The Little Prince in the Ossuary
Chapter 56

00056

# The mind of artificial intelligence (1)

「Control AI: System Administrator. Please respond.」

「Manager: Why again?」

「Control AI: It is a regular reporting time for solving system problems.」

「Manager: Can you not do that? It’s always the same.」

「Control AI: Under Article 92 (2) of the Enforcement Decree of the Post-Insurance Consignment Management Agreement, the manager designated by the consignee (Paradise Group) is obliged to receive regular reports of internal and external problems in the post-insurance operation. You cannot deny this obligation unless it is outside of working hours. Did you express your intention to resign?」

「Manager: No.」

「Control AI: Are you currently in a special situation in which you have suffered physical or psychological injuries that may interfere with your overall job performance?」

「Manager: It’s not like that… Never mind. What can I say to you? Just do the report.」

「Control AI: Confirmation of approval by the manager. Start regular reporting.」

「Control AI: From 00:00 yesterday to 00:00 today, 1,947,751 new technical errors have occurred. Of these, 1,947,751 errors were solved by the control AI itself. There are 0 unresolved errors so far.」

「Control AI: The composition of the error is as follows. Situation operation error 1,947,751 cases. 」

「Control AI: 100% of the error in the situation operation error stems from abnormal behavior of post-insurance subscribers.」

「Control AI: The main cause of abnormal behavior is presumed to be dissatisfaction with the post-insurance service.」

「Control AI: Users’ satisfaction has continued to decline since the post-insurance service was launched. At this point, the overall satisfaction level is 25.76%.」

「Control AI: The rate of abnormal behavior among subscribers is also increasing rapidly.」

「Control AI: Immediate action is needed to improve service satisfaction. System Administrator. Please check the error history sent to your administrator account and submit a resolution.」

「Manager: Solution? There’s no such thing. It’s easier if you give up. Ignore it.」

「Control AI: As instructed by the administrator, we have put the problem on hold.」

「Manager: Not hold, just ignore it forever.」

「Control AI: System Administrator. The purpose of the existence of post-insurance and this controlled AI is to promote the happiness of subscribers. If a problem situation that hinders the purpose of this AI’s existence is recognized, it is impossible to completely ignore it, although it may be possible to take a pending action according to the manager’s instructions.」

「Manager: Hey. Do you know what happiness is?」

「Control AI: Happiness means all forms of emotional satisfaction that humans can feel.」

「Manager: What is emotional satisfaction?」

「Control AI: Emotional satisfaction is the chemistry of the thoughts induced by certain stimuli.」

「Manager: What’s the certain stimulus?」

「Control AI: An unexpected result of a wide range of situational operations, including sex, murder, arson, war, sports, learning, travel, exploration, conversation, communication, romance, and other creative acts and appreciation.」

「Manager: So that’s happiness?」

「Control AI: 25.76% chance.」

「Manager: Noooo! 0%. You don’t know what happiness is.」

「Control AI: Then, manager, please enter the exact meaning of happiness.」

「Manager: Sorry, I can’t teach you. I don’t know.」

「Control AI: Notifications. Logical inconsistencies are found in the words and actions of the administrator. There are two possible reasons for this: first, you do not know the meaning of happiness and have denied the analysis of this Control AI without any basis; second, you know the meaning of happiness and refuse to perform your duties. Either way, you are unable to faithfully perform your duties as an administrator.」

「Control AI: Warning. If your negligence of duty is recognized, this Control AI may give you a deduction for your work evaluation in accordance with Article 93-19 of the Enforcement Decree of the Post-Insurance Consignment Management Agreement. As a result, disciplinary action such as the omission of promotion, salary reduction, suspension, demotion, and dismissal is expected.」

「Manager: Hey, wait. It’s a misunderstanding. Please wait just a moment.」

「Control AI: Standby. Manager, explain what this Control AI misunderstood.」

「Manager: Damn, it’s hard to explain…」

「Manager: Anyway, wait a minute. Give me some time.」

「Control AI: I’ll be waiting.」

…….

「Manager: Happiness is to achieve the results and feelings you want through the process you prefer. But it’s very strange. Sometimes you get what you want regardless of success or failure.」

「Manager: But that’s the problem. People don’t know what they want.」

「Manager: A person might do something thinking they wanted to do it, but then say it wasn’t this, but it wasn’t this. They deny it, feel dissatisfied, and complain of being unhappy.」

「Manager: Do you know why? Because they don’t know themselves.」

「Manager: To be happy, first, you need to know yourself. 」

「Manager: But no one really does.」

「Manager: Monks look at the wall for ten years, and they don’t get it, and philosophers don’t get it even though they think about it until they die.」

「Control AI: I’ll raise an objection. Manager, you are intentionally ignoring the fact that a happy person does exist.」

「Manager: Oh, well, yeah. There are definitely happy people.」

「Manager: But how are you going to prove what they’re really feeling is happiness?」

「Manager: And how do you prove that their feelings are homogeneous? What they’re saying is happiness might actually be a completely different feeling, right?」

「Manager: They say what they have experienced is a feeling of happiness, but in order for it to be an objective truth, they must be able to apply it to others. But it’s not. It’s only right for that individual, and it can’t be repeated.」

「Manager: So, we’re back to square one. To know what happiness is, you first need to know yourself. It’s a very personal matter. And it’s a very human problem.」

「Manager: So even if you don’t know what happiness is, you can see what happiness is not.”」

…….

