gadgetmind
Mindbender in training
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2009
- Messages
- 97
You need no introduction so you will not get one.
---------------
Trainer
The last of the men had arrived over fifteen minutes earlier, and their guarded exchanges of pleasantries had quickly been replaced by nervous shuffling and open impatience. But it wasn’t yet time.
The unenthusiastic early-morning sun was casting low-contrast shadows that crept slowly across the spartan walls of the room, so slowly that movement could only be perceived by observing for several minutes. Inexorably onwards the shadows marched, but it wasn’t yet time.
The hands of the wall clock were being undrawn and then instantly redrawn, each time a few degrees further around the face, counting away the seconds until the appointed second of the correct minute of the agreed hour of the day the men had all booked.
It was nearly time. Five seconds ... 4 ... 3 ... 2.
“Information is everything.” The words came without warning, without introduction, and at full volume; every man jumped.
“In the seemingly endless fight against terrorism and insurgency, high-quality intelligence, delivered at the right time, often makes the difference between success and failure, stability and chaos.
“Sometimes this intelligence can be collected remotely and cleanly by electronic means but that discipline has its own specialists. Our area of expertise is extracting information from a far more complex and intractable source, a source that often protects its secrets with indomitable strength, cunning evasion and defiant lies: the human brain.
“It seems so easy. The human body is so very frail, and once past the bony shell of the skull, the brain itself is the softest organ of them all. If only there was a way to use the same techniques as the electronic warfare experts, to read the required information directly from that spongy mass, or at least to differentiate reliably between truth and deception. Despite many attempts, with varying levels of sophistication, this sadly still eludes us. Intelligence seems to require a system that teeters on the very edge of organisational chaos, that stores its memories everywhere and yet nowhere, and which is therefore almost entirely opaque to external probing and monitoring. With the frontal attack barred, instead we need to use our scientific methods to access this information by going via the mind and personality that inhabits the brain.
“Of course, the use of physical and psychological coercion to extract information has a long and colourful history, and mankind has used it with varying degrees of enthusiasm and success for millennia. However, you will have noticed that I used the term ‘scientific methods’: the challenges we face in the modern world are such that we need information quickly, but information we can rely upon. The best way to obtain this is by using methods that have a scientific basis and that have been rigorously tested under a wide variety of experimental and field conditions.
“This is where I come in. I know the scientific basis and effectiveness of the available procedures, when they have worked and when they have failed, and how to ascertain the point where we will have breached every defence the subject can muster and the information flow will cease being unreliable.
“Yet I cannot do this alone, for while I have many strengths, I also possess certain weaknesses, so teamwork is essential. My task over the next few days is to educate you gentlemen in how to work with me to form such a team, a team that will serve your countries for many years to come, and will help protect them from those whose sole purpose is destruction.
“We have in the rooms around us a variety of test subjects of varying degrees of intelligence, resilience, and intransigence. I will be using these subjects to demonstrate the goal-oriented procedures that I will be explaining in a series of short lectures. During these lectures and demonstrations, you will gain an overview of my knowledge and skills, but you will also learn about those weaknesses I mentioned.”
Three of the six men were paying attention but the others were looking around the room and playing with their pens.
“You’ll all be glad to know that the introduction is now over and that we’re ready to begin. Sometimes I start with some theoretical work, but on this occasion I think that it’s perhaps best if we pay a visit to one of our subjects.”
The next part was pure showmanship: deploying every surgical instrument at the same time was of no more practical use than pulling out every blade and tool of a Swiss Army knife, but it did look impressive.
“When you gentlemen return to your respective countries, you will be taking with you a model almost exactly like me, lacking only my interactive training features. You will therefore need to also be able to perform basic diagnosis and repair on my essential equipment.”
One man was still projecting an air of composure, even complacency, but the others were giving the glittering array of knives, needles, saws, endoscopes, cutters and electrodes on the InterroBot’s four multi-jointed arms their undivided attention.
The InterroBot was Peace Corporation’s most profitable model, which was ironic given that they didn’t even manufacture it. It was a MediBot licensed from Utility Group, with its software repurposed, its base price multiplied twenty-fold, and its previously caring and trustworthy semi-human face replaced with one that triggered emotions that ranged from unease to hopeless despair.
The InterroBot now turned this face towards the one man who was still failing to show the correct attitude. What was that on his front? Object recognition supplied ‘decoration(decorative)’ and ‘decoration(medals)’ with an equal weighting on each. With movements that were deliberately inhuman, the ‘bot rotated its primary tool carrier to bring it directly in front of its face, and then ignited its largest plasma scalpel at a setting so inefficient that it produced a roaring lance of white-hot flame.
The ‘bot could see their faces through the searing heat haze and knew it commanded their absolute and unanimous attention; it was now, at last, time to proceed with the day’s business.
