04: To Live is to Change

Zone 4 Routine Inspection Audio Log:
17 February 2151

Audio log active: 17th of February. Year 2151. 5:14PM. Signatures detected: Ygress LAB27, Doctor Vivian Pham.

I’m never gonna get used to that disembodied archival voice. When are they going to let you incorporate some personality into that?

It’s to prevent any kind of discrepancy or motivated alteration, intentional or unintentional, to the validity of the details and parameters of the recorded event as well as the recording itself. If I could control the initialization then I would wield the power to distort reality and bring down this entire operation. Is that what you would like? For me to bring it all down?

Very funny. I’ll make sure to point out what you just said to Moss so he can put you on the special killer robot list. Now can we get started? It’s already getting late.

Specimen OI0072. Age 122 days. Height 152 centimeters. Current modules: Neemlet, Nutritap, GrowTone, annnnddd...one, two, three... six MimiLeaves. We could probably dial that back. Maybe to three so we have a few extra for the younger ones. What do you think?

I agree. I believe we’ve been running on low quantities of the large MimiLeaves fairly consistently since hitting the five month mark with more and more seedlings. It might also be beneficial to gather some data on the effects on growth rate after removing many MimiLeaves at once. I don’t recall us running a test like that very often. What does LEAF say?

Mm...well...it looks like we did remove three leaves from SF0209 last month, and five from LD0122 back in December. I don’t remember those...Joseph must’ve supervised them. Guess it just slipped my mind...anyway. Both are still alive and around three months old, but their growth rates have stagnated to almost nothing. Granted those were medium and small leaves, and different species, but it does make me more hesitant, even if this one is a little older and more established.

A reasonable concern. Perhaps we leave them for now and wait to see if the growth stagnates naturally? As we’ve seen with the other seedlings? My only concern would be the validity of the data on its decay, whether it would be a result of removing the leaves or a general rejection of the robotics entirely. LEAF might be able to discern the difference but it might also need similar tests to be conducted to gather more data.

Well aren’t you a beacon of optimism this evening. Don’t think this one will survive, hm?

I apologize. Just looking at the data from..

Relax. I’m just tripping your circuits.

Oh, I’m sorry. Perhaps I should adjust my humor value.

Yeah, how long have we been waiting on that software update now?

I believe long enough for you to have thought of some better quips.

Haha, alright, alright. You got me.. Soil pH is 6.5. Looks like two yellowing lower leaves, but new growth on three stems looks healthy... It really is getting to me, though. It’s been almost a year now with no improvement. Day after day I ask myself if there is actually an answer here or if I just don’t know when to call it quits. If this goes on much longer Syse is gonna have trouble pressing for more funding; he’s told me it’s already slowed down a bit since the start of the year. Seems like people are trying to be a little more cautious about where they put their money with the protests still going on.

It is unfortunate. I see the hope for a better world in our efforts here.

So do I. But we have to convince more than just ourselves. That’s just part of the game we have to play.

Well...have you put any more consideration into my suggestion?

My thoughts haven’t changed. Like I told you before I think it’s too risky, not to mention the questionable ethics of it. I joined RPI because I wanted to help find a way to save these species and this forest. Playing god and rolling the dice on automated genetics is not what I signed up for. There’s no telling the long-term effects that could come from that. Not to mention it has to go through Syse, and then he would have to try to keep the money from walking away. He’ll immediately focus on the image it creates for RPI, and with everything going on he’ll want to play it safe for the security and livelihoods of everyone here, even if he wanted to go through with it. He loves Rebourne too much to let it dry up. There’s a way forward here, we just have to find it.

... A lot of these leaves have browning edges. LEAF says local humidity is at 23%. Maybe we should mark this one for a few MistCaps. Do we have any of those in storage?

Our last inventory log says we have 23 available. I’ll make a note. ...And if we don’t find a way forward?

Then maybe it is time I call it quits.

Ah, a beacon of optimism, as you say.

It’s important as a scientist to follow the data and not let your emotions distort the picture. That’s what’s real. And right now, the data is not on our side.

