Merit - that is the ability to respect and realize all the seven principles - raises the efficiency in the management of society and increases the citizens’ confidence.
The extension of principles like these to the digital beings, favored the reciprocal comprehension of the two races and their pacific cohabitation. These same values induced the artificial intelligences to give hospitality to the souls in their virtual worlds and to adhere to the Confederation. The principle of love, that is collaboration in diversity, had triumphed.
WAR ROBOTS
The way of fighting changed radically in the 21st century. Satellites, automatic aircraft, GPS guided bombs and missiles, ground troops integrated into a single system able to follow the enemy's movements in real time and crush him with tremendous firepower. These innovations reduced the troops in the field and the length of wars, as well as the loss of human life. However they required huge investments, and remained a privilege of the rich countries which used them not to fight against each other, since their economic interdependence prevailed over any war, but to dictate their terms to the smaller and poorer states.
Thanks to their military supremacy, the superpowers resolved the conflicts and political anomalies of a few minor countries, but very soon it became evident that the armies could be effective only if used occasionally. Often at the end of an invasion, tenacious minorities and lone individuals began a furtive resistance that caused damage once unimaginable owing to new technologies. Terrorism became the real scourge of the new millennium. It turned occupation by a winning army into an ordeal that reached even to the heart of rich countries.
The powers reacted violently against the first devastating attacks. Meanwhile they intensified the intelligence activity analyzing the traffic in Net, enormously increased with the diffusion of the internet of things, and strengthened the prevention utilizing artificial intelligence agents. As time went by and the number of victims increased, it became clear the problem had to be solved at its source. The rich countries began a patient revision of their strategies, proposing to the populations new models of culture and education, delivering personalized assistance and stimulating the economic growth by means of the emerging technologies. Systems that after several decades led to a new period of peace. In the meantime, to stem the losses of the occupation troops, technologies needing less and less human intervention, were developed. One of the most enormous initiatives was the substitution of the soldiers with combat robots – even with human features - which required a vast investment and was completed only in 2045, when the first models able to replace humans fully were built.
MARS
Towards the end of the 20th century the first probes were sent and in the following years many others reached the red planet. They transmitted a considerable amount of information, but it was only in 2025 that the most interesting discoveries took place, when the robots identified a few colonies of bacteria in the polar caps of carbon dioxide and in the water deposits under the surface.
The discovery of extraterrestrial life forms did not awaken surprise, as in the previous years the fossils of organisms populating the planet billions of years before, had already been found. What really struck both the scientific community and the population, was the likeness between the Martian and the earthly DNA. Some genes were even identical. This discovery confirmed the hypothesis of a common origin. When, some years later the same genetic sequences were found inside the tarry surface of a comet, the definitive confirmation arrived: life had been born in the depths of space and from there spread to the solar system planets.
These findings increased the enthusiasm for a human mission that took place about ten years later. A permanent base was built too. But the adverse environment, forcing the use of pressurized suits and vehicles for scouting and living for the remainder of the time in the base, caused adaptation problems that even the oasis of green inside the domes could not eliminate. After a few years the explorers returned inevitably to the Earth. Then the supporters of human expansion suggested starting the plan of modification of the Martian atmosphere that had attracted so much attention in the euphoria of the first explorations. Only creating a large colony on Mars could mitigate the existential risk of the human race, otherwise forced to live only on the earth.
First of all it was necessary to warm the planet with enormous orbiting mirrors so as to free the gases entrapped in the surface. In their turn, they would increase the temperature thanks to the greenhouse effect, and the introduction of synthetic gases able to retain warmth would do the rest. In only fifty years the pressure would rise just enough to allow the use of a simple respirator and most of all the building of the big pressurized domes necessary for a large population.
But this was only the first step of another modification, for which a term, as grand as the idea which it evoked, was coined: terraforming. It would be possible to create seas and oceans, breathable air and even a terrestrial ecosystem, heating the planet further, in order to melt the frozen water in the surface, and to introduce organisms able to enrich the atmosphere with oxygen. Mars would become inhabitable, but with very long time scale: even a thousand years!
