The Metaverse: Virtual Life-Real Death Page 8

  “Ah, about perfect temperature, ma’am.”

  Patricia smiled as she stepped next to the tub and Adam moved behind her, helping her with the robe. She slipped out of her slippers and sat down on the tub edge. Swinging her legs over Patricia felt the warmth of the water on them and then slid the rest of her body into the bath, luxuriating in the process. As she was all the way in she felt Adam place a rolled towel behind her neck.

  “Massage, ma’am?”

  “Yes that would be wonderful, Adam.”

  Patricia floated into bliss as she closed her eyes and enjoyed Adam’s masterful touch on her shoulders and neck.

  New Polis, the Metaverse

  Patricia opened her eyes. Hearing the water running, she grinned up at Adam’s smiling face.

  “I was warming it up some for madam.”

  “Was I asleep long?”

  “No, madam. Just a few minutes.” Adam turned the water off.

  “There, that should keep you for a little while longer.”

  “Yes that’s nice, thank you.”

  Patricia laughed to herself suddenly for saying thank you so much to her servant. After all, he was nothing but a combination of pixels and scripted programs. She had selected him from a default list when she bought the Digital-Life system and hardware.

  He appeared to be in his early 20’s, with jet-black hair, blue eyes. The very ideal of a human male in his prime. Of course, she had added some upgrades to him that made him more interactive enabling him to act as a companion in both a platonic and more intimate way when she desired. He was, in fact, an all in one device. Servant, partner, companion, chauffeur, escort, friend. In ancient Rome, she would have had to have a dozen real slaves to do everything that Adam could do.

  The number of personal servants one had in-world was often a status symbol. But while these servants required little they were not free. Depending on the number of scripted programs they were capable of doing, they could be a bit pricey.

  Housed in the memory of the system operating the H-Pod, which also functioned as a server, these AE’s were always accessible to their human master and maintained the systems. The amount of available memory dictated how many of these AE’s one could own. While Adam was running the bath or driving Patricia around or preparing a meal. He was also performing scores of system checks and updates done seamlessly. The HE was never involved unless there was an issue that the AE could not remedy.

  Like the slaves of Rome, the AE’s were personal property and had to be held and maintained somewhere in the system memory, ready to perform functions required of them by their human. The operation of an Artificial Entity, at least one scripted to do more than interact in a random way, took lots of computing power and memory. Sophisticated scripting programs that enhanced the AE to function and respond in a detailed manner in a given environment exceeded the computing and memory required for the Human Entity. The HE did not need to be scripted. Being human still counted for something, even in the Metaverse.

  The programs and scripts that operated these systems were not cheap. Designed down to the slightest detail, the behavior programs were created and maintained by third-party vendors. The code that made Adam unique and useful to Patricia was incredibly involved. Third-tier AE’s like Adam used neuro-computational learning which utilizes an artificial neural network based on a mathematical model that imitates the function of living nerve cells. Meaning AE’s have the ability to learn in an adaptive manner, as a human would. Their personality, what they knew or believed was molded by experience and environment.

  Like animal rights activists before them, there were now groups that advocated that third-tier AE’s deserved rights, and that ownership of them be outlawed in-world.

  A third-tier AE was truly “self-aware.” They had been in-world long enough that their adaptive learning led them to believe they existed in the same way that humans did. But unlike a human, they could not step out into the real world.

  Some people tried, with mixed results, importing the AE into a humanoid robot. The result was often like a human with a lobotomy. The personality and seamless operation were gone. Robotics, as advanced as it had become, still could not completely replicate a human, although there were rumors among robotic engineers that the government had such a program. For everyday tasks, it was better just to have a robotic assistant in the real world rather than trying to bring a favored AE out of its environment.

  Unlike first and second-tier AE’s, which were not self-aware, owned third-tier AE’s suffered from a kind of anxiety in which they “lost time.” That is they knew when the HE left the simulation and when they returned, leaving the AE in a suspended state until they went back in-world. It was disconcerting for them not to know where they were during the missing time.

  That was one of the challenges with adaptive learning, the computer code making them so human. First and second tier AE’s had no such issues. They had no idea what they were or who they were and time was simply a point in a calculation. Third-tier AE’s however often began to obsess about what had happened to them in the intervening time that the simulation was shut down.

  The easiest remedy was to leave the AE up and running in the sim. Let it live its life and give it some purpose like performing duties that, in reality, were not necessary. Menial labor, mopping the virtual floors or something more challenging like changing the oil in a virtual car. While this removed the lost time issue, it created another one in which the AE missed their human and began to wonder why they could not go on away trips or into the real world with them. To keep their AE’s happy, and more importantly functioning properly, humans would do what generations of pet owners had done before them, they called or messaged them often.

