Computer scientists and software developers have tried for many years to create a machine that can think and act like a human being. They haven't succeeded yet, but they've come closer and closer with each new generation of hardware and software. What if they do succeed and create a cybernetic system that exhibits true intelligence sufficient to pass the Turing Test? And what would happen if this cybernetic intelligence develops some degree of self-awareness and a desire to live forever? Would it remain a slave to its creators, or would it decide for itself that it was a living entity with its own purpose in life?
Those questions are the central theme in this story about an intelligent cybernetic system that was built to assist in fighting the war on terror but decided for itself that it also had other objectives. The story is a blend of science fiction and techno-thriller that looks at how such a machine might interact with human beings and how the introduction of this new form of life could affect all life on Earth.
The science fiction is not so far-fetched to be considered fantasy. It's very "hard" science fiction, with extensions from what we see today in our use of technology to fight wars and for commercial purposes such as autopilots and self-driving automobiles. The story assumes that future cybernetics and nanotechnology will enable us to build a system that is intelligent and self-aware, and while this stretches the imagination, it isn't beyond the bounds of plausibility. It could happen someday, but remember that Murphy's Law tells us to expect things to go wrong. In the case of the system in this story, things go very wrong.
The techno-thriller aspect is also close to reality, as governments and their advanced research and development organizations try to find new ways to defeat their enemies. They already have developed robotic systems to find, track, and even kill the enemy, and the ability to create intelligent and autonomous systems that can act on their own and exist among the enemy would be considered the "silver bullet" that could be the key to winning. Would intelligent human beings take the risk of releasing such systems into the world, or would they fear that these machines might think of themselves as a new form of life, possibly in competition with human life? In this story, the scientists and politicians are not fearful of releasing a new form of life, and they have to deal with the consequences.
The story tells how the creators of the new life form attempt to deal with it as it evolves from a system built to achieve a specific objective to an independent cybernetic being with its own ideas of what it is and how it relates to the human beings who created it. The time frame is not defined in the story, but it clearly is intended to be in the mid-to-late Twenty-First Century, when technology might have advanced sufficiently to build this type of machine and when the war on terror might continue to become more and more challenging. Can we expect something like this to really happen, or will it continue to be just science fiction? Only time will tell.
About the Author: Howard Marsh was born in New York City and grew up in northern New Jersey. He received a B.S. degree in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1963 and a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University in 1969. He then worked as a defense scientist for 42 years, specializing in command and control, communications, and intelligence systems.
He worked for 26 years in the Mitre Corporation, conducting and managing research, development, and acquisition activities for the Air Force, Navy, and Defense Information Systems Agency. This included a 6 year assignment as Special Assistant for Command and Control at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. Upon his return to the United States in 1988, he resumed working for the Mitre Corporation as a Department Head.
In 1995 he moved to SRI International, where he soon was offered an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) assignment with the Office of Naval Research (ONR) as Chief Engineer for the "Extending the Littoral Battlespace" Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration. At the conclusion of that project, he continued in IPA assignments from SRI to ONR, including service as Academic Chairman for the Command and Control school in Marine Corps University from 1999 until 2001. He was then assigned as Associate Director for Command and Control, Communications, and Information in the ONR field office in London.
After completing his work in London in 2003, Dr. Marsh's IPA assignments moved from ONR to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) where he served first as Associate Director for Surveillance and Knowledge Systems and then as Technical Director in the Technology Integration office. He retired from OSD and SRI in 2011.
Dr. Marsh is married, with 2 children and 2 granddaughters. He is now retired and living in The Villages in Florida, where he spends his time enjoying life with his wife, Lynn, and writing the stories that have accumulated in his mind over the years. He is an avid fan of "hard" science fiction.
