her throat might explode. "They like some like..band or something? Caus elike I got nuthin. Dubstep? Or like old school electronica?"
Yes, that is the extent of Jo's knowledge.
Grace
Grace grimmaces at Jo as the understanding that she's going to have to have an uncomfortable conversation topic very soon comes to her. It's not you, Jo. Just, ugh -- Technocrats.
"Okay. So... You're a Mage, a Willworker, a Witch, a Technomancer, whatever you want to call it -- you are that. You have a different view of reality than most, and you use that to make reality do what you want, right?
"Well, I guess the problem is that we all have different views of reality. And we all have a smattering of hubris. Some of us think that our way is the only way. The trouble happens when you get a lot of like-minded Mages in one room together and they manage to convince themselves that their one way must be protected against all others, by force. Onesy twosies? That's fine. We've handled those assholes in Denver before. But get a whole bunch together, and you've got a war on your hands.
"That's exactly what happened. And those of us arguing for plurality -- we lost. The ones in 'charge' right now hunted other Mages down like we were worse than animals. The only reason why we're left alone? They no longer see us as a threat. 'They' are the Technocrats."
It's a long speech. It'll probably take enough time for Jo to inhale a waffle...
Jo
One waffle down and a lick of her lips is how long it takes just for Grace to begin. Not a second after and Jo is dropped another waffle or two on her plate and drenching them in syrup. Lots of chewing on her end. She tilts her head, furrows her brows, scrunches her face, and a whole host of other expressions like she's not sure how to process it.
"Soooo like... You're a Wizard Harry?"
"Dude that'd be like super sweet but like.. uh.. I mean..." She scratches her head, realizing she didn't even bother to truly brush her hair. Huh. That's what she forgot to do. "But like Ok like guess I got this like super weird view of magic and like I mean...like I don't do that stuff. I mean I'm just like, ya know, altering code and stuff. Like..my dad would just call me like super smart or something. Yaknow? Can't like..say I believe in like totes actual magic. Cause like..magic? Totes super weird."
"But I mean ok like say like, magic is real and like all that toes weird stuff, right? I mean kinda like weird to be all 'this way is right' I mean like, without a consensus. I mean..dude that's not how the collective works. I mean you gotta like create a base like framework, but like you leave like wiggle room for ya know like individual differences and stuff. Man these guys aren't like republicans or something right? Cause...well that'd make like totes sense."
"What's like.. with the name?"
Grace
"They don't really believe in such things as 'wiggle room'," Grace says, under her breath. "Magic is real, Jo. I know, it took me a while to understand that too -- to really put that word together with what I do. I mean, I just write code too. That's how I understand it.
"But see, it's like -- I see it like I am hacking some image-displaying code using a specially modified picture -- I touch the bits, I know what each byte is intended to do, it overflows the memory just how I like, and bam -- I have my picture doing nasty terrible things to a server that it was never intended to do. What if somebody else was a fantastic photographer. They say they can do the same thing as me, and all they have to do is take the right picture and upload it -- and all the sudden that server is just as pwned. I tip my hat to them, right? I would never be able to do it that way, and I might not understand exactly why, but obviously it works.
"Most of the others in the city, they use things like -- I kid you not -- glitter dust. And incense. And getting high enough to lose their mental connection to reality. The Technocracy says that that shit shouldn't fly. Not that it doesn't, that it shouldn't.
"And the name comes from techno- and -cracy. Technology is their thing, but so is the -cracy. It means 'rule'. They seek not to free minds using technology, but to rule over them and control them. All of them. Which is why we have to be careful. I once got put on a Technocracy watch list for saying the wrong things via text message. They were watching -- looking for keywords. I almost got caught. Which is why me and the dude I was texting with at the time came up with Ginger."
Jo
Jo put her fingers on her head and ruffled her own hair in a flurry. "Muuuuh!" She let her forehead drop to the counter. "Like don't like make sense and stuff. Like for realsies? I don't... ugh.. Whatevs. " When she lifted her head up she scrunched her brows and licked at her finger, rubbing at a spot on her forehead. "Syrup yo, gets everywhere swear it. Like..like invisible syrup fairy or something."
"Dude they sound like the Borg which was like.. a total misrepresentation of like what you could totally do with the system. I mean like...seriously? See like the borg were all like 'YOU MUST ASSIMILATE' which is like completely liek counter intuitive to like what you should do. Cause like if you force someone into the system, you're totally gunna get rejection and whatevs. Theese peeps be all wrong and stuff. Obvs."
"Ginger? Does it have no soul?"
Grace
Grace grins. "Technically, no. But then, there are some people that say everything has a soul, so who knows. Maybe she does."
"Ginger is a secret communications system. It's what we use to remain below Their radar. It's how we talk to each other about the weird stuff without drawing the attention of people who will shove you in a black van and disappear you if they find out about it.
"And I invited you over today so I can give it to you. Have a happy present -- it's your code-worded super-secret message drop. And your window to the myriad dangers of Denver."
Jo
"Should ttoally give it like some super advanced AI. Like.. Ya know like Skynet but like less murderous and way better like problem solving skills cause seriously? Why not like..send a terminator to like..Sarah Connor's parents like before she's even born? That's totes a better strategy."
She blinked. "OH I GOT IT. They're like..Agent Smith and stuff. Dude...am I Neo? Cause if I am I like..I need better acting skills. Just sayin." Jo stuffed her thumbs in the pockets of her pants. "My very own Ginger. I was totes wishin for that one day. She'll the Ginny to my Potter."
"Show me the force Master."
Grace
"That is the idea. Someday. When I can do that. Kalen wants this place teeming with AIs that talk to each other. I can only explain that he will get his wish, eventually," Grace says, and turns on a heel. She's headed out of the kitchen and off to...
Her office.