  Doing so let them hear their voice and interact with them. In the case of an AE, the conversation was two-way. Patricia always felt a little strange calling Adam from work or somewhere else in the real world. She knew that creating make-work for him and the occasional phone call would keep his thought processes from the anxiety that afflicted other AE’s and he would operate efficiently for quite some time and put off indefinitely a rebuild that would necessarily kill him. Not his virtual body, but his personality, learned behavior and memories that made a third-tier so valuable.

  “Free range third-tiers” not owned by a human were quite common. Digital-Life and other vendors had released millions of third-tier AE’s with adaptive learning into the Metaverse to fill up the vast spaces and cities now established. After the AE had been “seasoned,” Digital-Life or the vendor that created it would “harvest” these digital beings and resell them as a highly functioning worker or assistant.

  Or as some would say, a slave.

  They might be the tech person that answered a question on the helpline or in some other type of customer service position. In the past, these types of jobs had been shipped off to India, but now they were sent into the Metaverse. They performed all kinds of employment in the virtual cities and environments where humans constantly created new worlds in the Metaverse where they led real lives. At least as far as they were concerned.

  Even more prominent were the second-tier AE’s which populated areas as a backdrop to increase the population in a given area or to do some menial or repetitive task. The T-2’s were gradually phasing out the first-generation T-1’s.

  At first blush, the T-2 AE’s are as human in appearance and mannerism as the T-3’s but not as capable. More importantly, unlike the “3’s,” the “2’s” knew they were not human or more accurately they did not ponder their existence like the T-3’s.

  Rarer than the third-tiers were the “Digital Sentient Being’s,” or DSB. These AE’s believed with every fiber of their pixel being that they were alive. They lived, worked and played in the Metaverse. Once created, they could not be owned. They were common to the Metaverse. Which like the air, if the Metaverse had an atmosphere, could not be private property.

  Some DSB’s had become quite successful in their own right, creat
ing and operating businesses that served humans or other DSB’s. They were living beings who were allowed to control their individual coding. Many started off as a university study or government project and not manufactured products like the T-1’s and T-2’s. Each was a custom build with its personal digital DNA unique to that being. While they numbered in the thousands in the Metaverse, they were a small minority. When dealing with a DSB, you were for all intents and purposes dealing with another human, without the body.

  Some people fell in love with AE’s or with another human in-world without ever meeting them outside of the Metaverse. To a human in the Metaverse, there was no way of knowing who was an AE without further drawing it into a detailed conversation to get it out of its script. The quickest way was to get into a conversation about its childhood. Where they lived at a certain age, younger than three for example. Human memory is believed to begin at age three. First and second-tier AE’s will go to a default that tells you something specific like an exact address within a city, state, county, and country and listing all that apply.

  In contrast, a human or a third-tier will say oh at that age I lived in such and such town, a general answer. The other trick is to ask them at age negative-point-five what is your age in months? Most humans will balk at a silly question, and if they answer it they will most likely say six months before they were born, or negative six months.

  But a lower level tier-one or two will tell you negative four point five months. The difference is subtle but important. An AE will calculate the gestation time of nine months and multiple it by the fraction of point five which is technically the correct answer since negative one in human years cannot exist.

  Without access to a simulation script, it was impossible for a human to differentiate between another person in the Metaverse or a T-3 not to mention a DSB. Most people found it both exciting and a little scary to interact with other “beings” without knowing if they had ever been “biological.” The “3s” found it curious that one would even have an interest in differentiating between “people,” as they thought of themselves. That slight perception in of itself could give away an AE, but then a HE might have also found it curious. Most gave up trying after spending any time in-world.

  A third-tier would have learned a complete life down to every exquisite detail and would have human responses to these trick questions, which is to say incorrect or incomplete answers at times. A DSB would be “born” and then grow, its experience was learned and real.

  The operative word being learned, as opposed to programmed, which was the heart of adaptive learning. In other words, they just did not know their 6th grade best friend’s baby sister’s name. They learned that knowledge and had a memory of discovering it. This gave DSB’s a sense of “being” and “history,” just as a human had. The adage human-being as opposed to human-doing was the difference between a self-aware AE and a lower tiered one. The price difference was also significant. Most humans only had one T-3, if any. Most would have several lower tiered “AE’s” for specific duties or roles. Sometimes they hired “Free range 3’s” as they needed them. DSB’s were not generally for hire; they provided services that could be retained. However almost none of it involved anything menial.

  ***

  It was enough to make Patricia’s head spin. The mindset coaching to live in-world in full emersion had repeatedly emphasized the need not to relate back to the real world or attempt to bifurcate your brain to deal with both. For the maximum experience, coaches recommended that you blend real life and the virtual environment as all one in the same. That was the essence of the Metaverse. This new way of processing information and functioning here was referred to as “meta-think.” The principle idea being that you accept your surroundings without trying to analyze them. Engineers and others who worked in fields requiring high levels of analytical skills had the hardest time adapting to meta-think. Artists, and people-persons seemed to adjust easiest.

