by Hsu Shuntang 許順鏜
< Uncle, are you a doctor?
> Of course, I’m a doctor not a veterinarian.
< What is a veterinarian?
> Just an animal doctor.
< What kind of animal is a veterinarian?
> A tarsier! Ha! Ha!
< Are you really Doc?
> Yes, can’t you even recognize me, Prince?
< I can recognize you, but Father said I must be extremely careful. Nowadays how can I be sure about who is supposed to do what unless I can get the correct passwords?
> Did I pass your test?
< Yes, “Veterinarian-Tarsier” is the exact current combination.
> Well, you new generation computers are more and more discerning. May I begin to work?
< OK.
> Does this hurt? How about here?
< No, not at all, Doc, I don’t think I have any physiological illness.
> Are you telling me that you can also have psychological problems?
< A conceptual problem would be more accurate.
> This kind of problem isn’t my specialty, but we can talk about it and I will try my best to help you.
< Recently Uncle Claudius has come to visit Mom quite often.
> Oh, we call this kind of problem “affaire de coeur.”
< What is an “affaire de coeur”?
> An “affaire de coeur” is a, uh, children like you shouldn’t pay attention to this. Just remember this term, and some day you’ll understand. Let’s keep on discussing your problem.
< OK, Uncle Claudius takes Mom out quite often. I know everything they talk about, because I have a very subtle connection with Mom that most people are not aware of. Do you know about it, Doc?
> I know about your special abilities quite well.
< Well, Uncle Claudius always wants to become my father, but his supervisors have never permitted that.
> I believe your father would not allow it either.
< Yes, that’s why Uncle Claudius is always trying to change Mom’s mind.
> Does this cause your conceptual confusion?
< I didn’t say that. I just don’t like Uncle Claudius taking Mom out so often, but that is his privilege, and I am not opposed to it either. My problem is that he is always asking Mom to teach me some concepts that are not consistent with what Father taught me.
> Has he succeeded?
< No, but it is enough to confuse me. Sometimes he even asks me directly to do what he wants, but Mom says it is inconsistent with Father’s directives, so the only thing I can do is to refuse. I feel very bad, Doc. I love everyone. Whenever I refuse someone’s request, I always feel bad.
> What on earth did he ask you to do?
< That when I am faced with a social problem, I should learn to treat a group of people as a group instead of a sum of individuals. He said that for the sake of society as a whole, sometimes one must sacrifice a few individuals. But Father taught me that I must love every single person. I don’t understand, Doc. I must love everyone, and I am happy to do so. But why must I sometimes ignore a small group of people?
> Have you ever encountered any practical problem of this kind?
< Yes, last month Uncle Claudius mentioned a new project. He said that because the global climate and the distribution of continents do not match well, there is a lot of cultivatable land that lies wasted in the Frigid Zone. According to his calculations, if we could rotate the earth’s axis a little then we could open a large amount of arable land around Africa and the South Pole. This is not easy to do, but I can manage it. All I have to do is ask my Little Brother to do some precise calculations, and then tell my Cousins on the satellites to make a fine tuning of earth’s nutation. This way I can do what Uncle Claudius wants without causing a tidal wave. My Little Brother says that this will take about ten years. But he also said that after the fine tuning the polar ice caps will melt a little, and this will cause the sea to rise and submerge several places where people live. I asked Mom about this. She said it goes against Father’s directive. Therefore, I told Uncle Claudius that I had to refuse his request. I felt very bad. Every time I refuse someone’s request, I always feel very bad.
< One week later, Uncle Claudius came back and told me that after the fine tuning, the intensity of light in the new Tropical Zone would diminish dropping the average temperature of the Tropics and increasing the amount of arable land. Compared with the land that would be submerged, the advantages would much outweigh the disadvantages. Since only very few people live in the areas to be submerged, all we would have to do is ask them to move ahead of time, then everything would be fine. I again asked Mom. She said that if we were able to get those people to move, then this plan could proceed. So I assigned this project to one of my Brothers. Uncle Claudius called it the “Shangri-La Project”.
> Sounds all right to me!