Grace's office is a thing of mismashed beauty. Kalen made sure that the walls were painted a gorgeous hue of deep blue, and that stars in constellations were painted on top of that. Cherry-wood furniture lines the room, including a magnificent desk with workshop areas that are currently taken up by robot parts (some of which are the rejects from a recent art project involving robotic fireflies) and one sprawling ivy plant. The ivy plant looks to be under attack by some sort of array of guns. But the ivy's winning. It's got a little nametag that reads: "Chloe 3"
There's bookshelves, but not too many actual books, aside from a few really nice leather-bound journals that someone has decorated with Sharpie marker on the spines to read: "Teh Wall 1" and "Teh Wall 2" etc. Whatever Teh Wall was, it took up a lot of Grace's time and many many journals. Otherwise, the shelves hold such random things as LED strips and a copper fox mask.
And oh, Jo, Grace's laptop is there too, and Grace is rummaging around in a drawer, pulling out cables.
"I'll need your phone or your laptop or whatever it is you have."
Jo
She grabbed her backpack, carrying it with her after Grace. "Dude. DUDE. Like what do you DO in here? Like you gunna make like some killer robotic plant? Cause that's totes what it's startin to look like." Jo leans into the plant, poking at the leaves a little.
Jo blinked and set her bag down, ruffling through the front for her phone and handing it off to Grace. "You guys like code names right?Like for realsies, you gotta have like code names,"
Grace
"I do. Not everyone is into code names. But among my kind, I go by Chimeric01," Grace says, appraising the phone and pulling out the right cable for it. She then connects phone to laptop and settles into the comfy-looking executive chair. It reclines. For if she ever gets way too involved in some coding jam to remember to sleep.
"Usually. There's other names. I've got a lot of them."
"Chloe is an experiment in superpositioned phytopigment-based quantum computing. It's kind of an ongoing project. She doesn't much care, I think, as long as she stays watered. Kalen once suggested we outfit our cats with tiny watering cans and train them to water the plants? But I think it's beyond any magic to get cats to do shit like that."
With that, Grace near zones out for a bit. It's not that the installation is hard. It's something she's done time and time again. But still, there's time involved, and it's time at a computer, so the spaciness just becomes that much more evident in her.
Jo
[int +science- Did I even understand that?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )
Jo
"Righty roo Ranger Joe." She gave a half mock salute to Grace. "When I'm like, doin ya know things that like people don't like, I go by CIN. True facts. So figure I'll pop by with the same nick cause like yeah! Fame is all cool beans and stuff."
"Huh." She lifted her hands, lacing her fingers behind her head. "Like, super upscale and all that for like this place right? I mean like dude, that stuff is academics grade, like...grants from military grade.Kinda takes all the like.. I dunno magic? Out of it tho. Always like seriously liked the idea of stuff like.. being completely inorganic and like...making like life that isn't like..us. How cool is that?" She poked the leaves again. "Should totally use birds. They can totes fly around and stuff. May more like efficient."
Zoning, Jo gets. She's lost plenty of time before at her computer. So she does a little jig in her place, wanders around the room and generally starts to prod at things. She pulls at the book on the shelf, trying to peek at their contents without actually opening them, and does what people without any understanding of personal boundaries do: get into stuff.
Grace
Grace also has no sense of personal boundaries, and few secrets that don't lie within her head. Those journals are full -- start to finish -- with complicated calculations being done by hand in very poor handwriting. It's hard to imagine why Grace would have done such a thing with a computer handy, but there you go.
"Yeah, well, Chloe is a cyborg plant, so I'm not sure why you think that's not totally magical. It so is."
She reaches out and pets a leaf on one of the trailing vines next to her. "It's okay. I'm sure Jo didn't mean it, sweetheart."
"Ohhkay. So. You may have your communication device back. You'll notice there is a new contact in your list. Ginger. Call her."
Jo
Calculations.
Long hand.
Written out.
Jo just had a nerdgasm. The most beautiful, intense nerdgasm.
She grabbed one of the books and sat down on the ground, moving through each page, skimming the calculations. She used her fingers at times as if somehow she were ticking off each step, lips moving as she did so. She was double checking the math, and doing it with a wide grin on her face. Oh yes, the nerdgasm is strong with this one.
"I mean like, cyborgs are like cool and all, but it's totally way cooler if you like get like sentience without organic material. Like all Asimov and stuff."
She paused long enough to streeeetch her arm out for the phone, scrolling down to Ginder and giving it a go, popping her on speaker phone so Jo could continue with the uh..math.
Grace
Her compatriot, Gadfly, had insisted on getting Ginger's voice perfect. He disappeared before this could happen, but her robotic, stilted speech still drips with sex. She was a phone sex operator in a former life, after all.
"Hello, and welcome. To listen to messages, dial 1. To view text messages, dial 2. To leave a voice message, dial 3. To leave a text message, dial 4. And remember, love is just a dial away."
"The number won't work on a regular phone. It only does that if you have my encryption installed. And if you do call that number on a regular phone, you'll get a phone sex line. We figured, why not? It's the last place anyone would look, right?"
After that spiel, Grace actually takes notice of what's going on.
"That's interesting reading material for you? That was the hazing ritual that took place before I got inducted into the Virtual Adepts. They took away my ability to use any calculating devices, and made me break some encrypted text by hand -- and then, the real test started."
Jo
Jo blinked and looked at the phone before letting out a loud laugh. "Dude. Sersiously? Love. It. Like totes. Totally wouldn't be like thinkin of going all phone sex and stuff. This is like totes gunna be fun. Like super fun. Like suuuper super fun. Dude, who's idea? Yours? Nah I mean, well I.. hrm." She scratched at her fluffy bedhead and hung up the phone. "And it's like all super secrety spy stuff ya? Like, totes just all james bondie?"
Jo lifted her head again and blinked at Jo, giving her another laugh. "Yah. Like Total math dweeb. I mean like..and chess. I'm a killer like chess player. Totes super awesome. But like math too? Always been good ya know? Like. Like never really needed all that stuff much. It's really just ya know practice. Then it just like, happens in like your brain without like totally knowing it." She poked at her head. "Seriously, big old meat machine."
Grace
"Most of the stuff on there is detailing threats, honestly. You probably won't believe half of them. But if someone posts something on Ginger, I wouldn't go out by myself to check on its truthfulness all the same.
