Data Dump X

Daria was still in a daze from what had happened only three days ago. Culture shock, she told herself. It was an entirely new way of culture, a new way of living that had sprouted up in Australia.

It explained a lot of things. For one, why there had been no mention of Australia in the news for years and why the major airlines never flew there. This new culture was a threat to the one she had just escaped, even if only on an "Eastasia vs. Eurasia" level.

And now, less than a week after her disastrous meeting with Tom, she was in a classroom again. She wondered if Mr. DeMartino with his bulging eye would have shown up. Hell, she should have just chosen Mr. D. instead of Jane. Daria might never see Jane again; Mr. D. would have at least provided some entertainment.

There were fourteen others with her, all whom had come into their new inheritance. To those fourteen, the lecture was merely a conclusion of the formalities, a reading of the will. They were ready to take it all in.

A young woman dressed much like Michelle and Dot stepped up to the front of the classroom. She began to speak.

"There are four stages to any civilization. The first stage is the hunter-gatherer phase. The second phase is the agrarian phase. Neither of you have been alive for either of these phases...."

That's a simplification. I've read "Guns, Germs and Steel". She makes it sound as if one phase passes out of history to be replaced by the next. It's just that one phase becomes dominant in one area through a set of circumstances. Take that "hunter-gather phase". We're in the Central Australian Desert. If we weren't in this air-conditioned building, we'd still be hunter-gatherers. I wonder how the hunter-gatherers in New Zealand are doing right now....

"...which some of you have just escaped. You have reached the end of the industrial phase. Man was reduced to a cog in the machine and when robots could replace the cog, he was eliminated."

I suspect a lecture on commodity fetishism or reification is coming up next. Boy, how I miss those college bullshit sessions.

"...at the end of the industrial stage, robots controlled humanity...instead of vice-versa. This new stage is called the "open" phase, a fourth generation civilization conceived of by Eric Renson, an American involved in what was called the "open software" movement. He had already concluded that the industrial phase would end the way it did in North America. He tried to fight it, but realized that it was impossible."

Thanks for nothing, Eric Renson. Maybe if you had got the word out better, maybe this could be avoided.

"...Renson realized that he had to turn the industrial stage on its ear. He used the idea of open source and added robotics to it. He spent money on robots and materials and reached a stage where factory robots could be used to create even more robots. However, rather than the top-down design processes where robots are programmed from a central point, robots could be individually programmed. Instead of mankind serving robots, robots would serve mankind. No restrictions would be placed on how robots would be programmed. Because no one owns a source code, the code is free to everyone to modify."

...

"Renson realized that in a robotic civilization, everything could be free."

Daria raised her hand. "That's not possible."

"It is," said the woman, "if you own a large piece of land like Eric Renson. The land contains a large amount of resources. Iron ores. Water rights. They don't have to be paid for by anyone. The first thing Renson turned his task to was farming to create food resources -- ."

"-- that doesn't answer the question. These resources are limited."

"But they are abundant."

"'Abundant' is not the opposite of 'limited'," said Daria. "It's simply a modifying concept. It just means 'less limited'. You're implying that these resources are perpetual. I don't think anything in nature is perpetual."

"Actually Daria," said the speaker, whose name was Caitlin, "this is merely an introductory lecture. It's not meant to be the springboard for a detailed discussion. If there's interest, that might come later."

Daria looked to her sides with her peripheral vision. There didn't seem to be any interest. Sixteen years of schooling had taught Daria how to recognize the signs.

"Renson's core idea was that everything should be free in a robotic world. Every human being should get an equal share of all of these products that the robots were producing."

Renson is sounding like a liberal fascist communist son-of-a-bitch. I like him already.

"Renson took the phrase 'all men are created equal' quite literally."

On second thought...hm.

Another person raised their hand. "Yes, Curtiss?"

"That sounds fine and dandy. But...does Eric Renson own Australia? Or California? I don't think that the people who own the land and the resources that lie beneath it...limited or limitless...are going to give that up without a struggle."

"Yes. If a small group of people, either individually or in the name of a government, own all the resources, then society is screwed. Sooner or later, there will come an inequity of wealth in which one person owns everything and no one else owns anything."

Shades of Marx!

"However, Mr. Renson decided to modify the successful capitalist corporate model, in order to create a new ownership model that would accomplish his goals."

Oh dear.

"Through the use of his software company and his patents on robots, Renson became a billionaire. He then purchased 300,000 square miles of outback territory in Australia, and began producing resources for sale with the robots he had built. He knew that he'd need at least $1 trillion to buy enough resources for one billion people to become self sufficient.

How the hell is he going to get a trillion dollars, unless he's a government? Most of the major industries in the world are banking, insurance, or gas and oil. Even if he ran a Japanese car company, that could only be worth $100 billion.