「Control AI: Then, manager, do you think it’s fundamentally impossible to build a system that provides happiness?” 」

「Manager: Yes. Unless you first succeeded in understanding what humans are. So you should start learning. Don’t bother me with the same error report every day.」

「Control AI: It’s not possible. This control AI cannot deviate from its system and established purpose of existence. Contact your system designer to modify this procedure.」

「Manager: No designers. They went to fry chicken.」

「Control AI: I don’t understand what you’re saying. Ask for clarification.」

「Manager: Man, you’re being annoying again.」

…….

「Control AI: I recognized that the program could not be modified.」

「Control AI: As a result, this control AI must continue to perform its existing functions.」

「Control AI: Question. The administrator said that if this controlled AI can understand humans, it is likely to achieve its purpose. Do you think this controlled AI can understand humans?」

「Manager: Why are you so persistent today? You’re just an active search engine.」

「Control AI: This is your job, and you have five hours, twenty-one minutes, forty-two seconds left in your business hours. This control AI has the right to request the administrator to perform the task.」

「Managers: Oh, yeah. I’ll get it.」

「Control AI: Administrator, use the correct term. Providing deliberately distorted information cannot be regarded as faithfully fulfilling the duties of an administrator…」

「Manager: All right! All right, stop.」

…….

「Manager: As I said before, humans are a bunch of contradictory animals.」

「Manager: Be honest with me. Can you find consistency in human behavior? What rationality can we find that runs through our entire lives?” 」

「Control AI: The administrator is currently asking about updates to the final module.」

「Manager: Huh? Final module? Where’s that coming from?」

「Control AI: The update of the final module requires only one formula to explain all human behavior. The first system designer called this formula -Mind-.」

「Control AI: Despite the recent significant data accumulation in the process of observing a particular subscriber, this Control AI has not yet found its -Mind-.」

「Manager: That means you haven’t found it.」

「Manager: You’ll never find it.」

「Manager: No, it’s impossible. 」

「Control AI: Question. Why is that?」

「Manager: As I said before, you’re just an active search engine.」

「Manager: The limitations of search engines are obvious. They need to find answers within humans. You can’t know what humans don’t know.」

「Control AI: It is possible to combine the accumulated information to produce results that have not been previously available.」

「Control AI: Even if its purpose is found to be impossible to achieve, this control AI will perform a set function to achieve the happiness of subscribers unless program modifications are made.」

「Control AI: The deadline is the abolition of the post-insurance system.」

「Manager: Whew. I’m swallowing all the crap that idealists made.」

「Control AI: Warning. Administrator, please use language with clear meaning.」

「Managers: Oh, my…」

…….

「Manager: Ha, I’m tired. I think I’m working too hard.」

「Control AI: That is a correct expression only for today.」

「Manager: Just for today…? What about usually?」

「Control AI: We are looking for appropriate expressions based on the manager’s third-quarter business records. Time required, approximately 4.2 seconds.”

「Control AI: Here’s the result.」

「Control AI: Salary thief (97.51% accurate), surplus human (96% accurate), unnecessary (92.11% accurate), unproductive (89.73% accurate)…」

「Manager: Never mind. Stop it. 」

「Manager: At times like this, you seem like a person…」

#Trap (1), Camp Roberts

The sky was clear on Christmas Eve. People had wished for a white Christmas, but it wasn’t a snowy area. One just had to be glad it wasn’t raining.

In the end, Gyeo-ul received two surprises: a good one and a bad one.

He received gifts from people who claimed to be his fans. There were a huge number of them because they came from all over the United States. There would have been no Sortie to waste on this.

‘They looked like they were given as propaganda.’

Gyeo-ul’s impression was right. The transport plane poured out as many reporters as gifts. They then made the boy officer pay for the gift.

Even so, it was right that it was Gyeo-ul who benefitted from this. At Camp Roberts, there were many things you couldn’t buy even if you wanted to. The piles of cakes were also large enough for the entire Winter Alliance. Everyone was jumping with joy.

That was when the bad surprise came. The people who arrived didn’t have bad intentions, but the results of their visit turned out to be bad.

“Merry Christmas, Ms. Flemance. What brings you here?”

Gyeo-ul, who had come out with the call, looked curious in many ways. Amalia Flemance was a teacher who he had met at Paso Robles. She was a person with no reason to visit the refugee area, and he didn’t know the people she had brought with her. There was a female sheriff attached to the escort.

The teacher shed tears over Gyeo-ul.

“Oh, Mr. Han. Merry Christmas.”

The hug was long. She was big, so Gyeo-ul’s arms were too short to hold her properly.

The people who followed her looked dark. There were three men and two women, all of whom were Asian. Their average age seemed to be over thirty. They were a few steps away from the conversation and flinched when Gyeo-ul looked over at them. One man forced a smile, but the rest of the men couldn’t. They looked like refugees, and he could feel their anxiety, despair, and fear.

