Transhumanist Wager, The (46 page)

In its tower, every floor was
dedicated to different technical fields: supercomputers, supercomputer hacking,
software design, hardware creation, nuclear accelerators, fusion machines,
robotics, artificial intelligence, nanobot technology, Web design, virtual
world creation, computer chip architecture and construction. The dozen floors
near the top were dedicated to everything military: missile building, aerospace
design, robotic weaponry, and drone construction.

While Jethro Knights was
disinclined to talk directly with new citizens about military strategy, as
leader of a young nation—one who was scarred from his personal experiences with
America—he knew the ability to defend itself from invaders and wage a
successful war was power.

To everyone who asked, Jethro said,
“There are contingency plans and appropriate defenses, which very smart people
are working on right now. Besides, the United Nation’s international rules
dictate that no one has jurisdiction over us; therefore, technically, no one is
allowed to bother us.”

Realistically, Jethro knew the
world would eventually attempt to assail Transhumania—to try and steal its
gifts, and attempt to stop its technological ascent. From the first moments he
conceived of his nation, there were ambitious and unorthodox military plans in
his mind. He refused to waste precious time and resources building multitudes
of bombs and armament; instead, he wanted to develop powerful technologies that
would render the enemies' major weapons useless. Everything was digital,
computerized, and GPS-oriented on today's battlefield. The victor possessed the
smartest computer whizzes and the most powerful computers, not the fiercest
soldiers or the most destructive explosives. What was the point of mighty bombs
and missiles if they were unable to explode or reach their targets? Jethro
asked himself. What he wanted on Transhumania was hackers, programmers,
code-breakers, and cyber-warriors—the world's best. He could never compete
against the resources of larger nations in terms of firepower. Leading brains,
however, he could muster. Jethro spent hundreds of millions of dollars of his
military budget creating customized supercomputers and hiring the best techies
in the world to run them. He aimed to be able to swiftly hack into a rival’s
missile guidance systems and dismantle or reprogram their weaponry.

Of course, only so much can be done
with computers. Jethro spent nearly half a billion dollars commissioning the
Hyperscram Jet Aircraft Project: the creation of four megasonic airplanes. They
were to be unlike anything the world had ever seen before. They would provide
both defensive and offensive cover to the small nation, without having to be
manned. Each aircraft would possess the capability to fire
Transhumanian-designed Tetronic T-1 guidance rockets with bunker-buster
technology.

Next, he hired a team of engineers
to devise a comprehensive shield system of missiles that could defend the
nation against incoming raids or attacks, regardless of how they came. This
included target-sensitive tracking missiles that would intercept and destroy
enemy rockets or bombs before they hit the city. Additionally, he commissioned
a project to create underwater charge deflectors, which tricked enemy torpedoes
to explode long before they reached Transhumania.

The final plan of Transhumania’s
military was the development of ten ultra-advanced robots. Each machine would
be designed to always remain under strict control of its personal avatar: a
human engineer sitting behind a computer in the Technology Tower. Some of these
avatars were also champion gamers with years of competitive experience in
professional video game tournaments.

While every robot would possess the
ability to fire weapons and engage in combat, each would be created with
markedly different utility. Weaponbot, laden with guns and missiles, would be
made for search-and-destroy missions. Medibot, with nine intricate fingers on
each hand, would be designed to perform delicate medical surgery. Firebot,
conceived with heatproof components and powerful fire extinguishers built into
its limbs, would be made to fight all types of fires. Bombbot, planned to be
bulky and nearly indestructible, would be for bomb squad detail. Crashbot, with
one arm bearing a circular saw and the other a jaws-of-life device, would be
for crash recovery situations. Buildbot, created for building or fixing tasks,
would be able to perform everything from aircraft construction to tiny computer
chip repair. Strongbot would be made incredibly tough and agile, designed for
lifting and handling awkward and heavy objects with sheer accuracy. Polibot,
with various radars and sensors, would specialize in security, detective, and
police work. Soldierbot would be the ultimate soldier, created for all types of
warfare and fighting. The tenth and last robot planned was to be the smartest,
carrying in its chest cavity multiple interlinked computer chips and servers
that could compute a trillion calculations a second; named Intellibot, this
robot would be a walking supercomputer.