"And yeah, obviously I don't *need* a computer. That was part of the point of the exercise. We still need to be capable of great things even if somebody takes away our laptop. It's a survival skill, that. Just, you know, a computer would have made that around a few million times faster..."
Grace takes the cord and wraps it around itself, to stow back in the drawer. Jo seems to be so interested in her little memento. It gives her a little wistful smile. To be so enraptured by numbers -- been there.
Jo
"Tcht. Nah. Computers like, for some people maybe but not like..I don't know. I always thought thehy like slowed me down a little. Like you gotta like put in the numbers and make sure they're like in correctly and all that. Dude if you just let your meat comptuer do it? Like totally faster. Before you know it BASM! It's like done. But like, I'm a freak so.."
"Totes takes the fun out of it too. I mean like, numbers are awesome cause they don't lie right? I mean like you can mess up and stuff, but the numbers don't. Totally super objective. I rock it." She threw up the rock symbol with her hand and grinned."So...What are these like Virtual Adepts? Like..are they like some internet group?"
Grace
...are they like some internet group?
"Kind of. I mean, we started out as the ones who invented computers. Or, at least, we're the ones who made the idea of computers possible. So that was a long time before the internet. You've heard of Alan Turing, right? He was a Virtual Adept. One of the best," Grace says, and there's a note of sadness there. Turing -- had he lived -- would most certainly have continued to spew forth brilliance into the world. It's still a sore spot, his death.
"I wouldn't put down computation quite so quickly, you know? Doing it in your head is fast, but depending upon the calculation involved, there comes a point where doing it all in your head is impossible. Or, will take you several weeks, as in the example you're reading now. Like, take the Universe. Now, that's a calculation that's way too big to fit inside any one head."
Jo
Jo scrunched her face skeptically at Grace. "Dude Turing was like.. he's like the father of like all things like cognitive and AI and stuff. I mean DUDE. So like the Virts peeps are like some like secret society of like nerds? Cause that would be SUPER cool. Like take THAT Illuminati!"
"Tcht! Can totally do it like in your head. Just gotta like... ya know like the idea of like maybe folding space and time to like cut through it and like move faster? Ya know like Event Horizon only with like less murder? If you can like totally hack the system to like do that? Could totes do it! Thing too is, like, if we're just like softwar and astuff, then we can TOTES do it all in our heads. Just gotta drop the DRM."
Grace
"We are a secret society of, like, nerds. That's a pretty good summation, there," Grace says, laughs.
"I do know something about folding spacetime, yes. I still don't think that containing the universe is something my brain is capable of. Yet."
She smiles, returns to her laptop. Starts takking away at the keys with speed.
"I could show you just how much I know about folding spacetime. It's kinda fun. And, also, potentially eye-opening. You should, you know, keep your eyes on me for a second..."
[Corr 3: We're going to teleport now. -1 diff because taking time, -1 diff because Shifting resonance, spending WP because Grace doesn't want to end up inside out.]
Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (1, 8, 8) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Grace
[Paradox!]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 8) ( success x 1 )
Grace
[Soak!]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (4, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )
Jo
She threw out the rock symbol again. "Dude, who's rockin it? I am! I mena like, I never heard of'em. Gotta be like, some secret society."
Jo blinked and scrunched her face up skeptically again. "For realsies? You can teleport?" Jo lifted her hands, using her fingers to pry her eyes open and force them to stay on grace. "Alright dude, I'm like.. all in this."
Grace
Grace is doing something. Jo might not be able to see the laptop screen, but a surge of Grace's winged, shifting resonance fills the air. Maybe she'd be able to pick that up -- the sense that something not quite normal is going on.
With the aid of her computer, Grace is calculating and visualizing the truth. Namely, that there is no such thing as space or time to bend at all, if you look at it right. When one occupies the same point, named "DATA", at the conceptual center of all things, it's relatively easy to skip around and "occupy" some"where" "else". It's a matter of figuring out the right relative positional variables to mess with, and also making sure you don't translate yourself inside a wall, or even fail to replace yourself with your destination's contents when you leave. Nature abhors a vacuum so much, it likes to go nuclear against them.
After a bit, Grace gives the skeptical, pried-eyed Jo a grin, and pushes the metaphorical button.
And she disappears.
From behind Jo, a voice: "Boo."
Jo
There isn't much Jo can do but watch. Watch her work and wonder exactly what she means to do. Maybe she'll move a bloc or something. Like a tiny one. Or maybe she'll make her some earl grey tea. Hot. Thank you very much. But no, no Grace doesn't do any of that.
Jo nearly jumps out of her skin. She let's out a yelp and leans to the side to look at Grace. No she didn't expect it. No she didn't imagine Grace could move like that. Then her brows lift, her eyes widen and Jo crawls on her knees to wrap her arms around Grace's leg. "OH PLEASE! PLEASE..PUHLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE SHOW ME THAT TRICK."
Grace
See? This is what showing off in front of the young will get you. Leg grabbing. Whatever.
"Ahh! Jo! Okay, okay! I can show you how I do it, but... remember we were talking about the different ways people do stuff?" she says, giving a little shake of the afflicted leg. "It might not be something you'll immediately just grok. But sure. Whatever you want to learn about that kind of manipulation? I can try to teach you. And other stuff too. Like, control over matter and energy, life and the mind -- stuff like that."
See? This is what showing off in front of the young with also get you. Apprentices.
Jo
Jo isn't letting go. She's clinging to Grace's leg like a puppy, or a child, or some crazy techno gremlin. "Shoooow mee... Show me Master Yoda. Or Obi-Wan, or Qui-Gon, like whatever you wanna be. Darth Vader? Whatver like you just gotta shooow me. " She pressed her cheek into her leg and let out a mock coo sound. Finally she let go of Grace and rolled back, leaning back into her palms. "Like for realsies! Totally gotta learn that. I mean like.. dude that'd be super awesome. Know how many people I could like.. ya know...freak out some day?"
Grace
"No."
Grace sighs, lets her eyes wander a bit. "I mean, you can't go around freaking people out. I mean, within reason, yes. But... I know of a guy who did a little thing once. He rewrote time. He's now in a Technocrat's lab somewhere being cloned or lobotomized or both."