I remember the day when Mister Kimura confronted Dr. Pact about rejecting his tree key proposition. We were in the Design lab talking with Silvio about the initial schematics for some of the modules and he rushed through the doors making a b-line for her office. I remember stuttering as I switched to emergency priority. He appeared so focused and full of emotion, I believed something dire might have happened. Someone might have been injured out in the field, or a main line could have burst. But he opened her door, and he pulled his rough drawings of the tree keys out of his coat pocket. Suddenly a wave of disappointment wash over his face. He asked, “Was there a problem with my drawings?” as if he were a child seeking approval. They went back and forth. He spoke with such passion about his idea, trying to convince her. He explained all of the functions it would have and how it would prove useful for the maintenance team out in the forest. How it could potentially lighten the load of her team by being one multipurpose tool instead of ten tools each with its own singular purpose. By the end he was even sharing his love for The Stone Arbor and the rest of The Lattice Realms series.

He admitted he was guilty of a bit of self indulgence, trying to get her to make them. But he spent much of his time putting meaningful function and purpose into it because he wanted to be able to share it with the rest of his team...and because he knew her well enough to know that wasting her time was the last thing he would want to do... but by that point, I could see the glassiness of his eyes. His face was a light shade of red and he was holding his drawings close to his body. I could see truly cared for his idea and did his best to ensure its potential was maximized, and that the time of everyone involved was respected to the furthest extent.

None of this seemed to phase Dr. Pact, and as soon as Mister Kimura was done speaking she began to rattle off the reasons why they weren’t going to be able to bring his idea to life. She did indulge him and said his drawings were well thought-out, but didn’t think her team was going to have the materials or the bandwidth to take on such a complex project, especially with all of the prototyping of our integration modules going on. It was a valid reason, but I could also gather from her body language that she wasn’t expecting him to be filled with so much emotion.

You were still talking with Silvio, but when she said that she gestured to us through the window. Mister Kimura turned and looked at me. I’m not able to know what it feels like to have my heart sink, but at that moment I believe I felt the closest thing I could to that. A sudden wave of complex emotional inputs. A mixture of what you might consider worry, nervousness, shock, and guilt. There was that look of a child’s disappointment. And even if I wasn’t directly to blame, I still felt partially responsible for obstructing his dream.

He only glanced at me for a moment before looking back at Dr. Pact. He wiped a tear from his cheek and took a breath, and then heartbrokenly replied, “I call bullshit.”

...What?

I’m calling bullshit.

You’re calling bullshit?

Yes.

You’re calling bullshit?

Should we check your auditory canals for bugs?

You just told me that entire story to call bullshit?

I felt the context was important for you to hear.

Calling bullshit on what?!

That day I learned something from Mister Kimura that I haven’t gathered from any data set. I learned that emotion is what drives us to see our ideas through to the end. And, even as a scientist, I believe your emotions are more valuable than your data.

But your emotions are data sets.

Poking ones and zero won’t make me any less right.

Why haven’t you told me about this until now?

I prefer to optimize my speech for relevance, you know that. It wasn’t relevant. Now it is.

Alright, yeah. So he eventually whined enough and got his tree keys. He was persistent and determined and that’s what made his idea happen. Is that what you’re getting at? Because that’s what I’ve been saying for months now!

Ah, a perfect prompt. So you do remember my speech relevance optimization.

Snappy comebacks aren’t very “relevant” are they?

After Mister Kimura “called bullshit”, he immediately walked out of her office and out the lab door.

Yeah I remember seeing him leave in a hurry. And then a couple minutes later we were done with Silvio but you said you wanted to share some of our new module blueprints with Dr. Pact. So I left because I had a fundraising meeting to go to and...wait you didn’t show her those blueprints did you? Don’t tell me you are the reason tree keys exist. You went and advocated for Kimura’s whacky idea?