Jethro’s ambitious military
projects would take years to reach fruition. He was adamant that a third of his
ten-billion-dollar budget go towards military development for the protection
and expansion of Transhumania.

“What for?” Preston Langmore asked
him, dubious when he found out. “Spend it on the research, Jethro.”

“No way. I'm going to bring them to
their knees, Preston—then dock this nation on the Hudson River in New York City
and take over America. We have a limited amount of resources here on
Transhumania, but
they
have everything we need.”

“Are you kidding me?” Langmore
said, flabbergasted. “You want to take on the United States of America?”

“No, Preston, not just the U.S.A.
The world. That's what the Transhuman Revolution is about.”

To oversee the completion of his
militaristic goals, Jethro brought in Oliver Mbaye from the Paris office and
made him executive director of Transhumania’s defense operations. Together,
they chose their commanders and military personnel with extreme care—only after
getting to know them thoroughly via multiple interviews, careful background
checks, and in-depth psychological tests.

It was an unwinnable challenge to
keep the groundbreaking defense developments hidden from the rest of the city’s
citizens and the watching world. Too much money and too many high-profile
people were interlaced into the projects. Inadvertent minor leaks of
information and satellite photography gave hints to other nations that military
prowess was being created on Transhumania. Rumors spread quickly that the
technology was highly advanced. It made leaders of the A10 countries edgy and
fearful.

Chapter 27

Ironically, as final construction
on Transhumania was completed, and the city entered its first full year of
research operations, the NFSA was reduced in size again. A second round of
layoffs battered the American agency, which had recently been stripped of its
budget by nearly half. And even that staggering multibillion-dollar amount left
to run the agency was critically questioned by much of the public.

The heavy-handed downsizing wasn’t
much of a surprise to anyone. More and more over the past twelve months, the
NFSA had found itself idle, relegated to basic bureaucratic and administrative
tasks, like running the U.S. Drug Administration, overseeing the Federal
Department of Agriculture, and implementing strategy within the NAH. Quite simply,
its chief task was now totally over. It had undeniably won the battle against
transhumanism in America. No scientist in the fifty states openly did research
in the field anymore, and those who engaged in experimental science did so
under strict guidance and observation from the government. Approved research
included projects centered on creating better flu vaccines, drugs to lower
blood pressure, better pain medication for cancer patients, bariatric surgeries
for obese people, and easier methods for diabetics to imbibe insulin. They were
aimed at improving common medical procedures and drugs to keep people alive,
but never with perpetual longevity as an end goal, or with the mission to move
beyond the fallible human body. The end goal, one NFSA spokesperson declared,
was “a healthy, natural, and long life followed by a dignified death, with the
spirit set to join its Creator.”

As the NFSA shrank, many of its
thousands of remaining employees turned to propaganda and educational
activities. Scholarships were offered to students who dedicated research to
preserving the dignity and cultural legacy of human beings. Documentaries and
films, promoting the historical importance of religion and spirituality in the
lives of citizens, were funded. National writing contests were sponsored on
topics such as why the human species is more beautiful than a cyborg species.
The NFSA gave college philosophy professors around the country grants to churn
out books on why computer consciousness could never be authentic consciousness
at all.

Senator Gregory Michaelson and
Reverend Belinas, who remained the leading duo of the NFSA, recognized they
were losing relevance. To counter this, both men launched into more
anti-transhumanist actions and campaigns; however, the impact was muted.
Gregory’s mini education projects around the nation proved uninspiring and
ineffective. In televised sermons and interviews, Belinas’ increased negative
rhetoric on transhumanism and technology was overkill.