"And that's not to mention the risk of Paradox. Tell me, did you ever do something a little 'weird' and it felt so very wrong afterwards? Like, the thing you were trying just didn't work? Maybe you felt a little bruised and beaten up after?"
Jo
"Duude what? I mean like, I thought they like...didn't see peeps as a threat and stuff? like. Dude who let's them do that?" She blinks up at Grace, a wee bit horrified by the idea. "Man our managerial system SUUCKs."
"Well like, I mean sure ya stay up like all night and then you're like totally drained and you're like not at all yourself for like days. I mean seriously. That's what you get for not like gettin your sleep and all but ya know, totes gotta take the hit! Waaait is this that paradoxy thing you're mentionin? I mean, dude, that's just not drinking enough redbull."
Grace
"Paradox can fuck you up," Grace says, and makes her way over to her computer again. She sits down at her computer again, draws her legs up into it, and sets it spinning.
"It can even kill you. Now, before you get to the point where you can do things that really piss the universe off, like teleportation, you get minor issues. Maybe a bruise. Maybe a nosebleed. Nothing serious. But, like, right there? I could have left my foot behind. I was being very careful, and I put a lot of myself into it, and I could feel the universe basically slapping my hand and saying 'no', but it didn't do anything terrible this time.
"Part of the reason for that is because you're Awake. You can understand what I'm talking about, if not the specifics. Nobody saw me do that except for you. Paradox hurts a lot worse when people are watching. Like, it's as if their internal 'WTF' meters flag some monitoring process somewhere and it tries to keep people like us from doing things that could rip the universe apart. You get that?"
Jo
"Yeh I do. Like, the consensus is like NOPE even though it's like within the programming to do it. So you gotta like totally change the consensus and you change what's like allowed and stuff. Totally makes sense. Cause then the consensus would just like view what you did as a virus or something instead of like, jsut a normal program." She lifted her hand in a peace sign to Grace. "I gotcha homefry."
Grace
"Also -- yes. Technocrats do shit like that. And so, if you do stuff, do it subtle. Don't go around just trying to scare the pants off of people, because eventually, some T-bag is going to find out and try to toast you.
"Or, at least, that's my opinion on the matter. That's not to say you shouldn't ever try Magic or enlightening the populace. In fact, try. Just don't be suicidal."
Grace leans back in her chair, letting it recline and bang into the desk. "Not that, you know, you're going to be suicidal. Just, it pays to know what the dangers are before you leap."
Jo"Well it's not magic really. it's just like...you're just ascending beyond what .. nah I mean like, you're a self-aware program. And once you're like self-aware, you can alter the system. Course ya can't just go willy nilly. System is like governed for a reason." She put her hand sin her hair and fluffed it. "But I getcha I think. Like totes. Don't go like changing the system too much or Agent smith be all like, inf your face and stuff. Don't know how to dodge bullets yet so... totes gotta not be assaulted by agents." Jo furrowed her brows slowly.
"Whya re none of the agents women?"
Grace"Cause Hollowood's a bunch of jerks who think that Trinity should be all we need to be happy? Some of the scariest things I've ever fought have been women. Don't let them fool you. Evil comes in all genders."
Grace is apparently appraising the ceiling as she speaks, lost. Her fingers play with the arms of the chair and she curls her legs up to sit crosslegged, a thing she's fairly sure Jo won't care about. Even if Jo cared about it, Grace doesn't.
"It is Magic. Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, yes? What do we call it when something is indistinguishable from another thing? We call them equal.
"Most people like to think of the word 'magic' as defining those powers or abilities which can't be explained. But Magic, like sufficiently advanced technology, has always been understandable. I can explain exactly what I do and how it works. If I couldn't, I wouldn't be able to do it. That's how they get you. That's how they try to say magic is impossible. It isn't."
Jo"Wasn't just Trinity tho! We had like, The Oracle, and Niobe, and like persephone and stuff. But like none of the agents were women. Like were there any villians who weren't just like straight up dudes? Man. Now I feel like totes underrepresented as a villain. Equal opportunity evil! Women can be villains too!"
"But dude...magic is like fairies and Avalon and dragons and shit. I mean I suppose you could totally program that but the consensus would like freak the fuck out! Like WOOOAH A DRAGON. Unless it was Godzilla. Cause yup.." She purses her lips confidentally. "Godzilla is totes super bad. He takes out Mothra any day. Be all like 'What you doin in my space homie!? ' And Mothra be all 'SCREEEECH' and Godzilla be all 'That's what I thought. Totes sendin you back to..whatever.' I think like the consensus would be ok with that."
"Godzilla. OK. Dragons. Nah."
Grace"I rode a dragon once," Grace says, still staring at the ceiling. "He shared my thoughts to communicate with me. And he was as real as you or I."
With that, she swings the chair back down, to be able to see Jo's expression. There's a pause before she continues, because hey -- dramatic effect, right? That's a thing.
"If you view the world as a computer program, why wouldn't it make sense for there to be other worlds out there with their own programming? That's part of what Virtual Adepts get up to, actually. We have a tendency to build simulations. Simulations based on this one," she says, gesturing to the room around her, like hey -- that Matrix reference wasn't a metaphor at all.
"I got stuck in someone else's universe. One with dragons that were very much a thing that that universe recognized as normal. There were other worlds with other rules and... Parts of it were incredibly beautiful.
But see, that's my point I guess? Where do you draw the line? I rewrote the code for that universe. I saw how it was made -- and it was technologically based. But it had for-real dragons. There isn't a line."
Jo"Well like sure, other programs. Like you can totally make other simulations within simulations if you like, assume we're a simulation and stuff. Just like, havin a dragon here would like be weird cause it would like violate the consensus rules. I mean like.. hundreds of like years ago that'd be skippy doo awesome cause like, the consensus said HEY dragons are real! And unicorns and stuff! Now it's like...your concensus is more like judeochristian plus science ya know? So like ya gotta keep it all like confined. I mean like you got fringe groups right? Like your wiccans and stuff? And so like wherever they are, then your consensus would shift and that'd be like OK."