---------------
Trainer
The last of the men had arrived over fifteen minutes earlier, and their guarded exchanges of pleasantries had quickly been replaced by nervous shuffling and open impatience. But it wasn’t yet time.
The unenthusiastic early-morning sun was casting low-contrast shadows that crept slowly across the spartan walls of the room, so slowly that movement could only be perceived by observing for several minutes. Inexorably onwards the shadows marched, but it wasn’t yet time.
The hands of the wall clock were being undrawn and then instantly redrawn, each time a few degrees further around the face, counting away the seconds until the appointed second of the correct minute of the agreed hour of the day the men had all booked.
It was nearly time. Five seconds ... 4 ... 3 ... 2.
“Information is everything.” The words came without warning, without introduction, and at full volume; every man jumped.
“In the seemingly endless fight against terrorism and insurgency, high-quality intelligence, delivered at the right time, often makes the difference between success and failure, stability and chaos.
“Sometimes this intelligence can be collected remotely and cleanly by electronic means but that discipline has its own specialists. Our area of expertise is extracting information from a far more complex and intractable source, a source that often protects its secrets with indomitable strength, cunning evasion and defiant lies: the human brain.
“It seems so easy. The human body is so very frail, and once past the bony shell of the skull, the brain itself is the softest organ of them all. If only there was a way to use the same techniques as the electronic warfare experts, to read the required information directly from that spongy mass, or at least to differentiate reliably between truth and deception. Despite many attempts, with varying levels of sophistication, this sadly still eludes us. Intelligence seems to require a system that teeters on the very edge of organisational chaos, that stores its memories everywhere and yet nowhere, and which is therefore almost entirely opaque to external probing and monitoring. With the frontal attack barred, instead we need to use our scientific methods to access this information by going via the mind and personality that inhabits the brain.
“Of course, the use of physical and psychological coercion to extract information has a long and colourful history, and mankind has used it with varying degrees of enthusiasm and success for millennia. However, you will have noticed that I used the term ‘scientific methods’: the challenges we face in the modern world are such that we need information quickly, but information we can rely upon. The best way to obtain this is by using methods that have a scientific basis and that have been rigorously tested under a wide variety of experimental and field conditions.
“This is where I come in. I know the scientific basis and effectiveness of the available procedures, when they have worked and when they have failed, and how to ascertain the point where we will have breached every defence the subject can muster and the information flow will cease being unreliable.
“Yet I cannot do this alone, for while I have many strengths, I also possess certain weaknesses, so teamwork is essential. My task over the next few days is to educate you gentlemen in how to work with me to form such a team, a team that will serve your countries for many years to come, and will help protect them from those whose sole purpose is destruction.
“We have in the rooms around us a variety of test subjects of varying degrees of intelligence, resilience, and intransigence. I will be using these subjects to demonstrate the goal-oriented procedures that I will be explaining in a series of short lectures. During these lectures and demonstrations, you will gain an overview of my knowledge and skills, but you will also learn about those weaknesses I mentioned.”
Three of the six men were paying attention but the others were looking around the room and playing with their pens.
“You’ll all be glad to know that the introduction is now over and that we’re ready to begin. Sometimes I start with some theoretical work, but on this occasion I think that it’s perhaps best if we pay a visit to one of our subjects.”
The next part was pure showmanship: deploying every surgical instrument at the same time was of no more practical use than pulling out every blade and tool of a Swiss Army knife, but it did look impressive.
“When you gentlemen return to your respective countries, you will be taking with you a model almost exactly like me, lacking only my interactive training features. You will therefore need to also be able to perform basic diagnosis and repair on my essential equipment.”
One man was still projecting an air of composure, even complacency, but the others were giving the glittering array of knives, needles, saws, endoscopes, cutters and electrodes on the InterroBot’s four multi-jointed arms their undivided attention.
The InterroBot was Peace Corporation’s most profitable model, which was ironic given that they didn’t even manufacture it. It was a MediBot licensed from Utility Group, with its software repurposed, its base price multiplied twenty-fold, and its previously caring and trustworthy semi-human face replaced with one that triggered emotions that ranged from unease to hopeless despair.
The InterroBot now turned this face towards the one man who was still failing to show the correct attitude. What was that on his front? Object recognition supplied ‘decoration(decorative)’ and ‘decoration(medals)’ with an equal weighting on each. With movements that were deliberately inhuman, the ‘bot rotated its primary tool carrier to bring it directly in front of its face, and then ignited its largest plasma scalpel at a setting so inefficient that it produced a roaring lance of white-hot flame.
The ‘bot could see their faces through the searing heat haze and knew it commanded their absolute and unanimous attention; it was now, at last, time to proceed with the day’s business.