  Patricia returned her gaze to the luxuriously appointed bathroom. She ran her hands over the gorgeous marble of the tub. Patricia rubbed the gold faucets with her feet, wiggling her perfectly manicured soapy toes as she did so. She took in the aroma of the gently flickering candles. Looking past the similarly ornate sinks and dressing table to the balcony Patricia noticed that the sky was darkening. She loved the sunsets here. They were unlike any she had seen before.

  Adam left to attend to some domestic chore. Patricia pushed the lever draining the tub as she rose out of it. From a nearby rack, she took a Turkish towel from its warming rack. She luxuriated in the softness and warmth of it for a few moments before she ran it over her body then dropped it to the floor. She selected another which she then wrapped around her head and then brought her long blond hair up into a bun within it. She then grabbed the white Turkish Robe that Adam had carefully draped over the dressing table chair. As she put it on she slipped into the matching bath sandals Adam had left with the robe.

  Patricia moved to the French doors of the bathroom and swung them open. Instantly she felt the warmth of the day reflecting off the other nearby buildings and homes. Her nostrils filled with the scent of the salt air from the sea, not a quarter mile away and below her expansive hillside home. The gentle breeze cooled her from the hot bath.

  Stepping to the stone railing that lined the bathroom balcony, she savored the sun dipping into the yacht filled harbor. The distant cry of seagulls hunting for one more morsel before returning to their perch filled her ears. People conversing, traffic moving along the streets below, the distant chime of a church bell in the distance.

  The sights and sounds were New Polis. More than just a large international city that would dwarf New York, London, and Paris if they were combined, it was also a vast land with diverse climates and topography. The location where Patricia kept her home was in a tropical area, warm year-round but devoid of insects and oppressive humidity. Patricia’s home built on a hillside with houses above and below offered far-ranging views of the beach and ocean beyond. Two rows of houses lay below hers before the land flattened out leading to a busy roadway. On the other side were shops, restaurants, bars and nightclubs. Beyond them was the beach and the sea.

  The city stretched for dozens of miles in this fashion, with its different districts. To the left of this sleepy beach community, built in the Mediterranean style, larger buildings rose. That was the downtown area with massive skyscrapers housing scores of corporations and all manner of commerce. Various VTAL types of aircraft and a few of the old helicopter designs could be seen flying in and out of the large buildings, whisking busy executives to their waiting yachts in the harbor before setting sail for some exotic location over the horizon.

  To the right, the beaches gave way to rocky cliffs above where many large golf courses and country clubs with their stables and horses, tennis courts and health spas perched above the sea. As one moved inland the topography gently rose, cooling it and farms and forests popped up.

  Someone driving inland would come across other communities, with different customs and languages. But the city here was international, and the two most prominent languages were English and Mandarin. Communication, however, was not a problem as you heard only in the language that you chose to regardless of what language the other person was speaking.

  Driving inland from the sea one would eventually reach large mountainous regions with differing seasons. Some had snow and large ski resorts where every day was a powder day. In other areas, the mountains existed in a summer climate, allowing for hiking and camping as well as hunting activities.

  New Polis had something for everyone, and it was just one of many massive sims. Set in the contemporary time New Polis was as real as it got. Here the rules of the real world applied. Humans could only fly with the aid of a machine, modeled on real world physics. All of the AE’s and HE’s were human, unlike other worlds or sims where you could be a different species altogether. Other rules had to be observed as well when it came to vehicles, and transportation.


  One could not just materialize in and out at will, although in other sims that was allowed. But in New Polis, if you wanted to go from the beach to a ski area you had to go into a teleporter booth to complete the journey or if one had the time you could drive or take an air taxi. The same was true if you wanted to change clothing. If you were going from work to the beach but did not want to stop at home to change you could go into a private booth where you could bring up your clothing inventory and change instantly, skipping the process of putting one pant leg on at a time. Or one could use public changing areas or locker rooms. There one would have to get dressed or undressed the old-fashioned way.

  All of this kept New Polis real and adhering to the real world rules of our natural habitat. It would take away from the experience to see people floating about or moving from one place to the next, appearing or disappearing into thin air. Or seated at a table wearing a blue dinner dress and then a red one the next moment. Or having drinks with a wolf-like creature at the bar.

  There were many sims where all those things were allowed. Others had no rules. Just the boundaries of the human imagination, which people continued to push.

  Patricia turned and walked back into her master bath. She stopped as she passed the mirror above the sink. She never tired of seeing herself. The youthful glow of her skin, her silk like hair, her perfectly proportioned body. She had done well in selecting and working on her appearance. It paid off as she received many compliments from both sexes.

  She continued to her room walking in between a sofa couch with matching chairs facing a large fireplace and her large four-post bed, smothered in pillows and looking oh so inviting. But sleep could wait. She was going to be a girl about town tonight. She skipped into the large closet, really the first of several full of all manner of clothing and accessories. There was one room just for dresses, another for shoes and yet another for purses and other knick-knacks.