She grabbed onto her ankles, swinging back and forth. "I still think Godzilla is way cooler."
Grace"What about Gamera? The friend of all children!"
Grace leans back and looks at the ceiling again, with a grin on her face. Serious-time is over. Or, perhaps she views Gamera as being just as serious as anything else recently discussed, who knows?
"Turtles are cool."
Jo"Tcht! Godzilla can totes take out Gamera." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Like blinded and without fire. Like totally. For realsies. 100 percent. I mean really, he can totally be a giant turtle. Turtles are cool though. Just not like as good as a giant fire-breathing lizard of DOOM." She wiggled her fingers at Grace, grinning.
Grace"I'm going to have to introduce Kalen to Godzilla movies. That should be awesome," Grace says. "Anyway... yeah. Godzilla could probably defeat Gamera, but Gamera is a turtle, so he wins. Turtle greater-than lizard."
Yes, we're having this argument.
"I should make a turtle-bot..."
Jo"Kalen? Don't think I met them. Guy? Girl? If girl, is she like totally hawt?" She grinned widely. "Dude you make a Gamera bot and like I'll make a Godzilla bot and we'll totally see who wins. Cause Godzilla wins in all areas cause like..fire breathing. dude you can't beat that."
"Well..least you're not like a Mothra fan or whatever."
Grace"Well, maybe not Mothra. But I have thought about making dragonfly bots for surveillance purposes...
"And Kalen is my friend. He's around here somewhere. This place is actually his, but you know -- you're welcome to use it as a home away from home if you like. It's nice and safe. We have strong doors and lots of food and ammo."
Yes, because that's what you tell the young people, Grace. It's safe. Because there's lots of ammunition.
"You know, in case you get in trouble."
JoShe blinked, canted her head just a little and squinted her eyes. "Am-mo?" As if the idea was a little strange to her. Course she still didn't quite understand the danger of being a mage, even if she were told it. No one ever does until they experience it. "Should I like, even ask? I mean you don't like have crazy guns like floating around right? Cause that would be odd."
"So like..I can set my stuff up right? Like my game consoles and stuff? Like my computer and like all that? Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude that'd be like..sweet. We can totally rock out here!"
Grace"Kalen has a gun range in the warehouse next door. It can get a little loud? But headphones are made for that," Grace says. "The laser tag arena is like our combat training grounds. So we can practice with real guns for marksmanship purposes, and fake guns for tactics purposes.
"I don't expect you'll be up to combat. Hell, I am totally not. But still, you just have got to be prepared for whatever, and I mean whatever might come your way. You never know. There is some weird stuff in our world, Jo. Including us."
Jo"Tcht. I'm not weird. I'm just like, ya know, different. Totes not the same. My dad just says I'm like special or something, like too smart for most people and that like, of course I'm gunna like seem weird to them cause most people are basic." She shrugged slowly. "Don't..well I mean I like laser tag but like...and like I play combat games but like I don't really like guns cause like seriously? Too many people think it's like super ok to have them and don't even like...think of the implications or like, take gun safety and yeah all that. so like, for realsies? Not really a gun person and stuff. I mean.. totes don't wanna shoot someone."
GraceOh, the implications. Not lost on Grace, those implications. Of course the world they both live in rarely gives people the opportunity to think about them too deeply before plunging in.
But still.
"Fair enough. You don't have to shoot anyone. I didn't mean it like that. And hey -- you're Awake. Maybe someday you learn how to just tell people to chill out and not try to hurt you? And, you know, have them actually do that?
"Or maybe you're like me, and someday you learn how to just go 'poof!' and not have to worry about shooting things."
Jo"Self-aware." She corrects.
"Or like totally reprogram everything so like they can't shoot it. Like it stops the gun from working and like, ya know, I mean if you can reprogram things then I don't like, see why you can't go like full on. I mean for reals. Like think like big dude. Like BIG. What if you can rprogram people to not like be violent. Dude how cool would that be?"
Grace"Sounds like it would also be a great way to rule over everyone," Grace says, trying to get Jo to think about that one a bit.
"And you wouldn't even know you're doing it, because your subjects would be too docile. They might not even know they're subjects. That's like, the basis to a lot of really horrible outcomes."
She considers for a bit, swivels the chair around.
"Maybe, if it was either that or end-of-the-world scenario... I just don't think that aggression is exactly a bad thing in all cases. What if you get a case where someone is being manipulated or enslaved and they can't fight back, because violence has been removed from their programming?"
Jo"Sure well I mean whenever you like, make a program you're like ruling I guess. But like you're tailoring it to like be better. Mor efficient, less bugs, more effective.. ya know. I mean like if you're going to program violence out, then you'd have to like program even like subtle violence or like coercion and stuff. Hmmm." She tapped her finger on her chin. "That'd be like an umbrella term for like violence..so you'd have to like rule out anything that isn't like for self defense, but then if you program it like right, there wouldn't be a need for self defense cause like everyone would be happy."
"I mean like, if everyone can dow aht they want and like not worry about like being hurt, is that really like a bad thing? I mean sure ya got like societies that like profess to do that, but they didn't even like try to like to do it. And they wer elike dealing with flawed programming. I mean you can't make a program do what it can't do. You gotta like remake it, debug it, ya know. So you can't make programs not like kill one another if their programs say to do it. So you have to debug it, rewrite it to like not have that in its behavioral repertoire."
Jo beamed like she'd just solved the greatest puzzle in the world. "Could totally do it."
GraceGrace nods a little, but then adds: "You could. Nothing is impossible... However, I do hope that you have learned a great deal before you get to the point where you could."
It sounds, to Grace, like one of the worst ideas she's ever heard. But Jo is young. And it is a happy ideal that she wants. Who wouldn't like a life where no one gets hurt, no one ever gets forced?
It sounds great, until you realize the extent of absolute control over a populace that would take. It sounds like the very Technocratic mistake.
"There is a place for everything, including violence and death, I think. Without them, we're even more doomed. It's a strange thing, you know? Growth can't happen without the opposite side of the coin. Although, I will agree with one thing: this world has seen far too much of the violent side. Balance is key. It's simply a difficult path to follow."