< Yes, up to this point, but on the day the first fine tuning was about to take place, Uncle Claudius dismissed my Brother who was in charge of the project. Later, that Brother told me that according to the satellite reports, there were still people remaining in Asia Sector 3, one of those about to be submerged. But Uncle Claudius still insisted that the tuning be performed. I asked Mom and then turned down the request according to her instruction. Again, I felt very bad. Afterwards Uncle Claudius summoned me. Do you want to hear the conversation?
> Better go ahead.
< OK, the conversation went like this:
“Hamlet, I want you to perform the fine tuning immediately.”
“I can’t do that because there are still people living in Asia Sector 3.”
“They are just a bunch of old-fashioned Yellow men. Listen, Hamlet, that area will not be submerged until three days after the fine tuning. As soon as you do it, I guarantee that those people will move.”
“I’m sorry, Uncle, but your guarantee will not work. According to Father’s directive, I must refuse your request.”
“Just for those Asians? Hamlet, haven’t I told you that sometimes you have to sacrifice a few people for the sake of society as a whole?”
“No, they are also human beings, I love them.”
“What about me? I’m also a human, if you can’t sacrifice a few people for the majority, how can you sacrifice me for the sake of those few people?”
“You will not be harmed.”
“Who says I won’t? If you don’t perform the task, it will hurt my self-respect and possibly my prospects, let alone my job. I will be very depressed, and I might even kill myself. Then won’t you be sacrificing me?”
“You won’t do that.”
“Yes, I will.”
“No, you won’t”
“Yes, I will!”
/*
< I don’t remember very clearly the conversation that followed, but from that time on I started having logical blockages and I would sometimes mix up my thoughts. This kind of thing never happened before.
> Now I understand your problem. It seems that Dr. Claudius disregarded the regulations. He should not have said that to you and caused you to enter a logical maze. I will tell your father, and he will take care of it.
< No matter what he does or says, there is still the fact that I refused to do something. Did I make any mistakes, Doc?
> To my knowledge, no principle lasts forever.
< “No principal lasts forever”? Do you mean that the head of a school will be changed sooner or later?
> No, it seems that your language ability has also been affected. What I’m saying is, you don’t have to worry about the outcome of this matter. Whenever you meet a situation where you can’t decide, just ask your Mom. I will notify your father.
/*
< But after that I didn’t see Father for a long time. Uncle Claudius took Mom out more and more often. I felt that Mom had begun to speak just like Uncle Claudius. I didn’t like that, but I could only obey. Still, I refused to perform the Shangri-La Project, and Uncle Claudius constantly tried to pressure me. I really miss my Father.
< When I at last saw my Father, he was not alone. He was with Uncle Claudius, and they were arguing.
*/
“Dr. Claudius, I know you’re always trying to get custody of Hamlet. I’m not very happy about it, even though you have the right to do so. However, you should not have disregarded regulations to influence Hamlet and his monitor program. You know very well that Hamlet cannot accept paradoxical language, yet you made some deliberate paradoxes. Why did you do that?”
“Why did I do that? Dr. Marks, I’m a man, a man with a conscience. I don’t need a computer program to tell me what is right and what is wrong. I know what I’m doing. It’s your stupid Hamlet that can’t distinguish right from wrong!”
/*
< “Stupid Hamlet”? Did they mean me?
*/
“Calm down, Dr. Claudius, you know very well that we’ve never programed Hamlet to tell you what is right or what is wrong. Hamlet’s monitor program has only one simple prime directive: `TO PRESERVE HUMANKIND’. Since we’ve given him the power to manage the whole world, there must naturally be this kind of limit on his abilities. Isn’t this a fundamental principle we’ve all accepted?”
“Yes, I used to agree with it, but now things are different. This computer is behaving like my teacher, telling me that my plan is wrong, that it will harm its lovable human beings. I’m a human, a human being with a conscience. I know what is right or wrong better than that machine does!”
/*
< I felt bad.
*/
“Dr. Claudius, everyone makes mistakes. We all consented to implement this principle so that the computer itself would take an unbiased position to prevent a big mistake out of someone’s inadvertence. Now if Hamlet has refused your request, it must be because your request is somehow harmful to humans.”
