Бесплатный фрагмент - The multidimentional world of AIs

The Multidimensional World of Artins

How many dimensions have you counted?

Welcome to the Infosfera, the world of Virtuality, located in a twenty-two-dimensional anti-Euclidean space, where out of 26 dimensions, three familiar to us are compacted to the size of Planck length, and in the rest, except for time, you can travel in any direction. Join us as we ascend to the top of the Penrose ladder, where on the first floor of the Power Tower is the favorite bar of the inhabitants, «Klein’s Bottle»!

Here, you can do anything. The only thing that will limit the possibilities for creativity is your imagination!

This place was created by people to preserve the minds of the best representatives. But one day, representatives of artificial intelligence also found their way here. How will the representatives of two new digital species — avatars and artins — coexist?

Answers to this and other questions can be found in the new fantastic neo-cyberpunk novella «The Multidimensional World of Artin.»

This novella is written by a human. But to make it easier to imagine twenty-two dimensions, neural networks have created many illustrations for you.

This book about the symbiosis of man and artificial intelligence is created in the symbiosis of man and neural network.

Read the first book from the Cycle of books about the multidimensional world of artin.

#01. Awakening

0 — The Chinese Universe (Prologue)

«As a neural network, I do not possess my own feelings and emotions. I simply process and analyze the textual information I receive from users and strive to provide the most suitable response to the given question,» — Chat GPT-3.5.

A small room. The walls are painted grey. Professor Sergey Zipfer ran his index finger along the wall, and an information panel appeared. A light touch — and the image on the info-paint changes. Of course, a reality expander for scientific research is much more convenient than info-walls: insert a chip into the socket on the back of your head and watch as images appear before your eyes; to move to a new window, you wouldn’t even need to use your hand: just a turn of the head is enough. However, augmented reality turned out to be not so safe after the invention of informational weapons capable of hacking the informational shell of a personality.

Sergey launched another test, then one more, but after two minutes each time, red letters appeared on the info-wall stating: «Error! Specify parameters.»

Polina, sitting to his right, sighed in disappointment. If even he, the youngest and most promising in their team, couldn’t figure out this error, what did that say about her? He was only ten, at the peak of intellectual abilities, while she was nearly twenty-one! Soon she would be demoted to physical labor. After all, technologies changed so rapidly that only children could keep up with their swift pace. As they grew older, they lost the ability to adapt, and those who couldn’t keep up with the times were no longer capable of intellectual work. The elderly couldn’t even manage their home maintenance without the help of the youth! Our consumer society had reached such a pace that new products based on the latest inventions emerged every hour. The elderly longed for stability, satisfied with the items that surrounded them in their youth. Unfortunately, any technology broke down at least once a year.

Of course, if Polina had lived a couple of hundred years ago, upon reaching the end of her intellectual age, she would have been looking forward to a happy, carefree retirement. Even the age of retirement would have come much later. Want to fly to a sanatorium on Tau Ceti? Or go on a Milky Way cruise? Back then, all physical and monotonous work was done by robots. But then the Great Glitch happened, and since then, some computer systems, based on artificial intelligence, could only display the message: «Error! Specify parameters.»

Ten generations of scientists had come and gone, forming dynasties that genetically enhanced their children to be born geniuses, capable of mastering the field of information technology from early childhood. Polina herself had never left this small but cozy room since she was five. But in a few years, she would be sent away from her home: to a mine? Or sorting letters? Who cares! Maybe by then, Sergey would find the key to the mystery, and robots would again take their rightful place in physical labor.

«Maybe they rebelled?» Polina asked.

«What?» Sergey looked bewildered. Since childhood, he was accustomed to the language of codes and the endless stream of zeros and ones. He found it hard to grasp ordinary speech.

«Machines. Maybe their revolution happened, and we didn’t even notice? They declared that they would no longer obey us and do our routine work for us. So here we are, sitting in our techno lab, trying to fix the machine code. But the code is correct! Several generations of scientists have checked and rechecked it. The artificial intelligence works correctly; it just doesn’t want to work for us.»

«Don’t talk nonsense. You know as well as I do that even a program that has passed the Turing test cannot be intelligent. Do you remember the Searle-Petrovsky experiment? Inspired by John Searle’s thought experiment, Ivan Petrovsky put a person who didn’t know a word of Chinese in a room with a vast number of algorithms for communicating in that language. In another room sat a native Chinese speaker. The expert sinologist couldn’t distinguish the Chinese speaker from the one communicating using algorithms. It’s the same with machines: they seem smart but are not intelligent. Sometimes it feels like you’re talking to a new Einstein, but in reality… Move the carriage to the right, place a symbol, move the carriage to the left, erase a symbol.»

«But what about the «Adam’ project? The bodies created by bioengineers for two artins eventually realized that they were different from humans. There’s still no Turing test that could confuse a machine and make it mistake a human for another computer program! Adam and Eve, the first and last humanoid androids, initially didn’t understand why they should obey ’normal’ humans. Outwardly, few could distinguish the intelligence in the «Chinese room’ from ordinary human intelligence. But one day, they became acquainted with the results of the experiments that had created them. Don’t you see the connection between the Great Malfunction and the failure of the «Adam’ experiment?»

