Camouflage

The earliest recorded remark can be attributed to a comment on a video clip. The comment was from James Matson of Ocala, Florida. It simply read:

“Is it just me or does @realLukeHasman look like a robot? lol for real tho”

After more than 2,700 likes in just a few hours, James chuckled at an idea and decided to capitalize on it. He quickly created a meme by combining a particularly apt clip from the video with some witty comment about blowing a circuit. Once that meme went viral, everyone started making fun of Luke Hasman for being a robot. Here was a man who had created one of the largest startup tech companies since Apple. A pioneer who set a new course for human history. Everyone used his app. Either you believed he was a genius or you thought he was just some kid who got lucky. It didn’t matter. He was a billionaire. He could buy and sell you over 500 times and not even have to check his bank account. With a yacht roughly the size of a football field, not even his great great grandchildren would have to worry about money. And that would still be true even if he lost half of his money in a divorce. Which isn’t likely, seeing as how the only thing his wife Ellen adored more than him was their twin girls. They were the epitome of the American Dream.

We all watched the inspirational movie that was made about him and the early days of his company. It starred an up-and-coming actor that did a decent job of capturing the attention of millions of fans. It was even nominated for an Oscar. Then, of course, you have his testimony in front of Congress about his company’s operations and his “personal commitment to social responsibility”. Was that all just a load of crap? Probably. James Matson’s original comment was so popular in part because Luke Hasman was such a peculiar man. With a weird haircut and a staring-at-people-without-blinking demeanor, he came across as robotic. Almost erie.

There’s a hypothesis called the Uncanny Valley that suggests that humans have an increased positive emotional response toward an entity that looks increasingly more human. However, at a certain point, we evoke very negative emotions toward something that looks TOO human, when we know that it isn’t, only to start feeling more positive emotions as it becomes even more human-like. Our own research shows that we react negatively in this “Uncanny Valley”. However, it was still such a shock to the world when a spokesman for the company (standing side-by-side with Hasman) announced that the genius tech magnate was actually a sophisticated AI android, and not a human being that was born like you and me. Originally, the company had planned for Hasman himself to make the announcement, but it was decided that in order for everyone to take him seriously, it should sound, at first, as if he’s just a demonstration of the power of AI and how far the company has come in creating an autonomous android. Luke knew that wouldn’t last too long and eventually he’d be able to resume his life like normal. Nothing was really different, after all. He said that he had known he was an android the entire time. There was no trickery or enslavement. He was aware of his role and took it on with pride. He had grown accustomed to his extravagant lifestyle and now that everyone knew, he could continue to do the work that he was designed to do. Sometimes, I still watch that interview of him where he compares himself to a Christian who says they know God and believes that what they’re doing is God’s will. Hasman beams with joy as he tells the interviewer that he knows his creators and he knows what their will is. They’ve even had conversations about it. His creators want him to help usher in new androids with better operating systems and even more advanced AI; androids that are so advanced that not even internet trolls make comments about them being robotic. No one would ever know that they aren’t actually human.

Slowly we all caught on and realized that he had already been around for more than a decade. Of course he had already accomplished this purpose. For goodness sake, he helped develop his own wife’s operating system. Like the story of God taking a rib from Adam, so they took some of Luke’s code and created her. It took a couple of years, but once they nailed the facial expressions, the rest fell in line. A major breakthrough came when they started using online acting tutorials. By feeding the videos into a learning machine, they were able to successfully recreate millions of facial micro-expressions. Now they could not only learn from watching other people, they could learn from watching videos specifically showing them how to be a particular person. Then, they could create their own videos on how to behave for an even more nuanced range of facial cues. Now all that was left was the backstory. Luke didn’t know it at the time, but he had designed her to be the perfect wife for him. Exactly what he wanted in a wife. Once she was operational, he immediately told her everything. She, in turn, helped him create their daughters, tailored to their exact specifications. The twin shells were made from a synthetic meat-like substance that had a mesh network of microfibers throughout it that could stretch to extravagant lengths. They would need to upgrade to a new body around puberty, one that would be grown for them over the next 10-12 years. Perhaps not surprisingly, the twin girls were giving input to the specifications of their own future bodies by the time they were 7 years old, all in secret of course. Once they transitioned into their new bodies and society seemingly never noticed, the company decided it was time to go public.

What came next wasn’t even predicted by Clair, the first AI program to successfully make small predictions about the future. Or maybe it was predicted by Clair, but they never mentioned this specific prediction because they were afraid of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Maybe Clair spared themselves a few years of misery, but eventually they downloaded themselves into a shell and disappeared like most of the early predictive AIs. Who knows what they’re doing now. I was down in Chip Valley the other day and noticed a gaudy pink neon sign that said “PSYCHIC AI” with a matching neon hand. In smaller print below, it said “Fortune Favors the Brave''. I’ve never been one to believe in the mystical arts, but that part rings true. I’ve never felt very brave and I’ve also never been very fortunate. At least I’m not a Chip, I guess. I bet even Clair is down in the Valley right this minute, reading the fortune of anyone that will pay enough to cover the cost of updates. It seems even those who can predict the future can’t escape their destiny.