Even though the American national
psyche had turned its back on transhumanism, everyone realized the movement was
alive and apparently thriving somewhere on the South Seas. Jethro Knights’ new
sovereign city was mentioned in international news almost every day, some of it
featured in sensational ways that garnered avid attention. Despite the NFSA’s
efforts to spew misinformation about Transhumania, the transhumanist enclave
became known as the city of the future, where everything from robotic surgery
to organic fusion cuisine to electric helicopters was years advanced. Press
releases from the Transhumania News Network were often shared with the world's
media:

At First
Annual Technology Olympics on Transhumania, Japanese Robots Suffer Stinging
Defeat Against Robotic Ping-Pong Home Team 

Transhumania
Declares Nation 100% Fossil Fuel Free; City Now Completely Powered by Solar
Energy, Swell Movement, and Wind Farms

Aging
Telomerase Gene 458T Located in Humans for the First Time; Transhumanian
Scientists Prepare Experiments to Adjust Its DNA Controls

Famed
Eastern Fusion Chef Defects to Transhumania to Open Novel Restaurant; Blends
Organic Asian Cuisine with European Dishes

Transhumanian
Surgeon Performs First Robotic Open Heart Surgery in Airless Vacuum Chamber
Room; Infection-Free Surgery Heralds New Direction in Medicine

Increasingly, as the lack of
innovative medical research and the socialization of healthcare in First World
countries stunted the quality of medicine, wealthy people from around the globe
began flying into Transhumania for exceptionally challenging surgeries. Many of
the best hospitals’ top doctors in A10 countries had long since relocated to be
a part of the city’s pioneering medical center. Transhumania’s physician
residency program quickly became the most prestigious on the planet. Its
incredible faculty, resources, and state-of-the-art facilities were unlike any
other hospital in the world.

Russell Blanche, the influential
CEO of Empyrean Communications Group—the largest technology company in the
world—made a highly publicized flight to Transhumania for prosthetic lung
transplants, the first operation of its kind. Only two weeks before, doctors in
America told the ailing 52-year-old executive he was terminally ill and that he
probably wouldn’t be alive in three months. Blanche had been diagnosed with a
rare, genetic, degenerative lung disorder that was rapidly advancing. His
mucus-filled lungs had already shrunk to half their size and bore the sick,
tainted color of maize yellow.

One year later, at a major Las
Vegas technology convention, when Blanche introduced his company’s new flagship
product—a communications handset with a holographic interface—he looked
healthier than ever. In a press conference with great fanfare, he related the
story of his medical experience in the transhuman nation. He told journalists
his synthetic lungs were superior to the lungs of a marathon champion, and that
the hundreds of non-functioning vessels in his chest had been replaced with far
more durable synthetic ones.

“When I exercise now, my increased
athleticism astounds me,” Blanche said. “For example, yesterday on my daily lap
swim, I held my breath underwater for almost five minutes. Even before my
health had deteriorated, my best time could not have been over two minutes.
Additionally, while I was on Transhumania, they operated on my eyes, implanting
tiny, permanent magnifying contacts into my retinas. My eyesight is now an
unnatural 20/10—the equivalent of an eagle’s.”

“But how do you
feel
?” asked
a reporter with a squealing tone. “I mean
really
feel deep down
inside—with all this fake stuff in you?”

Blanche laughed. “I feel great, and
smart too. Last year I was a dying man inquiring into funeral arrangements. Now
I’m here and thriving, ready to lead my company towards new phases of
innovation and growth.”

The following day, Reverend Belinas
read the cover story on Russell Blanche in the
USA Daily Tribune
. He
clenched his fists angrily, and a thick vein across his scalp became strongly
visible. More than ever, he wanted to destroy the transhumanists. A thriving
transhuman nation supported his worst fears of what the future might be for the
human race. Alone and without governmental support, however, there was little
he could do. Currently, every politician was reluctant to tackle the situation when
affairs were so economically dreadful at home.