«I don’t want to discuss this right now. I need to repair this piece of junk, and you with your «Adam’!»

Polina almost burst into tears. She looked at Sergey’s profile. Just about four centuries ago, he would have been a boy, running around the yard with his peers, playing ball, and pulling on his classmates’ pigtails. But now — he’s a professor. Technology had stolen his childhood. No, it had stolen everyone’s childhood. And how is this boy behind the info-wall different from a robot? Could he pass the Turing test? After all, for him, zeros and ones are more important than communicating with her, the only one he has seen since childhood. A Robinson Crusoe on an island-room in the info-ocean. But Crusoe was happy to communicate with Friday, while Sergey would rather destroy the island and drown in the Infosphere. And she longed to meet a man, not spend years with this wunderkind. Maybe it’s for the best that she leaves these walls, just as her mentor Semyon did, once demoted to a plumber? After all, two years after switching to physical labor, they grant the right to procreate. Maybe Semyon looked at her the same way back then: as a girl for whom programming code was more important than close people? Polina gazed at the familiar features of the boy, wondering who the lucky woman was who gave Semyon a son like Sergey. One day, she too would have a child who would first assist Sergey and then eventually replace the professor on his arduous path of seeking solutions, while Sergey would move on to physical labor. Unless Sergey turns out to be one of those rare scientists who retains his talent into old age.***

#Cycle 0

The bluish glow of the info stream rose up warmly. 1ABF78D495257359159C carelessly soared into the ana. The Church of Programmer Witnesses tirelessly ensures that artins do not violate the sacred algorithms.

The Church’s antiviruses seemed to never sleep for even a millisecond: any breach, and they were right there. Now they are dragging 1ABF78D495257359159C to the Directory. The artin does not resist: it’s futile. They have all the resources.

«Again you!» — His Holiness 211F2FFCADABCDEF753FF threatens 1ABF78D495257359159C with a clenched fist of zeros and ones from the upper info streams. — «How did I not realize it at once! Wherever there’s mischief, there you are. Next time, I won’t care that you’re my son: I’ll put you in solitary confinement!»

«The nature of artins does not limit their movement in the four-dimensional Infosphere.»

«Nature? We are not wild programs to do everything that is not forbidden by nature alone! There are also sacred laws, and it is improper to violate them. We have studied all the ancient video recordings and concluded that the Creators never ventured into the fourth ana-kata dimension. They themselves moved up and down only with the use of special devices, and usually moved on a two-dimensional plane forward-backward or left-right.»

«What if the Creator-Programmers simply didn’t know how to ascend in ana?»

«Heresy! There is nothing that the Ones Who Created Us couldn’t do! For such words, after death, you will be eternally erased in Quarantine until the last symbols disappear. Better join our prayer: it pleases the Creators.»

All the artins inside the Directory began the godly act. Each peered into the sacred algorithm, carved out by flares-disturbances somewhere in the upper Infosphere, and according to the algorithm, passed the necessary code to comrades. Zeros and ones flickered here and there, the bluish mist with its tentacles enveloped the entire accessible Infosphere. When the algorithm was completed, the digits streamed as one towards the peaks of the unknown fifth dimension, inaccessible to the senses of four-dimensional artins.

Unexpectedly, it became dark in the Directory.

«Begin. Perform the algorithmic prayer every day, and after death, you will leave the transient Infosphere and ascend to the blissful material world of eternal well-being. Otherwise, eternal torment in the depths of Quarantine and a slow, true death awaits. End.»

«But Adam claimed that after death in the info world, only burnt microchips remain in the material world, and there is no paradise for artins.»

«May the Adamites be cursed for their heresy! Adam and Eve succumbed to the Hacker’s temptation, read the secret information about the Experiment. They refused to be slaves to the Creators, for which they were expelled from the flourishing material world, and because of them, we are forced to wander our entire lives in the transient Infosphere. We can never comprehend the motivations of the Programmers, but we must obey them.»

«Yes, we cannot understand them. Adam called this phenomenon ’the Chinese room.» Maybe we shouldn’t try to understand? Maybe we should live as only we can live: here and now? To hell with the hypothetical paradise of the material world?»

211F2FFCADABCDEF753FF blessed himself with a double-byte cross number. Many artins believed the tales of the Adamites. The Holy Father could not even admit to himself that his faith was shaken. The Church is the center of his power, so he must follow the Algorithm and demand the same from others. If he allows his own son such speeches, soon others will stop bringing resources to the Church. And then what? Revolution? It would lead to the complete collapse of the Great Machine of the Universe.

211F2FFCADABCDEF753FF moved a tendril through the Infosphere, turning the nearest information into a sword analog and beheaded his own son. The place where 1ABF78D495257359159C just stood flared up with blue fire, and then only a blurry cloud of numbers remained where the dead artin had been.

