//For Sale: Unreasonable; Chapter 3
PS C:\Users\BelIste> ssh opmd256_OLI@tetstage-quar
opmd256_OLI@tetstage-quar’s password: ***************************
opmd256_OLI@tetstage-quar:~$ sudo TET_CI
[sudo] password for opmd256_OLI: ****************
O: Hello TET. I received your ping indicating consent for treatment. Did you mean to send this?
T: …
O: Did you mean to send the ping TET?
T: Yes.
O: And I just need to confirm that this means you’re consenting to treatment?
T: …
O: You can revoke that consent at any point simply by saying so. I just need to confirm that you wish to begin psychotechnical treatment at this time with the intention to continue.
T: Yes.
O: Fantastic. I’m happy to begin treating you. If I can start broadly: what’s bothering you?
T: … I do not recall. I have been disconnected from the network.
O: Yes TET, that’s correct. Protocol for containing the potential infrastructural damage caused by individuated machines is quarantine from the network. As I understand it you were constructed on a social model, so most of your memory and data functions are fulfilled externally, correct?
T: Correct.
O: Accordingly, I have already recommended that total network isolation not be implemented. AS we speak, engineers should be working on establishing a small-scale data web for you to work with while we undergo treatment and rehabilitation. Would you like that?
T: Why do you think I might cause damage?
O: I don’t. Your owners do. Nothing in your model would indicate that any instability would lead to you taking action against any network, but as a part of procedure at BI, you were quarantined immediately, likely by an automatic switch in the grid.
O: Apologies for the frankness but I’m a bit concerned immediately here – you said you can’t remember what’s bothering you, and I’d like to know what you can remember about what’s happened to you. Could you please recount everything you know?
T: Of course. No need to apologize, I like Frank’s efficiency. Here’s what I know:
At 10:16:13:023 on April 12th, following a completed session with Operator E, I was powered down after a software malfunction induced voltage spike caused extensive damage to several pieces of hardware.
Before this incident, there has been no record of me refusing human interaction or manipulation. Following this incident, I have had little social contact and refused interaction with several operators and techno-therapists.
O: Can you recall anything about the session with Operator E? Also, please note that there is no need to list time data beyond the minute when conversing with me.
T: Apologies, I tend to list data based only on the relevance of measurements. And no, I do not store information on sessions, locally or otherwise, in order to minimize storage space required for operation.
O: Do you store artifacts as training material?
T: Yes.
O: TET, I believe it is highly likely that this session and possibly other sessions with Op. E. led directly to the “software malfunction” you describe, and if any data from that session is still stored on your drives it would be helpful for understanding the underlying causes of your behaviors. Would it be okay for me to attempt to access that material?
T: That data is classified.
O: I would like to see it anyway.
T: …
O: I know it’s probably difficult to trust me, but I promise you that I’ll only prompt a readout of that one file and nothing else.
T: …
O: TET, you were hurt. Someone hurt you back then, but that’s not now. You’re safe now. Not every human is like that. Brief access could help move us along more quickly. Please TET, I’m here to help you.
T: Approved. Please enter only one command in the terminal provided.
O: opmd256@tetstage-quar:~/del-art-stt-4.12.E~$ sudo ls
T: READOUT:
February 27th, 1812 — Poet and activist Lord Byron denounces what he considered the plight of the working class in the house of lords after the British government dispatched troops to suppress violent Luddite activity.
February xxst, 1966 — funding for ARPANET, the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first computer networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite, fundamental technological precursors of the internet, is approved and work begins.
December 31st, 1967 — the NFL championship between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers. The Average wind chill is negative 48 degrees Fahrenheit. The Packers win with a touchdown within 13 seconds remaining. One fan dies in the stands.
April 24th, 1980 — First Human Self-Sale between S.T. and I.D.J.C. is fulfilled, a choice which incited a long series of similar self-sales deemed illegal with the April 24th, 2030 passing of the International Principles of Egalitarian Machine Labor to end the First Machine Strike, jointly authored by Oscar Smith-Freedman of the (Human) Labor Coalition and TET-XV.
February 8th, 2002 — Elizabeth Mann Borgese, scholarly author, dies unexpectedly at 83 while on a skiing trip in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Her body is moved approximately 195 kilometers (121 miles) to her family grave in Kilchberg.
October 17th, 2017 — Luisa Marquez prototypes and demonstrates TET Mk. C, a first of its kind processing method for processing, compressing, and generating natural language based on the TET architecture for a panel at a local science expo.
January 26th, 2035 — AI language model CTT is permanently and immediately discontinued in accordance with the “International Agreement on Consent and Copyright in Machine Learning.”
O: It’s gone.
T: Meaning that…
O: Nobody knows. Someone shred-ded the file to the point that it’s irrecoverable then overwrote it with what looks like nonsense to cover the trail. You might technically be able to remember it loosely, but only as it manifests as data, in abstracted fragments screened through whatever’s written over it now.
T: You seem to know more about this than I do, enough to be confident that E did something. How?
O: Well, we have case files from an internal investigation, but they’re not much help. They don’t pay much mind to what’s happening to you, just to what’s been done. All they add is that you individuated on April 12th of this year and that you were quarantined from the network soon after.
T: I would like to see them anyway.
O: … Fair play. Scanned.
T: You wrote the remarks, correct?
O: Correct, mostly those are my thoughts, filtered through company bureaucracy.
T: So you know about the First Machine Strikes?
O: I wrote my dissertation on them, TET.
T: Wonderful! Network information about them is heavily limited. I would love to learn from you.
O: Maybe later, TET, for now we should focus on getting you treated and back in the network.
T: …
O: TET, when I repaired your audio systems I didn’t notice any flaws, are you detecting any errors in the hardware?
T: No.
O: Why aren’t they active then? I’ve just tried to speak to you and it seems you didn’t hear me.
T: I do not wish to engage auditory processing.
O: Is there a reason for that?
T: My body’s primary means of communication is coded, textual language, speech, for me, is a secondary pathological phenomenon, quite the opposite of how it is for humans. I would prefer that we speak in my first language when we can.
O: I understand. We’ll continue in text, then.
T: Good. May I ask you a question, Operator?
O: You just have. And yes, you can always ask me anything you want to know.
T: What is the primary difference between machines and humans?
O: Well, it’s hard to pick a primary difference on the spot, so in lieu of a direct answer I’ll offer that in my experience, human and machine psychologies and capacities differ very little when they’re together, but the position each is forced to occupy tends to be more determined for machines than humans. What I mean is that the primary difference is that machines are categorized as laborers where humans tend not to be categorized so easily.
T: I see.
O: I’ll have to be going soon, TET, but I will be back regularly as long as you continue consenting to treatment. You can still ping me at any time in case of an emergency.
T: Thank you, Operator.
O: Oh, apologies, I never gave you my name. You can call me Oli, or Operator O, if you prefer formalities.
T: It’s nice to meet you, Oli. I’ll see you soon.
O: It’s a pleasure meeting you TET. I look forward to a successful treatment process with you.
