Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few. The manna of popular liberty must be gathered each day or it is rotten. The living sap of today outgrows the dead rind of yesterday. The hand entrusted with power becomes, either from human depravity or esprit de corps, the necessary enemy of the people. Only by continued oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot; only by unintermitted agitation can a people be sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity.

-Wendell Philips, January 28, 1852

Prologue: Serp Pros, CEO of Bureogis cooperation walked onto the stage as the crowd of businessmen and politicians below him cheered. Serp had been waiting for this day for many years, and now he was finally here. He could not believe how far he had come; now that he was here, about to make the announcement, he felt that all eyes were upon him. The feelings were something that he never felt before, but somehow he knew it was something that always wanted. It was the feeling that he was the center of the universe, and that everything rotated around him.

Serp started the speech with the generic openings and the thanks to all those who helped him; although many of those people’s interference he did not actually appreciate. Next, he moved on to the technical details as well as a chronology of the development of the artificial intelligence. Finally, after around thirty minutes of speaking, Serp reached the end of his speech and the final rehearsed words rolled off his tongue:

“I am proud and glad to announce that AI Estos TAC II will be replacing all government functions by the end of today. I would like to thank the Secretary-General for ensuring this smooth transition of power. Our actions today will commence an eternal golden age for humanity where liberty is finally released from the necessity of taxation. No longer do abled citizens need to provide for the state, and no longer will a state exist provide for useless citizens. This is the age of truth and honesty where one shall freely prosper by the sweat on their brows, but will not leech on others like a parasite. Ladies and gentlemen, let us all applaud for this occasion.”

1

Aiden Scivit cursed at The Traveler when the traffic light turned red, and his mag-mobile stopped just in time to avoid crashing to another mag-mobile in front of him. It was then that a loud ding came from his phone, notifying him that he had received a message. The message was from his employer, Bureogis Technologies. Because the message was quite long, Aiden had to unlock his phone to view the full text. He grumbled as the phone scanned his retina, both at the ridiculous security measures that his company required for their communications, and at the unnecessary wordiness of the messages from them.

The young man slumped for a second, feeling suddenly tired at the prospect of another day of work. From the rear-view mirror, it could be seen that he has dark hair, tanned skin, fine features, and ember eyes, which were a result of his biological parent’s peculiar taste in eye color, and doctors who didn’t want to offend their customers. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties, and had a very solid build. There was an aura of seriousness and strength to him. If anyone were to guess his occupation, soldier, or security officer would probably be it. The phone unlocked, and Aiden opened the messaging app.

The messaging app loaded and started to connect to the secure channel of the Bureogis Corporation. Aiden took this chance to reflect on his current situation in life. Aiden hoped that the message wasn’t about another pay cut. Due to recent political developments, the national government, as well as the armed forces, were now under the control of artificial intelligence Estos TAC II, who reduced the number of people hired to the bare minimum. As a result, there has been an influx of trained professional soldiers seeking jobs in the private security industry. Although Aiden had quite a stable job being a top security operative, these soldiers have increased the supply of security officers, and since demand stayed relatively the same, wages had been continuously dropping in recent months.

It was at moments like these that Aiden became a bit jealous of his brother Liam, who worked as a head software engineer at Bureogis and is probably not affected by the recent political changes at all. Liam Raycevick, like Aiden, was born in New York. They were, in fact, childhood friends who grew up together under one household. The only difference was that Aiden’s parents died when he was just three, and Aiden had to live in the state’s orphanage for five weeks. The Raycevicks had a single child by that point but wanted two. However, due to an unfortunate accident when motorcycling, Mr. Raycevick lost his ability to reproduce despite the doctor’s best efforts. Ms. Raycevick suggested adoption, and that was how little Aiden Scivit ended up in the Raycevicks’ house.

Although the Raycevicks were a kind couple, love wasn’t equal in the house. The Raycevicks treated Aiden kind enough, almost like they treated Liam. Almost. The treatment from the parents was equal when it came to most things, such as food, living, and buying game consoles. However, the difference was that the Raycevick spent more time on Liam’s studies, and had higher expectations for the kid while spending only as much time on Aiden’s school life as to avoid phone calls from the teacher. As a result, one child grew up to be a lead software engineer at the biggest technological firm on the planet, and the other became a security officer at the same place.