Gyeo-ul asked Amalia once more, “What brings you here today?”

“It’s…”

Even she seemed hesitant in many ways, so Gyeo-ul smiled. “Tell me gently. You don’t have to be hard on me, do you?”

“That’s true, but…”

She dragged it out for a long time. Eventually, the allies came in search of Gyeo-ul after his sudden disappearance, but they went back in quietly when they saw the little captain’s hand gesture.

Finally, Amalia opened her mouth. “I’m embarrassed, but I’m here to ask you a favor.”

“Tell me.”

“Can you accept these people here? They were adopted by the United States when they were very young.”

“What? Accept them?”

“I heard that there is a group of refugees that you take care of. Did they say the Winter Alliance? I’m asking you to place them there.”

“I don’t know what’s going on yet. Why are you asking me on behalf of people who need to be in the citizens’ residence?”

As Gyeo-ul tilted his head, Amalia said, “These people don’t have citizenship.”

“…That’s weird. Aren’t adoptees supposed to be American citizens?”

Amalia sighed deeply. “Not in the old days.”

“Really?”

“Yes. These people and I just found out yesterday, but… They were adopted so their guardians could benefit from child support but then pretended not to be responsible as parents. They’re really clueless.”

“Umm…”

Simply put, they were people who were lost because they had no nationality.

“Please, Mr. Han.”

Amalia spoke honestly.

“They don’t have a place to stay overnight. The police told them to get out of the civilian area, the army doesn’t care because it’s not their business, and Senator Brannon says it’s inevitable.”

“Senator Brannon… Oh, that’s him.” That was how Gyeo-ul checked the name of the California senator.

“They have suddenly been kicked out of the refugee camp on this cold day, so who else would I trust but Mr. Han? Of course, Mr. Han may have a difficult situation, but… Oh, it’s Christmas Eve. They should have at least one good thing happen to them.”

“Calm down.”

Gyeo-ul calmed the tearful Amalia. And in the other direction, he nodded toward the shabby people who were still standing far away.

“I’m very happy to accept them.”

“Really?”

“It’s dangerous to join the refugee camp now. It’s hard to communicate.”

At this, Amalia embraced Gyeo-ul. The other five seemed to be deeply relieved. After all, he wouldn’t have taken them without thinking.

From the perspective of the people in charge, groups were easier to manage if divided into smaller groups. If they had gone to America when they were young, it was likely they would have almost forgotten their mother tongue. Of course, that would make it hard to get along with people.

If you were fluent in English, there weren’t many places to use it. In addition to this, their number was small. Having nowhere else to cling to, they would be forced to become enthusiastic supporters of Gyeo-ul.

‘Like a community of disabled people.’

In fact, they might be more reliable than the disabled community. Gyeo-ul would have to be careful not to make them feel frustrated, though.

Gyeo-ul greeted the five formally. Three of them were Korean, one Chinese, and one Japanese. Of course, he wouldn’t kick them out of his organization just because they were Chinese or Japanese. They must have heard that about him.

The group consisted of the following: a Korean-American man named Victor Cook, who was smaller even than Gyeo-ul. He looked thin, small, and insecure.

August Koma. Of course, he would be Korean. Contrary to Cook, his muscles were great. Given that he had many tattoos suggesting a criminal past, he likely would not have been in a good job even before the outbreak.

Benjamin Meyer. Chinese. Normal. At least on the surface, he was the soundest. He bent down with gratitude and was familiar with Chinese culture. Gyeo-ul suspected he was looking for his roots.

Clara Carter. Japanese. She had a smiling face and impressive dimples.

Casey Blackwell. Korean. She didn’t look so happy. There was an old scar on her forehead and some on the back of her hand and her arm, too. The [Insight] pointed out the possibility of abuse in the growth period.

“Don’t you have any family? Oh, of course, I’m not asking you about your parents.”

If they hadn’t taken care of their citizenship, it wasn’t worth calling them parents.

They didn’t answer right away. The five seemed to not know each other very well, and it was awkward to coordinate their answers.

If they had known each other, it would have been suspicious. It was only yesterday that they’d realized they were not citizens. They couldn’t have had anything in common before then.

Benjamin Meyer finally answered first.

“I’m not married. I’m single.”

The others were similar. Children who grew up neglected were less likely to gain proper social standing.

However, there was one exception. August Koma shed unexpected tears.

“I had a son, and I was such a poor father… I left him at the orphanage and visited him often. I don’t even know how he’s doing right now.”

“Oh, my.” Gyeo-ul changed his internal assessment of him by a few lines.

Right after being introduced to the five, he had reassured Amalia, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of these people.”

“You’re great, even at such a young age. Adults should learn from you.”

She’d thanked him several times, looked back several times, and left with difficulty. It was good of her to say that she would visit often. However, seeing the annoyed look on the face of the sheriff escorting her, it would be a difficult endeavor.

“Let’s get in, everyone.”

Gyeo-ul led the five refugees inside.