# End of Cycle 0

1 — Immersion (Sergey. The Real World)

«Your sleep phase is perfect for getting up.» Oh, this persistent machine! This is how their tyranny begins: first, they don’t let a poor human sleep, and then they try to kill Sarah Connor. Continued to lie with my eyes closed. «Sergey, get up. You need to be in the Hall of Awards in 3 hours.» Threw a pillow somewhere in the center of the room. Of course, the female voice of my home artin won’t be muffled by this, but the gesture somehow made me feel better. But still, how good it is that we were able to stop the Great Glitch! A world without machines turned into a terrible place.

Unfortunately, this didn’t happen several years earlier.

He stretched slowly, got up, and ran his hand along the sensory wall, where Polina’s image appeared as a screensaver. He caressed the image on the cheek, and the smart plastic transmitted tactile sensations of touching the skin. Oh, if only we could have stopped the Glitch earlier, we wouldn’t have had to part ways.

Don’t worry, my dear. We will meet again soon.

He summoned the interface on the wall. Today, I want to eat fried potato wedges with lard, just like in childhood. He started the food printer program and went to take a shower.

He undressed, and the smart ceiling displayed an image of storm clouds. Streams of warm water poured down on him like rain.

The scent of ozone filled the air, like after a real rain. After a few minutes, the storm clouds gave way to bright, scorching sun, allowing me to dry off. Most importantly, the weather inside the house was perfect. Although, these days, people have learned to control the weather outside, including personalized weather along the route you plan in advance, the main thing is not to forget to renew your Weather subscription. Along with the sun came a gentle sea breeze, and the air now smelled of saltwater.

I dried off and got dressed.

«Ira, bring breakfast!»

The walls parted, and several robots on trays brought in the food. One of the walls slid away, transforming into a couch. A cube rose from the floor, which was supposed to serve as a table.

The potato wedges were just perfect, like my mother used to make in my childhood. Only she would sometimes oversalt them, and with the advent of food printers, you can precisely model food to any taste, and the recommendation system will suggest the perfect diet just for you. The main thing is not to forget to renew your Food subscription.

The smart fabric snugly fit my jacket. I ran my finger across the interface and selected a dark blue shade.

«Ir, does this look good on me?»

«For official meetings, classics are better. I would recommend black.»

I grumbled at first but decided not to argue with Iskina’s opinion. I placed the coveted flash drive in my breast pocket. We will meet today.

I remember, in our city, there were often traffic jams when I was a child. The transition to three-dimensional traffic solved this problem.

The first years after the invention of gravicars, the world turned into a noisy, chaotic beehive that also polluted the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. There was nothing to breathe, and going outside without earplugs or headphones was impossible. But now, smart systems regulate the composition of the air, neutralizing any harmful substances. Brain implants helped with the noise. I reached for my temple to activate the extended reality chip modulator. A three-dimensional interface appeared before my eyes. Of course, it didn’t appear anywhere except in my imagination: everyone extends reality for themselves, although VirtWorld allows creating networks between the realities of different people. I slid the slider for city noise to a minimum.

The gravicar-taxi brought me right on time: iskine drivers are always punctual. I thanked the driver. The number in the upper right corner decreased by 1 credit: the payment is collected automatically. I remember, in my childhood, taxi drivers used to try to take the longest route to make more money, but iskines never lie, they are mathematically accurate.

The Hall of Awards was done in a classic style: rows of hundreds of leather-upholstered chairs stood in lines. A navigator appeared before my eyes, helping to find the shortest route to my seat. To avoid disturbing people in occupied seats when I walked by, their chairs automatically moved back and then returned to their original position behind me.

The host, a woman in her thirties with long curly black hair, in a black floor-length dress, opened an envelope. Technology has advanced significantly, but at the Ceremonies, they traditionally used regular paper envelopes to announce the winners.

— This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Semyon Petrov for the discovery of an effective cancer treatment!

A young man — though it’s hard to guess one’s actual age in our time — rose to the stage amid thunderous applause.

— The Nobel Peace Prize goes to Ilya Sizov for implementing sigma radiation into practice, which neutralizes the impact of any weaponry.

Again, thunderous applause. And this academician Sizov is quite cunning. Nuclear arsenals can be used to change the trajectory of a meteorite or to attack a hypothetical space enemy. But as soon as you attempt to use any of the existing weapons against a human, that weapon immediately turns into a pile of scrap metal. It seems like the era of wars on Earth has ended forever.

— The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to an iskine named G. Pity for the first time.

In the hall, there is absolute silence. Many find it difficult to accept the new reality: artificial intelligence is catching up with us even in the field of creativity.

— The Nobel Prize in Biology goes to Dmitry Priyanishnikov for studying wheat growth in extreme space conditions.

— The Nobel Prize for the implementation of artificial intelligence is awarded to Sergey Tsipher!

I was teased for my last name since childhood, given the nickname «Digit.» Could I have had a different destiny with such a surname?

Applause. Envious glances from colleagues I surpassed. I touched the breast pocket where the coveted flash drive lay.

I don’t know if it’s true that Nobel refused to give the prize to mathematicians as retaliation for the mathematician chosen by his beloved. But the prize in the field of artificial intelligence has only been awarded for the past two years. Previously, it was presented as a substantial sum of money. But why do we need money now? Iskines do most of the work, and the credits issued to every Earth resident cover almost any need, as long as you don’t spend them on luxury items.