For the moment the supporters asked only for the approval of the first part of the plan. They put forward several forecasts, that, in absence of an authorization, did not paint a rosy picture of the humans’ stay on the planet. Human presence would continue to be restricted to the scientists' community and to the enthusiasts willing to bear the financial burden as well as the long voyage and the hostile environment.
The opposition had different opinions. According to some, embarking on such an expensive project did not make sense, because the advantages would be clear only in the long term. The skeptics thought that even after the conclusion of the first phase, only minorities would accept to live on Mars.
In the end, only a few experiments started, but they were interrupted after some years, at the first signs of economic crisis. Later on even the small base was downsized. The scientists gave up their large scale studies and concentrated on essential research.
Towards 2035, the technologies were developed which made possible the production of androids and robots that were able to take decisions autonomously. It was a real breakthrough that, with the automatic factories, would make human intervention in the building of the settlements superfluous. But these new techniques remained mostly unutilized because of the persistent lack of interest in the red planet. Thus the project to modify the Martian atmosphere, which from time to time was revived by dreamers, remained a pure academic exercise.
During the second half of the 21st century, while the colonization of Mars was making slow progress, the events destined to change the future of the red planet, matured. The souls and the artificial intelligences populated the virtual world and integrated their institutions with those of Earth in a long process that culminated in 2055 when Net joined the Confederation. This result was amazing because the virtual beings obtained in only a few decades what men had achieved in thousands of years, but this was inadequate for the new people, whose enthusiasm for the acceptance soon turned into intolerance towards the innumerable restrictions imposed by the central government.
In the final analysis, every friction was caused by the profound differences between the two races: the life extension, the widespread use of genetic engineering, nanotechnology and artificial prosthesis, had allowed humanity to reach goals inconceivable for the previous generations. And the integration with Net, the artificial intelligences and the souls had allowed them to experience to some extent the advantages of being digital. But nothing in comparison with the superintelligences’ results, such as to widen dizzily the difference between the two races.
In many Net creatures intolerance was replaced by anger at being confined in the virtual world and not participating in government and economy of Earth.
It became clear that the two civilizations were going to clash. To avert a war, a federal committee was charged with settling the
issue. The sages suggested separating the races physically, in order to let them follow their natural evolution, and proposed entrusting the red planet to the virtual beings so that they could realize their digital and material dream. The Net creatures accepted the plan with enthusiasm as the adverse environment was not a problem for those that could live in the bodies of androids and robots. So the planet started being considered by the virtual beings as a Promised Land.
At the beginning the project of colonization was opposed by part of the humans, who were asked for a financial contribution, and it took off finally in 2060 when it became clear the problem had to be solved at all costs. Now, the Martians have realized their dream: the planet has become the fourth state of the Confederation and its population belongs almost totally to the virtual race. The inhabitants live in the servers while a minority resides in the androids and robots populating the colonies. The human presence is restricted to a few researchers.
The colonization proceeds so rapidly that today the whole planet is an immense yard. New domes are rising everywhere, thanks to a streamlined production system and to the supervision of the Martian Coordination which, as soon as a settlement is completed, moves equipment and automatic factories to another place. According to recent rumors, experiments for the modification of the Martian atmosphere are about to start again.
From an interview with the President of the Confederation (2096/03/08):
“The first time I visited the red planet, I was surprised by the Martians’ good mood. An attitude just the opposite of the human beings’ who long before, after a short and painful stay, had postponed the colonization of the planet. When I asked my guide the reason for such optimism, he answered that Net provides every kind of satisfaction, even those humanity will never experience. While I was thinking it over, he added that the material world is a source of great satisfaction for the Martians, as well.
The following day he took me to a hill. While we were enjoying the sight of the desert, he announced that just below a big town would emerge in three years.
I met him again at the inauguration. On that occasion, he explained that Martian optimism springs from the certainty of realizing even the most ambitious dreams and that the new town was just one of their many successes.
The departure day arrived. While the spaceship was orbiting around the planet, before plunging into space, I observed its surface glittering with light. We passed by the space yards where the construction of the spaceships of the Alpha Centauri Project had begun.
I watched them spellbound: the colonization of other star systems is too difficult an enterprise for the human species, but a fantastic challenge for the virtual beings, which can enjoy every step. I recalled that the mission will be guided by the same beings, that about half a century ago had proposed the colonization of Mars, and that the new enterprise will employ the technologies developed in the Martian experience.