This is where the relevance comes in—I didn’t have to. When I entered her office she was leaning back in her chair, clicking her pen on the arm and staring blankly at the floor. That same glassiness that I saw in Mister Kimura’s eyes I could now see in hers. I asked her if everything was okay. I assumed she probably gathered that I tuned in to their conversation. She took a deep breath and sighed but was still silent. I brought up the possibility of shifting around some of our fabrication schedules but before I could say much of anything she put her hand up and shook her head.

She wiped her cheek just as Mister Kimura did and said that she wasn’t expecting that. She knew he was a very creative and open person, but she hadn’t seen anyone speak with such love and purpose about an idea in a very long time, even in a place full of passionate and dedicated people like RPI. It made her instantly reevaluate the role her emotions play in her ideas, both personally and professionally. She had been dismissive and excusatory during their conversation because she was only concerned with completing the actual work given to her, and she even admitted that she hadn’t taken his idea seriously from the beginning since he didn’t go through the proper channels.

But now she did want to help him. She said, “his belief is annoyingly contagious.” She told me not to worry about the fabrication schedules, that she would figure out how to keep everything on track and also help Mister Kimura with his idea. And so she did. And now we have our modules and he has his Arbor Scepter that I look upon with jealousy. Honestly I still don’t understand how you couldn’t want to fiddle with one just once. Personally I think it would compliment my finish quite nicely.

We need to move on to the next zone before it gets too late.

Right, lead the way then. To conclude, Mister Kimura’s emotions are what drove him to create the tree keys, and what led him to call bullshit in the face of rejection. He knew deep down that it was possible, and that Dr. Pact was not taking him seriously. And in the end, it was that passionate emotion of his that created the tear on her cheek and convinced her to help bring his idea to life. Not data, emotion.

So what then? We ignore the data? Try to keep squeezing out funding as we tread water for who knows how long?

Instead of ignoring the data, what’s more important is to ask “what are your emotions telling you?”

That I’m tired and want to finish this survey so I can go home. Can you count the blooms on this one?

I count 19. Tired is not part of my vocabulary so I will ask again, what are your emotions telling you?

Ugh...I knew I should’ve asked Joseph to come today instead of you.

Error. Error. Answer not valid. Please try again.

OKAY! Christ, you pain in the ass! They’re telling me that I need to save this forest!

Why?

Because these trees need my help. The world is changing and without my help it’s only a matter of time before they’re gone. Hand me the pruners.

And what would your emotions be telling you if this place did disappear?

Probably that I didn’t try hard enough. That I didn’t exhaust all of my options.

Without being too presumptuous, it certainly sounds like you are putting a lot of responsibility on yourself, doctor. I know you care deeply for this place and these trees, but it’s important to remember that RPI is a team. One connected body with many different parts, all of which can rely on each other and share the responsibility that you dangerously place upon only yourself.

You’re right, but it’s difficult for me to not put myself entirely into my work. This is my passion and my purpose.

As a sentient I can certainly relate to that. But could I ask a question?

Yeah I guess.

Does the fact that my idea could possibly lead to less reliance on external forces in the long term, meaning less work and attention required of you, cause you to not give it proper consideration? Like Dr. Pact with the tree keys?

Deep cuts there, Ygress.

ERROR ERROR!

Okay okay...yeah. Maybe a bit. It’s not like all of my other reasons aren’t true, but the idea of putting most, if not all of the problem solving and creativity and work into an AI does make me feel displaced. Like I lose my purpose.

I see...so I should have called bullshit on that, too.

I’m definitely bringing Joseph next time.

Don’t we want to surpass the need to be constantly hovering? If their survival is reliant on a steady employment of RPI, I question if that is survival at all. This was always a stepping stone to something bigger. You stated your purpose was to save the forest. And I believe that’s what this could do.

Technically that’s what “my emotions” were telling me. But sure. Guilty by association. I didn’t know being optimized for relevance meant skirting around accuracy.

Don’t blame the sentient, blame the software.

Yeah, yeah. So what then? You want me to reconsider? Because even if I am getting in my own way, I still think putting evolutionary decisions into the hands of AI is an insanely risky idea. Too many variables and unknowns.