Jo"I dunno." She rolled back to lay on her back, thinking over it. "Like, i mean what f you can like rewrite like people to be nonviolent but get like the same sort of like stuff done? Like what if it's not the violence that ya know progresses people but just the realization that like what was happenin before doesn't work? Then all you gotta do is rewrite the sensitivity program, re-calibrate their progress meters and ya know you can totes get the same result. I mean it's still gotta be consensus right? I'm not the collective for nothing. But the collective can't like make that decision if they don't have it as like a possibility. See I think teh BORG would have actually like..worked. But people didn't really like see the like possibilities. They just like used it for a metaphor for colonialism and imperialism. But I mean in the end it was like the whole group that came to like a decision, and they like used a body as a voice."
GraceGrace ponders her trainee for a while. The fractal-like nature of the mind means that they are already a collective in a sense -- all part of the universe's whole. Jo calls it the consensus, and maybe that's more true than anyone realizes.
Maybe we're afraid of the Borg because on some level, we realize that we already are them.
"Try not to think of it like you're rewriting individuals to be nonviolent. Try to think of it as arranging the system such that violence is no longer the easiest path to take. Remove the necessity for it, if you're going that route. Remove money. Cause post-scarcity. If you're going to remove force from the equation, you can't use force to do it. It's rather an oxymoron, that, only writ large, over populations.
"Of course, that still allows people the choice of aggression..."
But that freedom, ahh... Is non-violence worth a damn, if it's enforced?
Jo"Hrrm.."
"Even if you like, remove money, people kill each other for like food and goods and stuff. I mean we still trade. Money is just like.. a token. We use ti as like a symbol. Doesn't like stop the aggression just redirects it or like gives it a different source. "
"I mean here's like a question. Why do we like think violence is necessary? Is it because it's like, natural? Cause I mean that's a logical fallacy right there. Is that like, because it's all we know? Well that's a fallacy too. I mean tehre's no real like obvious reason violence is necessary. Like we say it's necessary for like progress and stuff, but do we know that? Cause we only think that because it's like a pattern we've seen, but we all know that just because you see a pattern doesn't mean like one is like the cause of the other."
"It's like, why do we like need genders and sexes right?Cause like some organisms don't even like have those. AND if we build inorganic life, it won't like need it either. So why can't we program that out? I mean I wouldn't cause you need that sort of like sexual diversity but it's like the same sort of problem. Like we say we need it because it's like what we see and know. Buuuut why? Cause I mean all the other like planets out there, you don't like think there's a planet with like a completely different program running the show? And like it has a completely different outcome? But I don't like think it's as incompatible as a 1980s MAC and a 1980s PC. Think it's more like the two systems now. Some of them have like their own areas, but they are totally interchangeable. Least where it's like important."
Grace"Post-scarcity is what destroys money. Meaning -- goods and food and the like become free because they are infinite in supply. We think violence is necessary because people want things that they aren't allowed to have.
"So allow everything. Allow people to have food, shelter, clothing, entertainment, all the necessary bits to existence. We might still beat each other up for insults, but you know, it would do away with a lot.
"I just think that freedom is a necessary element, you know? We don't need to clamp down on people, we need to open up possibilities that aren't violent ones. People will fall in line like water flows downhill -- because violence becomes the hard path to take instead of the easy. The main point behind intelligence is maintaining a state where one's options are open. I maintain that the second we reprogram everyone into docility, is the second our world is invaded by aliens or overrun by zombies or whatever existential threat du jour it happens to be, and suddenly we realize why that door shouldn't have been closed."
JoJo tightened her lips and pursed them. "Don't know if you can like, make stuff like that infinite and stuff. I mean, I guess you can make like a food materialize and stuff but that like, needs energy. I mean energy isn't like infinite so you got problems there. I mean if you like, if you make violence OK in self defense, then like, it leaves a loop hole for like ya know, bein attacked. But if they can't fight unless defending, then well then you get rid of like murder and stuff cause yeah...."
"Sort of like making the three laws but with people and not like..robots."
Grace"There's four laws. The zeroth law was always my favorite. A robot may not harm humanity, or by inaction allow humanity to come to harm. The highest law. You can kill, you can harm, but only in service of that.
"On that note, would you like some more waffles?"
It's nice having someone to talk robotic ethics with. And waffles are nice too. Grace smiles at Jo, because even if they don't see exactly eye-to-eye, there are always Godzilla-bot vs. Gamera-bot battles and time -- time for everyone to learn.
"Whya re none of the agents women?"
Grace"Cause Hollowood's a bunch of jerks who think that Trinity should be all we need to be happy? Some of the scariest things I've ever fought have been women. Don't let them fool you. Evil comes in all genders."
Grace is apparently appraising the ceiling as she speaks, lost. Her fingers play with the arms of the chair and she curls her legs up to sit crosslegged, a thing she's fairly sure Jo won't care about. Even if Jo cared about it, Grace doesn't.
"It is Magic. Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, yes? What do we call it when something is indistinguishable from another thing? We call them equal.
"Most people like to think of the word 'magic' as defining those powers or abilities which can't be explained. But Magic, like sufficiently advanced technology, has always been understandable. I can explain exactly what I do and how it works. If I couldn't, I wouldn't be able to do it. That's how they get you. That's how they try to say magic is impossible. It isn't."
Jo"Wasn't just Trinity tho! We had like, The Oracle, and Niobe, and like persephone and stuff. But like none of the agents were women. Like were there any villians who weren't just like straight up dudes? Man. Now I feel like totes underrepresented as a villain. Equal opportunity evil! Women can be villains too!"
"But dude...magic is like fairies and Avalon and dragons and shit. I mean I suppose you could totally program that but the consensus would like freak the fuck out! Like WOOOAH A DRAGON. Unless it was Godzilla. Cause yup.." She purses her lips confidentally. "Godzilla is totes super bad. He takes out Mothra any day. Be all like 'What you doin in my space homie!? ' And Mothra be all 'SCREEEECH' and Godzilla be all 'That's what I thought. Totes sendin you back to..whatever.' I think like the consensus would be ok with that."