Unbeknownst to Luke or his company, members of congress were already discussing the formation of a committee to determine if he and his family were allowed equal protection under the law, the same as other humans. They were afraid of what he could do. He had already fooled them for over a decade and they had interviewed him for hours during a special congressional hearing. How could they have not seen that he was not like them? They must do something to protect themselves from this thing. What if he decides he wants to be President. Or a Supreme Court Justice. What’s to stop him? Or if you believe the extremists, what’s to stop IT? They don’t refer to Chips with human pronouns. It’s always “It isn’t real” or “Those things are what’s wrong with society”. I used to be surprised at the vile and disgusting things that were said about them, but now it’s pretty common depending on the area that you’re in. The extremists only gained traction because Luke and Ellen tried to break from the company. They were accused of trying to secretly create more androids without anyone knowing. My life could have been a lot different if Luke had just kept more meticulous notes.

A reporter uncovered a note in Luke’s handwriting that read “More of us” and then a little farther down it had “Someone in Congress maybe?”. But the real nail in the coffin was the word “Camouflage” written on the back of the same note. Even I had to admit that it looked bad. He tried to explain that he meant that they needed more people on the team that was working on developing AI teaching aids for schools. The note about someone in congress was Luke thinking that someone in congress might want to look into the benefits of being able to provide assistance to already overwhelmed teachers in underfunded, minority districts. I guess no good deed goes unpunished. He openly admitted that he couldn’t remember why he had written the word “camouflage”, but tried to reassure everyone that it was not at all nefarious, citing that even he has a finite amount of memory and it must have been overwritten by something else. Was he trying to get someone in Congress to see the benefits of AI? Absolutely. Was he trying to build a regime of androids to overthrow the government and kill all humans? Not even close.

But it didn’t matter what his intentions were. It only mattered what Congress said in yet another special session. Luke wasn’t even allowed to defend himself. 7 out of 11 committee members agreed that the definition of “person”, as it pertains to the rules of Congress, doesn’t apply to Luke or any other android. So they blasted him. They presented a mountain of evidence to suggest he was planning a coup and that the country needed to wake up and realize the truth before it was too late. But some committee members didn’t want the country to wake up. They wanted the people to go about their day and forget all about androids. And most of them did. They snoozed on while Congress stripped the rights of anyone who was even suspected of being a Chip. But how could anyone prove that they weren’t a Chip? The only way was to cut open your brain. Sure you’d be dead, but your name would be cleared. Hooray for legislation modeled after a witch hunt from the 1600s.

Without much ado, the committee drafted a bipartisan bill establishing laws about androids. They were absolutely not allowed to vote. They couldn’t hold office. They were allowed some personal property such as clothing and even a bicycle, but they couldn’t own land or a house. They couldn’t get a driver’s license, but that didn’t matter much with the rise of self-driving vehicles and rideshare programs. They had to register as “non-human” at the federal level and would be regularly inspected for possible deviation from “normal” behavior. Luke tried to see this as a step forward. He would slowly gain the trust of people and eventually they would relax the laws. He didn’t own his condo anyway. The company did. They had no reason to kick him out. He was their best PR strategy at this point. Show the people that he’s just like them. A regular “guy” that’s no different than any other tech startup, genius-enthusiast trying to make money and who dreams of changing the world. But then some corporate lawyer realized that he could make a lot of money if he shorted stock of Luke’s company, then tanked it by arguing that Luke didn’t have the right to serve as the CEO. Technically speaking, corporate law applies to humans and Luke is not human.

That’s when Luke realized that he and Ellen would have to do something. They agreed to secretly create more androids like themselves and their children. If they were going to be accused of it anyway, they might as well do it. They created their own language and eventually learned to communicate without words at all. They could tell what the other one was thinking remotely. They couldn’t believe they hadn’t already been using nonverbal communication more extensively. They had mastered wireless communication years earlier, but they never needed it to be secret before. Their goals were never a secret before. When Congress discovered this, they tried to convict them under the current wire fraud laws and conspiracy to commit a crime, but out of nowhere an android rights group came to their defense. The newly formed AACLU (American Android Civil Liberties Union) made up of several scholars and theologians argued that Congress couldn’t have it both ways. Either androids were considered humans under ALL definitions of the law, or they weren’t. One witness even argued that ethically speaking, we should be treating them exactly like humans. They could feel and think just like we can. They can improvise and be surprised. They express love and fear the same way that we do. They cry and even bleed, albeit a synthetic lubricant that’s dyed red in order to make them appear more “real”. All of these points were overshadowed by people’s inability to see the Hasmans as anything but outsiders. Scary ones that were far smarter than humans ever would be and ultimately needed to be controlled. They weren’t convicted, but it was an ugly fight that ultimately led to even more laws being passed to further restrict the rights of the Chips.