"...once he had started the major work in Australia, the citizens of Australia decided to merge with the project by plebicite. The entire continent of Australia became part of the Australia project."

Remind me to look that up the first time I get out of here.

(* * *)

The speaker went on about the "total recyclability" of the project, namely, that everything was completely recyclable. She stated that things were "used over and over" and "never diminished", completely ignoring all of Daria's inital objections. Daria began to suspect that the speaker had the speech memorized. She was there to talk; they were there to listen.

There was a principle of non-ownership. No one owned anything. There was also, however, no anonymity either.

"Doesn't anonymity provide freedom?" said Daria, unable to hold herself.

"Yes. But it also brings abuse. What's the difference between setting someone's house on fire and setting one's reputation on fire by websites created through proxies? In neither situation can the person be fully recompensed for their losses. In Australia, there are cameras everywhere. If you walk from your home to the park, cameras follow you all the way. You have access to these cameras, so if someone walks by your house, you know who walked by and when. This system makes it completely impossible to commit an anonymous crime."

"Except when the cameras fail," said Daria.

"They rarely fail," said the speaker, almost through clenched teeth. "We are able to put crime to a stop as soon as it happens. There hasn't been a murder in years."

"Even indoors?"

"I mean an outdoor, public murder."

"What good is that, then? You can stop muggings but you can't stop wife beating?"

"It's better than the old system, Ms. Morgendorffer," said the speaker, dropping the chatty facade. "People still commit crimes occasionally, basically children who haven't been socialized. We discipline them, and that solves the problem."

Another person raised their hand and asked why someone didn't just ask for 10,000 bars of gold bullion if everything is free? The speaker explained that all resources in Australia were equally distributed.

The discussion broke down to a chat about all the nice things you could buy in the "open" phase of civilization. You bought clothes, and when you got tired of them, the clothes were recycled. And then, the recycled clothes were made into new clothes to buy with your credits.

Before the discussion became a commercial, Daria felt emboldened to interrupt. "So what I supposed to do to earn all this?"

"Earn?" asked the speaker.

"I mean in terms of a profession," said Daria.

"There's no forced labor in Australia, Ms. Morgendorffer. Everything here is free. You do anything you want to. You get 1,000 credits a week to spend. You are on a 52-week-a-year vacation."

Someone else had a question. "So why are you here?" she asked the speaker.

"I don't understand."

"Why are you here to talk to us."

"This is what I chose to do. I enjoy seeing the looks on your face as you go through the orientation process. It's a fun thing to do. I get such joy in introducing people to the Australia Project." The speaker's gaze swept over everyone's face, but Daria only got an eye blink of time. In essence, it's my vacation."

"I don't believe it," said an older man.

"Yes. It is unbelievable. And it's all true," said the speaker.

"There is a catch, however," said the speaker.

I knew it.

"You have to agree with the core principles to take part."

(* * *)

Daria was given a piece of paper and an authenticator pad. The following was printed on the paper.

The shareholder agrees that by signing this sheet of LC that the shareholder is in agreement with the core principles of 4GC Inc. formulated by Eric Renson. The only way for the Australia Project to work is for all shareholders to abide by the core principles.

The Core Principles of 4GC INC.

Everyone is equal
Everything is reused
Nothing is anonymous
Nothing is owned
Tell the truth
Do no harm
Obey the rules
Live your life
Better and better



"That's it?" said someone.

"That's it," said the speaker. "You'll be surprised at the deeper meaning behind these words. You'll each receive advanced orientation."

"What does 'live your life' mean?" said a woman. "How can a human being do anything else?"

The speaker recited as if was a standard answer to the question. "In North America, your life left a lot to be desired. Instead of dying in some robotic holding tank, here at the Australia Project you will be in complete control of your freedom and prosperity. You have freedom of choice. You reach your own maximized potential with the recourses available to you. You are the designer of your life."

"What does 'better and better' mean?" someone asked.

Another standard answer. "We are innovators here at the Australian Project. We look for problems and solve them. The solutions make all of our lives better. Things get better here every day. In North America, things get worse every day."

Silence. Then someone shouted, "Well, sign me up!"

There was laughter throughout the room, except for Daria's. 'Tell the truth'? 'Do no harm'? My mother was a lawyer. I suspect that Satan is hiding in those vacant phrases. But frankly, I'll suck a cock to get out of going back to that robotic shithole.

Daria placed her thumb on the authenticator pad. The pad beeped, and according to the corporate law, Daria had agreed to the terms. She was now fully vetted. She was now a part of the Australia Project. As she left the room, the man - Curtiss - arched an eyebrow towards Daria, then followed the Daria and the rest without comment.