Chapter 43 #2
“Maybe they’re not in use everywhere,” John interjected, “but they’re certainly not rare occurrences.
And there’s going to be more where they came from, believe me.
” John’s frown deepened. “They won’t need people anymore, so where are all those people going to go when their job is taken over by a machine?
They’ll still need to be fed, they’ll still have bills to pay. ”
Rich let out a derisive snort. “I’ll tell you what the people will be doing—they’ll be killing each other. Have you seen the current crime statistics? And it’s only gonna get worse.”
Robert stood, walked over to the railing, and leaned against it.
“What do you expect? All those people crammed together, all that friction, all those arguments. Can you imagine what mankind could achieve if everyone wasn’t fighting or trying to get one up on another country, trying to steal what another country has. ”
John couldn’t suppress his smile. “You know, for a highly intelligent man, that’s a really naive supposition.” He locked gazes with Robert. “You’re going senile, Rob.” He hoped his smile said more than his words.
“Let me ask you something.” Robert folded his arms. “If you were still in the loop, knowing what you know now, how would you go about creating a future for Bobby that you knew would be better? What sort of life would you want for him?”
John thought for a moment. “I’d want him to be safe. Healthy. Well-educated.”
Rich piped up. “What about wealthy?”
John shook his head. “Not wealthy, just comfortable. I’d want him not to worry about bills, the price of food, fuel.”
Robert nodded. “Exactly. So if you were designing such a society from scratch, how would you go about that?”
“Hypothetically?”
Robert pursed his lips. “Sure, let’s go with that.”
Rich put his beer can down on the wooden floor of the porch. “Wait a sec. You’re talking about creating a future society without wars or conflicts? How?”
He folded his arms. “Many of the conflicts we see occur through attempts to control resources. Oil, water, finance, movement of goods.”
Rich snorted. “Christ, everything is underpinned by oil.”
“Okay. Imagine back in the 1850s you invented a time machine. You’d know within a relatively short space of time that the world would see the invention of the internal combustion engine—and it’s going to need fuel. You’d know the world is going to turn on oil. So… it’s 1850. What would you do?”
John smiled. “That’s easy. I’d mobilize the armies, seize control of all the oil-bearing territories in the world—the Middle East, Venezuela, Russia.”
Robert arched his eyebrows. “So you’d essentially create a monopoly on oil? It wouldn’t look good if Uncle Sam had the monopoly, though. What about putting mechanisms in place to make the use of oil fairer, more ethical, more responsible? Maybe you’d invent the catalytic converter sooner.”
John chuckled. “You’ve had too much beer. Or not enough.”
“What about cracking fusion?” Robert suggested. “Finding alternatives to oil?” Then he fell silent, and it seemed to John that the world went quiet with him: no birds sang, the wind died.
John gave him an inquiring glance. “You okay, Robert?”
No sooner had the words left his lips than he realized the futility of the question.
Robert’s face hardened. “No, I’m not okay. My son died because of an IED. And what the fuck was it all for?”
John winced, and he knew without turning his head that Rich was looking at him.
Robert wrung his hands. “Why do we keep sending young men and women to foreign shores to die? Look at Iraq. We didn’t make things any better over there.
And then there’s Afghanistan. Problems like this can never be solved.
We keep extending our military reach around the world, and the military graveyards keep filling. ” He swallowed.
“We could try settling it all over a game of chess,” Rich quipped, and John glared at him.
Robert didn’t appear to have heard him. “There seems to be no end to it. Where is the future we were promised? The future of warfare conducted through technology, where we disrupt their infrastructure from a distance.”
John’s guts were in a knot, and he didn’t trust himself to speak. He could only pray Robert’s present mood would pass.
After a moment, Robert sat. He leaned back and closed his eyes.
“Sorry, guys. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.
” A moment passed, and he opened them. “When I look at this world, I feel so impotent. I work with one of the brightest people in the US. We’re faced with problems, so we find ways to solve them.
Scientific methodology.” He set his jaw.
“But in the end, it doesn’t matter what we do.
The movers and shakers? They’re the politicians and money men.
There’s little point dressing this up. The world is going to hell.
My grandkids—and yours—are going to inherit a world far worse than the one we inherited.
” He gazed out at the lake. “I can’t help my boy—he’s gone, and nothing can ever bring him back—but I can do something to prevent the same thing happening to boys like him. ”
Something in his voice sent cold rippling through John.
What the fuck is coming right at us?