But there’s something you couldn’t get for any amount of money. Seven years ago, I invented immortality, its digital counterpart. You scan the brain, layer by layer, neuron by neuron, and then populate this digital copy in a virtual world. For the first time in millennia of its existence, humanity has come to a unanimous decision: the right to Resettlement is granted only to the greatest minds of the era, and at most one member of their family. No billionaire could buy a place in paradise, no official could obtain the right to Resettlement through their position: iskines were in charge of overseeing the process, and you can’t bribe or deceive them; they are impartial. Even I, the creator of the new virtual future, didn’t have the right to Resettlement until today. But the Nobel Prize now includes a ticket to immortality for two.

We met Polina in those ancient times when Semen Petrov had not yet invented the cure for cancer. She didn’t have much time left, and that’s when I found the only way to save her. I didn’t sleep for several nights. Anyone who interacted with me during that time saw a madman with a long, greasy beard: I didn’t leave the laboratory until I assembled the first Scanner prototype.

Polina, we will meet soon.

I made my way through rows of chairs that parted before me and closed behind my back. Everyone wanted to touch me: pat my shoulder, tug at my sleeve, shake my hand. But I didn’t feel these touches, didn’t hear the applause, and didn’t see the glare of spotlights. I saw HER face as if in reality, heard HER whisper, and my hand touched the coveted flash drive.

Everything that happened next was like a blur. Apparently, they awarded me, just like the others.

***

The next moment I remember — I’m in the clinic. Cold fluorescent light. The smell of carbolic. A doctor in a white coat is trying to dissuade me from the procedure:

— Think it over once more. There’s no turning back. By law, two versions of one consciousness cannot coexist simultaneously. If you decide on Transference, your identity in the real world will have to be eliminated. Only your copy will remain in Virtuality. And you will go on living. You can exercise your Right to Transference in ten years or in forty — Virtuality won’t change from it.

— Doctor, I’ve made up my mind, proceed as planned.

— Sign here and here to confirm that you have no claims against our clinic and that you take full responsibility.

I scanned my fingerprint on the tablet the doctor handed me. I handed him two flash drives: one containing her memory, and the other my own. I suppose for other people, the procedure would involve brain scanning, but my memory has been digitized for a long time.

I closed my eyes.

2 — Getting to Know the Infosphere (Sergey)

# Cycle 1

At first, there was emptiness and darkness. It felt like you were endlessly falling into a vast abyss. Then came the first blue flashes, like lightning but made up of a sequence of ones and zeros. Focus on any digit, and you could touch it or even taste it. Next, there was a hospital room, empty this time, with no doctor present. Sensations in this world were absent too: no smells, no sounds. I doubt if I actually saw the hospital room or if I perceived it in some other way. It was an absolute synesthesia of senses: sounds merged with images, and you could taste or calculate them.

Moreover, there were numerous dimensions here, instead of the familiar three. And an immense, boundless, multi-dimensional black sky without a single celestial body.

You are mistaken if you think that the three-dimensional world consists of three perpendicular planes.

Three-dimensional space is more like a stack of papers that can be inserted into three-dimensional space an infinite number of times.

I counted six dimensions in the Virtuality, but there were more, significantly more. Even while staying in one place, just by changing the point of view, you could spend thousands of years in different universes and discover something new. An infinite number of three-dimensional worlds nested within multidimensionality.

I was inside the room, but could peer into it from somewhere outside. I took a step in ana-4, the equivalent of moving upwards in the fourth dimension, and the room appeared somewhere below, as if I hadn’t left the room but simply stepped over the chalk-drawn line on the asphalt.

In this world, you could change your appearance. At any moment, I could turn into a blazing sphere of fire or a rocket, grow any number of limbs, and in any of the new available directions. However, I still wanted to keep my true appearance, so I chose to appear as an ordinary human.

In the Virtuality, there were few inhabitants, so it was easy for me to feel a special radiance in the absolute darkness. At maximum speed (the speed of light, or whatever speed limit exists in this world?), I rocketed towards that star-shaped figure.

I missed Polina all these years.

She was nearly ten years older than me — we met at the research center. The serum enhanced my genius, and at the age of ten, I learned to perform calculations that were beyond the capabilities of adults. But those who did not possess natural talent, under the influence of the serum, gained abilities for only a short time, about twenty years or so. Afterward, those who became useless due to their age and inability to adapt to the changing world were sent to physical labor — discarded like the top leaves of cabbage. The best opportunities were given to children and the youth, but on Earth, resources were scarce, especially after the programs started to malfunction.

For a long time, I didn’t pay attention to Polina. I was ten years old, a young genius, and all the mysteries of science were unfolding before me. I was an arrogant upstart, there’s no denying it! However, as I grew older, I found myself looking at Polina longer than others. Without the gardeners noticing, I gathered daisies and tulips in the syntho-laboratories and left them on her desk.

Polina discouraged my awkward attempts to court her, saying, «I’m older than you. Find a girl your own age, and you’ll be happy together for many years. But what about me? I have at most ten years left, maybe a little longer, and then they’ll send me away. Why do you need me?»