"Godzilla. OK. Dragons. Nah."
Grace"I rode a dragon once," Grace says, still staring at the ceiling. "He shared my thoughts to communicate with me. And he was as real as you or I."
With that, she swings the chair back down, to be able to see Jo's expression. There's a pause before she continues, because hey -- dramatic effect, right? That's a thing.
"If you view the world as a computer program, why wouldn't it make sense for there to be other worlds out there with their own programming? That's part of what Virtual Adepts get up to, actually. We have a tendency to build simulations. Simulations based on this one," she says, gesturing to the room around her, like hey -- that Matrix reference wasn't a metaphor at all.
"I got stuck in someone else's universe. One with dragons that were very much a thing that that universe recognized as normal. There were other worlds with other rules and... Parts of it were incredibly beautiful.
But see, that's my point I guess? Where do you draw the line? I rewrote the code for that universe. I saw how it was made -- and it was technologically based. But it had for-real dragons. There isn't a line."
Jo"Well like sure, other programs. Like you can totally make other simulations within simulations if you like, assume we're a simulation and stuff. Just like, havin a dragon here would like be weird cause it would like violate the consensus rules. I mean like.. hundreds of like years ago that'd be skippy doo awesome cause like, the consensus said HEY dragons are real! And unicorns and stuff! Now it's like...your concensus is more like judeochristian plus science ya know? So like ya gotta keep it all like confined. I mean like you got fringe groups right? Like your wiccans and stuff? And so like wherever they are, then your consensus would shift and that'd be like OK."
She grabbed onto her ankles, swinging back and forth. "I still think Godzilla is way cooler."
Grace"What about Gamera? The friend of all children!"
Grace leans back and looks at the ceiling again, with a grin on her face. Serious-time is over. Or, perhaps she views Gamera as being just as serious as anything else recently discussed, who knows?
"Turtles are cool."
Jo"Tcht! Godzilla can totes take out Gamera." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Like blinded and without fire. Like totally. For realsies. 100 percent. I mean really, he can totally be a giant turtle. Turtles are cool though. Just not like as good as a giant fire-breathing lizard of DOOM." She wiggled her fingers at Grace, grinning.
Grace"I'm going to have to introduce Kalen to Godzilla movies. That should be awesome," Grace says. "Anyway... yeah. Godzilla could probably defeat Gamera, but Gamera is a turtle, so he wins. Turtle greater-than lizard."
Yes, we're having this argument.
"I should make a turtle-bot..."
Jo"Kalen? Don't think I met them. Guy? Girl? If girl, is she like totally hawt?" She grinned widely. "Dude you make a Gamera bot and like I'll make a Godzilla bot and we'll totally see who wins. Cause Godzilla wins in all areas cause like..fire breathing. dude you can't beat that."
"Well..least you're not like a Mothra fan or whatever."
Grace"Well, maybe not Mothra. But I have thought about making dragonfly bots for surveillance purposes...
"And Kalen is my friend. He's around here somewhere. This place is actually his, but you know -- you're welcome to use it as a home away from home if you like. It's nice and safe. We have strong doors and lots of food and ammo."
Yes, because that's what you tell the young people, Grace. It's safe. Because there's lots of ammunition.
"You know, in case you get in trouble."
JoShe blinked, canted her head just a little and squinted her eyes. "Am-mo?" As if the idea was a little strange to her. Course she still didn't quite understand the danger of being a mage, even if she were told it. No one ever does until they experience it. "Should I like, even ask? I mean you don't like have crazy guns like floating around right? Cause that would be odd."
"So like..I can set my stuff up right? Like my game consoles and stuff? Like my computer and like all that? Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude that'd be like..sweet. We can totally rock out here!"
Grace"Kalen has a gun range in the warehouse next door. It can get a little loud? But headphones are made for that," Grace says. "The laser tag arena is like our combat training grounds. So we can practice with real guns for marksmanship purposes, and fake guns for tactics purposes.
"I don't expect you'll be up to combat. Hell, I am totally not. But still, you just have got to be prepared for whatever, and I mean whatever might come your way. You never know. There is some weird stuff in our world, Jo. Including us."
Jo"Tcht. I'm not weird. I'm just like, ya know, different. Totes not the same. My dad just says I'm like special or something, like too smart for most people and that like, of course I'm gunna like seem weird to them cause most people are basic." She shrugged slowly. "Don't..well I mean I like laser tag but like...and like I play combat games but like I don't really like guns cause like seriously? Too many people think it's like super ok to have them and don't even like...think of the implications or like, take gun safety and yeah all that. so like, for realsies? Not really a gun person and stuff. I mean.. totes don't wanna shoot someone."
GraceOh, the implications. Not lost on Grace, those implications. Of course the world they both live in rarely gives people the opportunity to think about them too deeply before plunging in.
But still.
"Fair enough. You don't have to shoot anyone. I didn't mean it like that. And hey -- you're Awake. Maybe someday you learn how to just tell people to chill out and not try to hurt you? And, you know, have them actually do that?
"Or maybe you're like me, and someday you learn how to just go 'poof!' and not have to worry about shooting things."
Jo"Self-aware." She corrects.
"Or like totally reprogram everything so like they can't shoot it. Like it stops the gun from working and like, ya know, I mean if you can reprogram things then I don't like, see why you can't go like full on. I mean for reals. Like think like big dude. Like BIG. What if you can rprogram people to not like be violent. Dude how cool would that be?"
Grace"Sounds like it would also be a great way to rule over everyone," Grace says, trying to get Jo to think about that one a bit.
"And you wouldn't even know you're doing it, because your subjects would be too docile. They might not even know they're subjects. That's like, the basis to a lot of really horrible outcomes."
She considers for a bit, swivels the chair around.
"Maybe, if it was either that or end-of-the-world scenario... I just don't think that aggression is exactly a bad thing in all cases. What if you get a case where someone is being manipulated or enslaved and they can't fight back, because violence has been removed from their programming?"