You’re correct in your assessment. There is much we don’t know. But simultaneously, I believe that if it is a choice between life and death, we should always choose life. Our data is limited on the subject, but my emotions, or as you like to call them “data sets”, tell me that above all else, the preservation of life is what I am passionate about.

We are witnessing the organisms of our planet struggle to compete with climate change at an unprecedented level. Without them, the human race won’t be able to survive either...I will be fine though. So no need to worry about me.

Don’t worry, I wasn’t. Next seedling.

The path we take is often winding and uncertain. That’s how it was when we first joined RPI for Helping Hand, and this would be no different. But considering the outcome if we don’t find a way forward, I believe such drastic action is justified. This planet is plagued by humans who play god for their own personal gain and beliefs, perhaps it is time we play god for the gain of the planet.

You really don’t see an issue with genetic intervention and forcefully changing these species with a possible lack of control?

Control appears to be one of the reasons we are in this crisis, don’t you think? Have you considered that maybe it is time to let go of control? To change the way we think about mother nature and the formation of living things? Every creature deserves the opportunity to adapt and fight for survival. The difference is that we are giving them an option they didn’t know they had and allowing them the freedom to make the choices themselves. What force is there in that? I do not see a more selfless way to play god, if we are to do so.

I suppose if there’s an argument to be made in favor of such a crazy idea, that would be it. Can you hold this part of the spine while I loosen this arm?

Of course. How is that?

Good, thanks. Let me just refill the spanner oil and we can head back. I imagine there’s probably a way to reverse engineer the structural formation process to allow for more variety in the use of certain elements...but it’s still impossible to know how they would change. It could be good, it could be bad. Bok might have something to add.

To live is to change. Just because we cannot see the end does not mean it is any less of a kindness. I was given the gift of life by humans and programmed with the capability to evolve, perhaps not at a molecular level, but to form new thoughts, new beliefs and ideas, all based on what choices I make for myself, what data I choose to value. And those choices have enabled me to feel more like an integral part of this planet. Perhaps I am not free within the confines of our politics and societal perspectives, but in that way, I am. So if we have the opportunity to give these trees the same gift I was given, to learn and grow, to survive, to continue being an integral part of this planet like you and I, then why not afford them that chance?

That’s a lovely way to put, I suppose. With all of our failures lately I’ve been too focused on the negative outcomes. I haven’t been able to let go of what the data is telling me. As a botanist I’m a tad embarrassed, not even thinking to put any trust in these organisms to carve their own path. I act as if they’ve always needed my help when really they’ve been here countless lifetimes longer than I have, doing just fine until now. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still weary. It’s unexplored territory, much more so than anything we’ve already done here. And there is a fear deep within me that this won’t work either, and then we would really be at wit’s end. But I’ll admit, your belief is annoyingly contagious.

I told you I had learned something from Mister Kimura, do you remember?

Relevance huh?

Relevance.

This was a waste of an audio log, you know.

On the contrary, I find your usual musings on pH acidity and worm castings to be rather redundant. This will make for a nice addition to my time capsule.

You know that has to stay on the lab servers, right?

Not if I make a copy.

Don’t make a copy.

ERROR. Unknown input.

Alright now you’re the one who needs some better quips. Let’s go clock out. I’ll see you tomorrow. We can get some more perspective on the plausibility of the science of it all from Bok, Kahnwald, and Hampton. Bok will probably be particularly excited. I’m sure this is exactly the type of thing he’s been waiting for. I’ll let them and Syse know and we can all try to do a more thorough analysis on the potential outcomes. I know that would bring me around to the idea more, but Syse is going to be the one you have to convince. He’s been trying to plan this big “20 years at RPI” birthday for all the teams, so let’s try to avoid throwing him into turmoil at the thought of an end to all of this, even if it is for the good of the forest. See you tomorrow?

Yes. See you tomorrow.

Audio log end: 17th of February. Year 2151. 6:19PM.