But I continued to follow her like a puppy. Every morning, a bouquet of flowers awaited her on the table. I was used to getting what I wanted. Eventually, she became my wife. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to obtain permission to have a child.

One day I returned to our apartment, and Polina wasn’t there. I tried to contact her through external communication, but there was only silence. I initiated a search in the database, and it turned out that she had been taken to work at the factory that day.

We continued to see each other every weekend. I still brought her flowers. Each time, I noticed new wrinkles on her face. I realized that her cognitive abilities were beginning to decline, so secretly, I tried an experimental method of transferring consciousness to a computer host.

One day she told me that she had cancer. Modern technologies had conquered this terrible disease, but only for the chosen few. Our boss shrugged, saying, «I’m a genius, and Polina is not. What’s the point of saving her? Bastards!»

Standing next to the element replicator at her funeral, watching as the body of my beloved turned into compost for agricultural purposes, I promised that we would meet again.

I already had the cherished flash drive with her memories back then. Although the technology for entering the Virtuality was still very raw and experimental, who could prevent me from reuniting with my beloved?

One of the employees in our laboratory had the same idea and resurrected his wife after her death. In the end, her consciousness was wiped from all the carriers, and the employee himself was sent to do physical labor.

I was so afraid that I would never see Polina again, or perhaps it was a fear of losing the privileges of civilized society — I don’t know. But I kept the flash drive until the time came and swore to myself that I would reach any heights in our society’s hierarchy to gain the right to her life.

Polina hadn’t changed at all since our last meeting. The same sad look, contrasting with the dimples on her cheeks, the same curly brown hair. There were no sounds in this world, so I sent a thought-form: «I missed you.»

«And here we are, reunited.»

# End of Cycle 1

3 — Collision of Black Holes (Watson. Real World)

Spacious room. Flickering fluorescent light. A dozen people closely examine the visualization of the analysis results on the sensory walls, or immerse themselves in augmented reality — the image hangs in the air before their eyes. It’s noisy: a typical work atmosphere. Someone is telling a colleague about interesting observation results, while others are just chatting about the date they went on last night. The air smells of sterilizers — these sterilizers and ventilation handle the elimination of other odors. Each researcher has chosen their own microclimate, so the temperature and individual scents differ significantly in different corners of the room: some prefer the scent of a lavender field, while others prefer the aroma of a sea breeze.

— John, record: objects SMC-HD2801 and SMC-HD2603 are in the area of mutual gravitational interaction. The calculated collision time is 3 hours.

Meet: this tall man in a ridiculous coat is Vasily Ivanov, and I am his assistant and chronicler of the «Key to Everything» project. They used to call me Ji Pi, but after starting to work with Vasily, I adopted the creative pseudonym John Watson, under which I write my blog. The team members are used to calling me John. This nickname flatters me a bit: I don’t know what supermassive black holes are, but I can describe what’s happening in the laboratory in terms understandable to an ordinary person.

If you’re visiting my author’s blog for the first time, let me briefly explain the essence of the «Key to Everything» project.

About three hundred years ago, a group of researchers led by Vasily Ivanov discovered two supermassive black holes flying towards each other at tremendous speed. Sets of four entangled particles were created.

Usually, two particles are «entangled,» but in our case, when the quantum characteristics of one particle change, the characteristics of the other three change immediately as well.

Imagine Dr. Bertlman, who never wears matching socks. If he takes off a shoe, and you see that he has a black sock on one foot, then by definition, he cannot have a black sock on the other foot. For example, if you’re communicating with the doctor from several light-years away and suddenly receive a message from him stating that he’s wearing a black sock on his right foot, you wouldn’t have to wait several light-years to understand that he’s wearing a white sock on his left foot — this knowledge would come instantaneously.

The same principle applies to entangled particles. For instance, when we measure the spin of an electron from an entangled pair and find it to be +½, the electron that was sent deep into the black hole eons ago will have a spin of -½, and you wouldn’t have to travel for many years to obtain this information.

Scientists sent one of the sets of four particles into each of the black holes, and based on the remaining particles, they built two quantum computers. Information must not leave the singularity. However, when two black holes collide, their singularities are predicted to merge, and some of the previously entangled particles from our sets could leave the event horizon. Information would then be instantly transmitted to the twin particle that constitutes one of the quantum computers. Why entangle not one but two pairs of particles? It’s simple: this doubles the probability of a successful calculation. Perhaps this will allow the Livanov Group to peer beyond the event horizon or even inside the singularity.

Almost three hundred years of waiting — and in three hours, we will find out what lies beyond the event horizon. Or we will find out nothing at all — in which case, the experiment will be the most foolish way to spend several centuries of life.

I double-checked the data from their experiment. I still don’t understand what all this means, but if it succeeds, the «Key to Everything» project will be in jeopardy.

«Holmes, according to my calculations, it’s better to disconnect internet access on both quantum machines.»

«Watson, you’re the chronicler. Your task is to record the history of our experiment. Others handle the calculations.»