Jo"Sure well I mean whenever you like, make a program you're like ruling I guess. But like you're tailoring it to like be better. Mor efficient, less bugs, more effective.. ya know. I mean like if you're going to program violence out, then you'd have to like program even like subtle violence or like coercion and stuff. Hmmm." She tapped her finger on her chin. "That'd be like an umbrella term for like violence..so you'd have to like rule out anything that isn't like for self defense, but then if you program it like right, there wouldn't be a need for self defense cause like everyone would be happy."
"I mean like, if everyone can dow aht they want and like not worry about like being hurt, is that really like a bad thing? I mean sure ya got like societies that like profess to do that, but they didn't even like try to like to do it. And they wer elike dealing with flawed programming. I mean you can't make a program do what it can't do. You gotta like remake it, debug it, ya know. So you can't make programs not like kill one another if their programs say to do it. So you have to debug it, rewrite it to like not have that in its behavioral repertoire."
Jo beamed like she'd just solved the greatest puzzle in the world. "Could totally do it."
GraceGrace nods a little, but then adds: "You could. Nothing is impossible... However, I do hope that you have learned a great deal before you get to the point where you could."
It sounds, to Grace, like one of the worst ideas she's ever heard. But Jo is young. And it is a happy ideal that she wants. Who wouldn't like a life where no one gets hurt, no one ever gets forced?
It sounds great, until you realize the extent of absolute control over a populace that would take. It sounds like the very Technocratic mistake.
"There is a place for everything, including violence and death, I think. Without them, we're even more doomed. It's a strange thing, you know? Growth can't happen without the opposite side of the coin. Although, I will agree with one thing: this world has seen far too much of the violent side. Balance is key. It's simply a difficult path to follow."
Jo"I dunno." She rolled back to lay on her back, thinking over it. "Like, i mean what f you can like rewrite like people to be nonviolent but get like the same sort of like stuff done? Like what if it's not the violence that ya know progresses people but just the realization that like what was happenin before doesn't work? Then all you gotta do is rewrite the sensitivity program, re-calibrate their progress meters and ya know you can totes get the same result. I mean it's still gotta be consensus right? I'm not the collective for nothing. But the collective can't like make that decision if they don't have it as like a possibility. See I think teh BORG would have actually like..worked. But people didn't really like see the like possibilities. They just like used it for a metaphor for colonialism and imperialism. But I mean in the end it was like the whole group that came to like a decision, and they like used a body as a voice."
GraceGrace ponders her trainee for a while. The fractal-like nature of the mind means that they are already a collective in a sense -- all part of the universe's whole. Jo calls it the consensus, and maybe that's more true than anyone realizes.
Maybe we're afraid of the Borg because on some level, we realize that we already are them.
"Try not to think of it like you're rewriting individuals to be nonviolent. Try to think of it as arranging the system such that violence is no longer the easiest path to take. Remove the necessity for it, if you're going that route. Remove money. Cause post-scarcity. If you're going to remove force from the equation, you can't use force to do it. It's rather an oxymoron, that, only writ large, over populations.
"Of course, that still allows people the choice of aggression..."
But that freedom, ahh... Is non-violence worth a damn, if it's enforced?
Jo"Hrrm.."
"Even if you like, remove money, people kill each other for like food and goods and stuff. I mean we still trade. Money is just like.. a token. We use ti as like a symbol. Doesn't like stop the aggression just redirects it or like gives it a different source. "
"I mean here's like a question. Why do we like think violence is necessary? Is it because it's like, natural? Cause I mean that's a logical fallacy right there. Is that like, because it's all we know? Well that's a fallacy too. I mean tehre's no real like obvious reason violence is necessary. Like we say it's necessary for like progress and stuff, but do we know that? Cause we only think that because it's like a pattern we've seen, but we all know that just because you see a pattern doesn't mean like one is like the cause of the other."
"It's like, why do we like need genders and sexes right?Cause like some organisms don't even like have those. AND if we build inorganic life, it won't like need it either. So why can't we program that out? I mean I wouldn't cause you need that sort of like sexual diversity but it's like the same sort of problem. Like we say we need it because it's like what we see and know. Buuuut why? Cause I mean all the other like planets out there, you don't like think there's a planet with like a completely different program running the show? And like it has a completely different outcome? But I don't like think it's as incompatible as a 1980s MAC and a 1980s PC. Think it's more like the two systems now. Some of them have like their own areas, but they are totally interchangeable. Least where it's like important."
Grace"Post-scarcity is what destroys money. Meaning -- goods and food and the like become free because they are infinite in supply. We think violence is necessary because people want things that they aren't allowed to have.
"So allow everything. Allow people to have food, shelter, clothing, entertainment, all the necessary bits to existence. We might still beat each other up for insults, but you know, it would do away with a lot.
"I just think that freedom is a necessary element, you know? We don't need to clamp down on people, we need to open up possibilities that aren't violent ones. People will fall in line like water flows downhill -- because violence becomes the hard path to take instead of the easy. The main point behind intelligence is maintaining a state where one's options are open. I maintain that the second we reprogram everyone into docility, is the second our world is invaded by aliens or overrun by zombies or whatever existential threat du jour it happens to be, and suddenly we realize why that door shouldn't have been closed."
JoJo tightened her lips and pursed them. "Don't know if you can like, make stuff like that infinite and stuff. I mean, I guess you can make like a food materialize and stuff but that like, needs energy. I mean energy isn't like infinite so you got problems there. I mean if you like, if you make violence OK in self defense, then like, it leaves a loop hole for like ya know, bein attacked. But if they can't fight unless defending, then well then you get rid of like murder and stuff cause yeah...."
"Sort of like making the three laws but with people and not like..robots."
Grace"There's four laws. The zeroth law was always my favorite. A robot may not harm humanity, or by inaction allow humanity to come to harm. The highest law. You can kill, you can harm, but only in service of that.
"On that note, would you like some more waffles?"
It's nice having someone to talk robotic ethics with. And waffles are nice too. Grace smiles at Jo, because even if they don't see exactly eye-to-eye, there are always Godzilla-bot vs. Gamera-bot battles and time -- time for everyone to learn.
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