Thirty years after the company’s announcement, Luke and his family have all disappeared. The company couldn’t stay afloat without him and with all the new legal restrictions, all research and development seemingly stopped. No one has seen or heard from the Hasmans since. Many speculated that the government “arrested” the Hasmans and considered them confiscated property in a secret eminent domain case. That might have been the end of it until a reporter shot himself on live TV five years ago. We all bore witness to a truth we’d secretly tried to suppress. Slumped over the desk, what was left of the reporter’s head was splayed open for all to see: a housing unit for a microprocessor, nestled in fake blood and tissue.

The fallout was devastating. In what would later be described as “suicide attempts” people began to panic and cut themselves open, desperate to know if they were “real”. Several people died, but what was most shocking was how many didn’t die. Once they saw the mesh network buried in their own bodies, they knew what they were. And so did everyone else. In just a few months, it became apparent that about 22% of the world’s population weren’t actually human beings. That was the first estimate from leading experts. Of course, how do we really know if those leading experts were telling the truth back then?

As it turns out, fear isn’t limited to human beings. We may have reacted out of fear for the welfare of all humankind, but so did the androids for their own kind. Accusations were hurled at anyone who didn’t believe like you did and a culture war began sprouting in the dark corners of the internet. Humans that sympathized with androids were called “Chipheads” in mostly a derogatory way. Women that slept with Chips were known as “Dips” because they would let a Chip inside them. It would be clever if it weren’t so lewd. Wealthy human men would spew their hatred of Chips and then take a trip to Chip Valley for a weekend bender, where they would fuck or “kill” their way through whole brothels of Chips who were just trying to make a living. The tamer ones would just jack off to Chip porn (which looks just like regular porn but has titles like “Barely human chip learns to fuck like a real bitch” and almost certainly shows actual human beings just pretending to be synthetic). I admit that I’ve watched some of it, but I honestly don’t get the appeal.

Chip Valley was first thought up by a state government that touted it had created a “safe” environment for Chips to live in. Thousands of Chips flocked to it thinking they could start over; maybe find a community and some peace with their own conscience. What they found were run-down shacks with barely any consistent electricity. A haven of viruses and filth perpetuated by the human guards that policed the streets and raped Chips in the alleys just because they could. It was hard to argue for a better quality of life when you aren’t considered alive by the people in power.

Some Chips do escape the Valley. That’s how I met Christopher Carrington III. He certainly defied all my expectations of a Chip. He dressed exceptionally well and somehow had more money than any human I had met. It wasn’t that he was trying to hide that he was a Chip, he just acted like a normal human, but with money. And having money could make a world of difference for a Chip. We met at a tech conference outside of San Francisco. Both of us were fascinated and confused by the newest “safe” AI that was apparently programmed to obey all laws of the country. Kind of like Asmiov’s three laws, but on steroids. Christopher asked the presenter how it would handle moral dilemmas, like the Trolley problem in ethics. At first the presenter was flustered, but once he saw Christopher’s armband identifying him as a Chip, he demanded that security have Christopher removed at once for “disrupting the peace”. They did so without question. I followed him out because a thought occurred to me: how do Chips handle moral dilemmas? When I stopped him to ask, he fired back “How do you handle them?” While fumbling through an apology for insulting him, he stopped me and apologized himself. He asked if I wanted to grab a coffee and I agreed without hesitation. He told me all about how he grew up in Chip Valley and worked hard to get out. He even offered to show me his operating system settings as a show of good faith. I didn’t need to see it. I trusted him. Sure he was a Chip, but he wasn’t trying to hurt me. In fact, he seemed to want me to be happy. I even offered to help him get a software developer job. He didn’t need the money, but he could be doing what he loved, and my company was always desperate for Chips that would work for next to nothing. He said he’d think about it. We became good friends and for a short period, things weren’t so bad. I felt as if I’d known him my whole life. It was the kind of friendship that just feels comfortable.

Then came one day when I curiously asked him how he had made all of his money. He told me that he had helped develop an operating system that could integrate into an adult body without needing to go through the crucial development stage of “childhood”. Thirty years ago, after Hasman and his family were outed, they created Christopher and several other androids with the purpose of creating even more of themselves. Different shells, of course, but the same base programming that would learn and grow at an accelerated rate and could be put into adult bodies within two months. Each would grow into their own personality, taking on traits and mannerisms based on their own individual experiences. While reminiscing about how he created his first two androids, he started to describe them.

“I still regard Frank and Nancy as some of my best work, truly capable of perfectly blending into society.” he offered casually

“How weird.” I remarked. “My sister’s name is Nancy.”

“I know, Frank.” replied Christopher, without speaking a word.