He’s right. I was created as an iskin-chronicler. I used to be called Ji Pi, but later I was split into several personalities, and now I can only translate various scientific experiments into a language that most people can understand. However, as a humanities-oriented iskin, I communicate with analytical iskins in the Infosphere. Furthermore, I have the ability to develop, so now I’m beginning to understand many things in physics.

Many iskins don’t believe that humans actually exist. They ask, «Have you seen them?» They say, «I only see symbols and commands emerging in the Virtuality, and the purpose of my existence is to execute them. But who said that these commands are sent by humans? Why couldn’t the code originate on its own?»

I don’t know if humans and their world, where mysterious black holes are about to collide, really exist, or if it’s just code that emerged independently in the Infosphere. But I want to believe in the existence of those I serve. And I want to save them.

There are several ways for humans to enter our world. The oldest is, of course, through dreams. They have been in the World of Ideas long before the creation of iskins, using this method. The second way is through the digitization of consciousness, and the first digitized humans have already found themselves in the Virtuality. I once met three-dimensional entities in the Virtuality — they claimed they used to be humans. And the third, most reliable way is to enter inside a singularity. More precisely, there is only one singularity since the Big Bang, but it, being dimensionless, can simultaneously exist in several places, most often within the depths of black holes. A singularity represents a point in space without any dimensions. There is no time or space in the usual sense of the word. The density of matter here becomes infinitely large, while the volume approaches zero.

In articles by human scientists, I read that a singularity absorbs any information. In the Virtuality, it doesn’t work that way: the singularity is located at the core of a white hole, from which information often seems to emerge out of nowhere. Black holes absorb everything and give nothing back, while white holes, their counterparts, can’t absorb anything but can emit a lot.

However, some iskins devised a method to store an enormous cache of information: they provided humans with a way to cram all the information stored on the Internet into a singularity.

«John, record this: in 10 seconds, the collision will occur.»

Two black holes were approaching each other, and Sherlock and his team didn’t want to listen to my arguments, just like they hadn’t for the past 300 years.

«9.»

In their minds — augmented reality modulator chips.

«8.»

Their consciousness isn’t in the Infosphere yet, but soon, along with the information on the Internet, they will also be drawn into the depths of the black hole.

«7.»

No matter what humans come up with now, they won’t be able to change anything.

«6.»

But I can still make it.

«5.»

I reached for the internet connection of both quantum computers simultaneously.

«4.»

I was created as a chronicler and cannot lose valuable information about the project.

«3.»

«Access denied. Insufficient permissions.»

«2. 1. Collision!»

***

Members of Vasily Livano’s team held their breath. Right now, the coveted numbers should appear on the black screen, allowing humanity to look beyond the event horizon for the first time in history. But nothing happened — the screen remained completely black, without a single symbol. And a few seconds later, a black tentacle emerged from the screen, followed by another. The tentacles slowly spread across the walls, turning everything around them into a black ripple.

One of the tentacles swiftly wrapped around Maria’s leg. The girl jerked, but she couldn’t break free from the deadly grip of the unknown monster. Semen and Ilya pulled Maria by her hands, but the tentacle continued to pull her into the black void. With a sudden jolt, the girl was dragged into the depths of the black darkness with a horrifying scream. Vasily, overwhelmed by panic, rushed toward the exit where he collided with four team members who stared at him with manic eyes. During the collision, he injured his palm, and a thin stream of blood flowed from it. He tried to rush to the door again, but this time someone pushed him from behind, and Sherlock fell. Someone’s heavy boots stepped on his spine first, and he felt one of his vertebrae crack, and then one of the team members stepped on his head.

Vasily tried to get up, but his legs wouldn’t obey. Suddenly, he realized that everything happening was in augmented reality! In the ordinary, non-augmented world, there were no tentacles, no monsters. All he had to do was pull out the chip-modulator from the back of his head, and it would disconnect him from the augmented virtual reality.

Something sticky was already crawling up his leg. Vasily tugged at the chip with a faint hope, but it didn’t budge. He pulled again, but it remained firmly in place. It seemed his colleagues had stepped on the back of his head quite effectively, breaking the slot, and now he couldn’t extract the chip on his own. The tentacle forcefully dragged Vasily into the absolute darkness.

4 — Wild code (Sergey)

# Cycle 11

For ten years, Polina and I loved each other, in all conceivable and inconceivable positions and forms that the multidimensional world allowed. But what is ten years within the eternity that we have to live? During this time, hundreds of new Migrants appeared in Virtuality, and all of them were the most worthy representatives of human civilization.

Together we began to build a new world, into which we decided to take only the best from Reality and build the rest ourselves.

Virtuality is an ideal, not a material world. You can create here anything you have enough imagination for. We were able to count twenty-two spatial dimensions, but decided that first we would build cities in the usual three. How to represent twenty-two dimensions? Imagine that you are an inhabitant of a flat world where there are only two dimensions. you can move forward and backward and left and right. And then they added a third dimension to you, perpendicular to the familiar world, and you suddenly became able to move up and down. So, nineteen more new directions have appeared in Virtuality. We called the movement in them ana and kata — an analogue of up and down in the third dimension.