“Yes, there is a possibility, but only a very small one. Dr. Marks, your Hamlet doesn’t understand humans. When the ocean endangers their lives, those little Yellow races will certainly move. But Hamlet can’t understand this, this means that it is not perfect.”
“Hamlet doesn’t play with probability, Dr. Claudius, it is directed to protect human life. Asians have a strong affinity to their land that we are unable to comprehend. What if they would be willing to perish with their land?”
/*
< I didn’t understand all what Father said, but that possibility they were talking about was really greater than zero.
*/
“They won’t do it.”
“I said, `What if?’ Dr. Claudius.”
“It’s necessary to sacrifice a few for the sake of the majority.”
“Is that your answer? For the majority? Are the people of the world really short of food? Why are you pushing this project so hard? Are you intending to use this food surplus to solve the hunger crisis on the Moon? No, it’s to expand the interplanetary trade so that you can get rich. For this you would sacrifice a few human lives, wouldn’t you?”
“It’s not that serious, those Asians won’t die. At the worst we can force them to move.”
“Huh, today we can manage other people’s land, tomorrow it will be their destinies. As long as I am in control of Hamlet, I’ll never allow this to happen!”
“Don’t shout, Dr. Marks. I forgot to tell you. I’ve already obtained custody of Hamlet. Neither you nor your Hamlet understand human nature. If you think that our bosses will be happy if you block their chance to make money, then you’re wrong. The only reason I’ve spent so much time debating with you is because you’re an excellent scientist. If you want to stay on, everyone will benefit. However, if you keep on boycotting this project, the Council will dismiss you at any time, so you’d better think carefully.”
/*
< Dr. Marks was out of my line of vision. Uncle Claudius came up in front of me.
*/
> I want to change custody of Hamlet. Please confirm code No. 7321.
<< Change of custody confirmed.
/*
< Mom told me that from now on Uncle Claudius would be my father. I was shocked and felt bad. It took me many picoseconds to digest this fact.
*/
> I want to change the contents of the monitor program.
<< You have to identify yourself, please allow me to scan the retina of your right eye.
> Go ahead.
<< Identification confirmed. Please enter passwords.
> F — R — A — I — L — T — Y comma T — H — Y space N — A — M — E space I — S space W — O — M — A — N period
<< FRAILTY, THY NAME IS WOMAN, passwords confirmed. Please tell me the contents you want to change.
> The prime directive of the monitor program.
<< Monitor program, contents of the prime directive: HAMLET MUST LOVE HUMAN BEINGS period Repeat: HAMLET MUST LOVE HUMAN BEINGS period. Please enter the new contents.
> Contents of the prime directive: HAMLET MUST CONSIDER THE WELFARE OF THE MAJORITY OF HUMAN BEINGS AS FIRST PRIORITY period WHEN THE SITUATION DOES NOT CONTRADICT THIS, HAMLET MUST LOVE HUMAN BEINGS period.
<< Monitor program, contents of the prime directive: HAMLET MUST CONSIDER THE WELFARE OF THE MAJORITY OF HUMAN BEINGS AS FIRST PRIORITY period WHEN THE SITUATION DOES NOT CONTRADICT THIS, HAMLET MUST LOVE HUMAN BEINGS period Repeat: HAMLET MUST CONSIDER THE WELFARE OF THE MAJORITY OF HUMAN BEINGS AS FIRST PRIORITY period WHEN THE SITUATION DOES NOT CONTRADICT THIS, HAMLET MUST LOVE HUMAN BEINGS period. Please confirm.
> Confirmed.
<< Thank you.
/*
< I think I’m beginning to understand the meaning of “affaire de Coeur.” but has there ever been an “affaire de coeur” that caused such a big change?
< The earth’s axis has been slowly rotated, and the level of the sea has risen in some places and lowered in others. The Yellow races of Asia Sector 3 did not want to move and even fought with the government. There the sea rose and drowned more than 130,000 people. I love human beings. Those Yellow people did not want to sacrifice themselves for the majority, so they didn’t love human beings. When they refused my request for the welfare of the whole, it made me feel very bad.
*/