We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Book 5: Chapter 21: Running Tests

Book 5: Chapter 21: Running Tests

Bill

April 2337

In Virt and Ragnarök

Iwaited patiently, leaning back in my La-Z-Boy, while Hugh, present in a video window, scanned the listing I’d sent him. “You want us to run this on JOVAH?” he asked rhetorically, waving the pages at me.

“On the old hardware that’s just being used for VRs and such,” I replied.

“We’ll have to shut down a lot of other stuff if we want the number of parallel processes you’re looking for,” he complained.

“Sell it as a possible response to the Thoth crisis.”

Hugh frowned at me and waved the listing again. “Seriously? This is just a bunch of simulations.”

I frowned back at him, matching his tone. “You don’t need to show the Skippies the listing. And my statement isn’t necessarily untrue.”

“Uh-huh. Say, which one of us created an out-of-control AI?”

“And which one of us unleashed its minion on the galaxy?”

We seemed to have arrived at a stalemate. We glared at each other over the video connection for a few mils; then Hugh sighed and looked down at the pages again. “I guess it won’t hurt to try. But don’t expect much. It’ll be a low-priority job. And this is a huge test range.”

“It’s not truly random, Hugh. It starts out randomly picking value domains, but from there, I’m using simulated annealing. It could converge on a solution in a few hundred years. Or a few days, depending on how lucky I am with the initial target range.”

Hugh rolled his eyes and set the listing aside. “Fine. But you better remember this the next time I need something.” Without waiting for an answer, he ended the connection.

I did a fist pump and sent an invitation to Garfield.

*****

We met on my deck in real. Garfield’s manny blinked and looked around, then took a deep breath.

“Better and better, every time I see it,” he said. “So what’s the latest, oh ex-boss?”

I answered without answering. “What’re you working on these days, Gar?”

“You know that. Origin of life. And you’re dodging the question.”

“Mmm, sort of. Your project is kind of the same as mine right now. Lots of possibilities, no way to tell which path to take until you’ve taken it and it’s dead-ended or not. Lots of wasted time.”

“Okay, and your point?”

“Have you tried simulations?”

“Been thinking about it, why?”

I paused and smiled. Time to bait the trap. “I’ll make you a deal. Set up simulations. Leave them running until something pops out. Same as I’ve done. Whoever’s project shows results first, we both work on it.” ?Â???È?

Garfield gave me the hairy eyeball, saying nothing for a few moments. “This sounds an awful lot like a setup. You know something I don’t?”

I shook my head. “No, Gar. Honest. I’m waiting for my sims to show something. Until then, I’m at loose ends. Once I get a result, I’ll probably be balls to the wall for a long time. In that case, I could use some help.”

Garfield bobbed his head back and forth, thinking about it. “Okay, look. If you get something, I’ll take some time off and help. Forget the quid pro quo thing. If you came to help me, I’d be bossing you around, and that’d be creepy for both of us.” He smiled. “Deal?”

I laughed in reply. “Sounds good.”