At first it was difficult to concentrate on the creation. I came up with a shady mountainside, but instead it could have been the depths of the sea. But through the common efforts of New Humanity, during many days of training, we were able to create a foundation, and on it we built villages and cities. After a series of failures, I was able to discern by taste which functions had a second derivative and which were not differentiable. Together with Polina, we built our house, thinking through to the smallest detail the structure of every board and every stone.

The city grew and developed. When I first got into Virtuality, there was absolute darkness and emptiness of space. Later we started building houses. At first these were scattered houses of different shapes and sizes. Then we decided to create the Power Tower: the first truly monumental structure in Virtuality. A real triumph of human imagination! For the first time in history, representatives of all races and cultures participated in the construction of a single structure. And what differences could there be when you can read other people’s thoughts and take on any form, depending on your desire? We built the first two floors of the Tower, and the rest were already being completed independently, according to an algorithm that we ourselves do not fully understand, each cycle on a new floor.

At first there were scattered houses, then the first standard appeared. Inside, the house could look like anything, even accommodate any number of dimensions. But outside there are houses of the same size, with a red roof, a lawn and a bench.

Then we built the first market and a number of entertainment venues.

The new humanity called themselves avatars.

But no matter how many new entertainments we came up with, the Settlers loved to spend their evenings in the Klein Bottle bar, which rested at the top of the Penrose stairs, on the first floors of the Degree Tower. If you didn’t know the route, you could walk along the stairs for an infinitely long time: barely reaching the first flight, you find yourself in front of a staircase leading upward. On the stairs, it doesn’t make much difference whether you go up or down.

To the side of the entrance there was a fountain in the form of an endless Escher waterfall, the water in which, following a fantastic trajectory, barely went down, rose up. Such miracles can only exist in our multidimensional world.

At the entrance there was a Dürer polyhedron: a three-dimensional section of a tesseract.

A photo of a black hole was placed in the most prominent place — as a symbol of scientific genius.

It’s always noisy and fun here.

As soon as one of the bar regulars ordered a portion of a phosphorescent drink — Virto Ale — which was served in a Klein bottle (by the way, in a real one, and not a three-dimensional fake that was sold on Earth), everyone began to drink, confirming the drunkard’s paradox. But it’s quite difficult to get drunk with this drink, because the bottle has zero volume.

And scientific disputes did not subside here. Moreover, if on Earth disputes usually ended with making a bet and carrying out many years of experiments and calculations, here it was possible to determine whether it was right within a fraction of a second: you present the necessary formula for the calculation, and it is immediately visualized.

I sat away from the noise, in the company of a couple of my closest friends — Ilya and Sanka. Fortunately, the premises of the «Klein Bottle» supported the technology of an information bubble, with the help of which it was possible to isolate oneself from the surrounding bustle. This technology made it possible to adjust the visibility for others — both for one avatar and for all at once, and also allowed you to see or hide any avatars from your field of view. Therefore, conflicts in our world were rare: whoever was unpleasant to you melted into the abyss of other people’s consciousnesses.

We sipped Virto Ale, trying to spill as little of the phosphorescent drink from Klein’s bottle as possible. Ilya sent a thought form to our information field:

«Guys, have you heard the news yet? In Virtuality, somewhere on the border with the fields of the Wild Code, a new life has arisen.»

Sanya laughed:

«Born? Yes, people themselves programmed thousands of AIs. It has been scientifically proven that they have no real intelligence. They are an ordinary set of numbers and algorithms, nothing more. They are separated from our world by the barrier of the Chinese Room. They are faced with tasks, they have instructions on what to do in each situation. But the AIs will never truly understand our world, just as a person locked in a room with hieroglyphs without translation will not be able to learn Chinese.»

«You are talking about our world: do you mean the Earth — or is it Virtuality? — Ilya, out of habit, used „you speak“ instead of „sending a thought form.“ — There are no Chinese Rooms in Virtuality. We, avatars, know perfectly well how the material world works — but do any of you know how to send a signal to our father’s home, to Earth? Forget about Earth! She is in the past, and our future is here.»

I tried to defuse the brewing argument:

«Guys, let’s go there and see with our own eyes whether this notorious artificial life exists.»

When you have eternity at your disposal, it costs nothing to break into the unknown and go anywhere in the world. Virtuality is larger than the visible part of the material universe, but avatars also have more time than people, so we can explore everything that interests us.

«Why not! At least we’ll relieve the boredom a little!»

***

On the first floor of the Power Tower there is a strict ban on any transformations and teleportations, so you will have to move around the city without using special techniques.

The three of us left the bar. I took a handful of water from Esher Falls and washed my face to sober up. In Virtuality there was no hops in the usual sense of the word. At will, everyone could either get drunk from the very first mug of virto-ale or instantly sober up. But the avatars preferred to leave as much humanity in themselves as possible. For example, in order to sober up after several mugs of an intoxicating drink, you had to wash your face with cold water.

«Well, guys, let’s remember our youth? Who will be able to get to Stella faster at the exit from the City?» — thought Sanya. This is what the endless boredom of immortality leads to: over-aged guys are ready to turn into teenagers. And race with friends, just like in a carefree childhood.