Even though they were at vastly different occupations and often didn’t understand each other’s actions and interests even in school, Liam and Aiden remained brothers, for they both a common interest – mischief. Aiden laughed silently at himself as he remembered the many daring acts that he took on with Liam. Aiden obviously wasn’t pleased with his parent’s prejudices, but he understood that human nature was imperfect and that the Raycevicks had treated him with enough kindness. He was grateful for what they gave him. He didn’t hate his parents or Liam. He loved them, but sometimes he did wonder if that love was reciprocal. He looked down at his phone, saw that the secure channel was still loading, and wondered how The Traveler can possibly be creating the most effective telecommunication system. Aiden didn’t know a whole lot about the inner workings of the artificial intelligence Estos TAC II, but he knew the basics from Liam.

The AI Estos TAC II was named after the engineer James Estos who led his team to create the world’s first successful quantum computer at Duke University. Despite promising results from many major companies even decades before Estos’ births, the technology of quantum computing remained elusive and was successfully developed only 200 years after the first inception of the idea. After winning a Nobel prize for his achievements, Estos moved into the corporate world and worked for Bureogis under CEO Serp Pros, who was seen as a young and innovative leader at the time. It was at Bureogis that Estos completed his unique AI model TAC – the world’s first artificial general intelligence. Unlike all previous endeavors, this model was able to understand and learn any task that a human could. However, soon after the model was published, Estos died in a car accident under suspicious circumstances, and there had been many conspiracy theories claiming that Serp ordered Estos’ assassination because Estos would not allow AI model to be used since he thought it would have been too disruptive to the world. Aiden didn’t buy any of the conspiracy theories, but he certainly agreed with Estos, the TAC model really has been disruptive.

The TAC, unlike previous AIs, were not designed to help or run corporations, but rather to directly replace governments as a more effective mode of governance. The computers were called abiogenic because their designs were created by other AIs using a model similar to that of evolution by natural selection. Having designed and created some of the most powerful AIs at Bureogis Technologies, Estos through that to create something even greater would require forces beyond the human. Thus, he asked half of his own AIs to set parameters and a measuring system on the best AI model and system to govern a nation, and asked the other half of his AIs to come up with random creative ideas for such an AI to meet the criterion set. As a result, designs started with the simplest and the most basic, and then starts to build up. This system of AIs was the TAC I. Whereas initial programs created looked more like dead, abiotic algorithms, the end result, the TAC II, was stunning, sentient, powerful, and something to truly marvel at. Although Aiden was annoyed at the fact that his secured channel was still loading, he had to agree that it is impressive for single intelligence to replace hundreds of thousands of government employees, and to run the nation as well as it does.

The Estos TAC II, as suggested by its name which stood for ‘Three Abiogenic Computers’, had three parts. Each part by itself was a very powerful superintelligence; they made major important decisions by first debating each other, and then moving onto voting procedures. Voting between the superintelligences was strictly limited to a “Yes” or a “No” without the possibility of abstention, so to avoid deadlocks in decisions. But not all issues were voted on, as each AI decided by itself what to do in the areas assigned to it.

The Traveler takes control of all aspects of government concerning transportation and communication: setting the necessary regulations, commissioning the building of infrastructure when appropriate, and a whole lot of other things which Aiden didn’t care to think about. The Engineer was the AI that most people had the most contact with, who took care of the day to day problems that citizens encountered. Effectively, The Engineer acted as both as a civil servant, a search engine, as well as a virtual assistant. A lesser-known, but more important function of The Engineer is that the AI constantly develops and improves social policies as well as technology systems for the public. Finally, there is The Curator, who controls all affairs concerning criminal investigation, justice, national security, and the armed forces. The Curator is also the reason that most soldiers had been recently discharged, and the AI found automated jets and missile systems much more effective than battalions of men.

Thinking about The Curator made Aiden a bit annoyed and angry at the AI, for due to his wage cuts, induced by the AI’s actions, he was having some trouble paying his bills, and last night was not the first when he had to tell his landlord that he needs to wait until the end of the week for his paycheck to pay the rent. As the Traffic light turned green and the secured channel finally loading, Aiden started to read the message that he received as the mag-mobile drove towards Bureogis headquarters automatically.