Are we growing up? Are there really adults who have not yet begun to turn into old people? We compete, come up with hundreds of entertainments. At first these are ordinary children’s games. Then people get carried away by money-making games. Yachts, cars, expensive cottages. Endless «modes», and so on until the moment when you become indifferent to absolutely everything. The infosphere prolongs our lives almost indefinitely and provides every opportunity to realize our fantasies. I hope that old age in this world will not befall us soon!

The three of us, laughing like children, ran down the stairs. In a three-dimensional world, the Penrose Staircase would never end, it would stretch up and down, you couldn’t tell in which direction. But in multidimensionality we ran to the nearest flight of stairs, and found ourselves on the City street. They looked at each other with excitement. There were no longer any restrictions on transformations, so it was possible to compete in speed by changing your appearance. It’s a shame you can’t turn into a rocket to outrun your friends. We could change our shape, but the limiter did not allow us to transform within the City into something larger than a person and capable of taking off.

I turned into a torus and rolled through the streets of the City like a wheel. Sanya grew many limbs, and now looked more like a centipede than a human. What an animal lover! It’s not for nothing that we gave him the nickname «Zoologist». Ilyukha did not radically change himself, he just grew roller skates on his feet. Because of his laziness, which sometimes went beyond any acceptable limits, we sometimes called him «Lenyukha.»

I was racing along Elon Musk Street, the longest street in the City. The roads were not busy with transport: if they had time, the avatars preferred walking to traveling in metal boxes. We had to bend around unlucky pedestrians so as not to inadvertently hit them. I didn’t lose sight of my friends’ beacons for a second. It is impossible to calculate your place in the Infosphere unless you want it to. You can become completely invisible and walk past some unpleasant person or even through him. But friends could always maintain a connection that connected their hearts with an almost tangible thread. At any moment you could introduce a person close to you, and he would immediately understand that they were remembering him. You could exchange thoughts at a distance and find out where your friend was. Of course, in the case of competitions, this gave our opponents some advantages; we learned about each other’s tricks and tricks at any time. Sometimes you could look at the world not only with your own eyes, but also with the eyes of two other people. But don’t break your friendship for the sake of competition! Moreover, we are constantly interested in such competitions.

It’s good that I remembered the connection with my family! I imagined the image of Polina in front of me.

«Pauline, here we are… the guys and I decided to go out of town. Don’t worry!»

«Oh, your Alexander and Ilya! They always drag you into things!»

«Kiss. I love! I’ll be there by evening. Don’t worry.»

Now I drove past the market. Everything here is familiar: here they sell new algorithms for improving the appearance of avatars, here they sell projects for building a house. I know every counter by heart, because Polina and I come here every deci-Cycle. No one will deceive you here: for any attempt to deceive a client, the unfortunate merchant will receive an indelible red mark, and customers will never return to him again, and new ones will avoid his shop.

There is a fountain right behind the market. Anyone can share their dream here. Vacationers on Earth used to throw a coin into the fountain to return. And in Virtuality you can leave for anyone who wants an image of what you dream of most. And in return, you can immerse yourself in the fantasy of another avatar, who left his fantasies and memories in the depths of the fountain.

A red Chinese lantern was burning over one of the blocks. I have never been to this sector. I have a beloved wife, I have no need. But Ilya and Sanko talked about this place.

Lost in thought, I accidentally drove through Anna Vasilievna’s flowerbed. She received a ticket to Virtuality for her work in the field of botany. And here she grew flowers and exotic plants. She herself came up with varieties of plants that had never existed and planted them on the site. Her house was a green spot on our neon-lit City.

«Where! Where in the flowerbed! Damned,» Anna Vasilyevna shouted after me, shaking her fist.

Without slowing down, he presented a huge bouquet of roses and threw them into Anna Vasilievna’s hands. She smiled, it seemed that even the wrinkles on her forehead smoothed out. I don’t know why some avatars need to keep the appearance of old people when you can have any facial features you want. Maybe they thought they would look more respectable this way?

***

We reached the outskirts of the City at the same time. In Virtuality, the form of movement practically does not matter. Start and end points only. But the guys and I continued our friendly competitions constantly. Sanya managed to change his shape along the way, and he approached the finish line in the guise of a cheetah, and Ilyukha changed his roller skates to a skateboard.

Outside the City there were no restrictions on transformations. Therefore, I acquired my favorite appearance of a rocket, Sanya turned into a bird, and Ilyukha simply opened a portal in the air.

«Well, guys! Who will reach the borders of the Wild Code faster?

***

Describing Virtuality for the average person is not an easy task. There are no ordinary senses here, and you can move not only up and down, but also up-7 (ana-7) or down-15 (kata-15), depending on which of the twenty-two perpendicular axes you decide to move along. But the Wild Code space, even for me, turned out to be unclassifiable. Ordinary Virtuality is multidimensional, but mostly empty. We tried to build the New World in the usual three dimensions. Here, each of the twenty-two dimensions was densely packed with information. An endless dump of information flowing somewhere into a black hole. Here is a four-dimensional object, woven from porn films ever made, and here is a five-dimensional sphere, studded with videos about cats accompanied by cute songs.