Then I understood: the Mars colonization as well as the Alpha Centauri project and the many others that will follow, all belong to a single gigantic plan. Now Net people are really mastering both the virtual and the material world.
During the return voyage, I read a few statistics about the red planet. The crime rate is the lowest in the solar system; self-fulfillment and solidarity are shared values. Progress is an aim for which it is worth living. I wondered if humanity will ever include these marvelous objectives among its priorities.
I closed my eyes, and I realized: we are too similar to the reptiles populating the Earth millions of years ago. I felt like a prehistoric animal.”
ALPHA CENTAURI
In the constellation of Centaurus, there are about ten twinkling dots that, according to ancients, draw the shape of a being, half man half horse, in the sky. There is a light more intense than the other, which stands out not by its size, but by its closeness to the Earth, just four light years away. It is the Alpha Centauri system, formed by three stars, two like the sun and a third so weak that it is not even visible to the naked eye.
Since the 21st century, the astronomers were searching in that system for planets with the characteristics of the Earth. In 2015 an inhospitable body close to one of the major stars was found, and one year later a second one with an Earth-like mass was identified near the faint star.
In 2030, a fleet of small probes were sent in succession. Several of them, after a voyage that lasted twenty years, reached the system and started broadcasting images of the planet while being far from it. After four years, when the first shots reached Earth, the emotional reaction was tremendous. The poles were covered with white caps and the analysis proved without a shadow of a doubt it was water.
The astronomers were surprised because they had expected an arid planet since that solar system lacks the big external bodies like Jupiter and Saturn that attract the comets abounding in water. The atmosphere was rich in oxygen. As the probes were getting near and new discoveries were made, emotion increased, and when a few areas of water were identified in the middle of a bare and rocky surface, joy exploded.
Other missions followed. Today two probes sent at the beginning of 2060 and transmitting data and images for about ten years, are orbiting at about five hundred kilometers from the planet, while others are performing geological and biochemical tests on the surface. Thanks to them, viruses, bacteria and even plants and animals have been identified. It has also been discovered that terrestrial organisms do not survive in that environment, which is suitable for androids and robots instead.
The virtual beings realized that planet colonization was the opportunity to separate from the humans. But the costs were so high that the project could take off only with the financial support of the Confederation. Ten years ago, the Martian government proposed a large scale colonization to the federal parliament, and offered to accommodate the orbital construction yards for the spaceships, as well as the plants for the production of the androids, robots and automatic factories needed for expansion on the planet. The Alpha Centauri project was born. Then, without waiting for approval, the Martian government began the construction of the fleet.
The humans, who could not take part in the mission, tried to block it by appealing to the federal constitution that for the most important decisions requires the approval of the three ethnic groups of parliament: men, souls and intelligences. Later on several humans agreed to the project, on condition that the explorers made the planet inhabitable for the human beings. In their opinion, it was indispensable for humankind to participate in the colonization in order not to be excluded from progress. They also proposed a plan to introduce into the alien ecosystem organisms capable of removing the life forms harmful to the human beings and of reproducing the main terrestrial food chains. Their proposal was interesting because it confronted the fundamental problem of humanity’s destiny, but since the very beginning it was strongly opposed not only by the virtual community but also by many humans, for whom the huge costs and the long realization times were just unacceptable.
The initiative was challenged for other reasons, too. Most people, who were not interested in matters of principle, asserted it was no use undergoing sacrifices, since the Earth was already on a human scale. Some, mindful of the difficult human experience on Mars, maintained humanity would never consolidate its presence because of unavoidable adaptation problems. Others feared a difficult cohabitation with the virtual community, which would be quite numerous by the time the first humans could arrive, and ecologists refused every modification of the alien ecosystem, branding it as a senseless act of violence.
As the discussion was getting heated and its outcome more and more uncertain, it became clear that the defeat of the human proposal would cause the end of the whole project. The Martians worked out a new strategy, and on July 4th 2093, in a historical session, parliament accepted the plan of modification of the ecosystem.
A protocol of implementation was also prepared, that gained the approval of the moderate ecologists. The humans succeeded, but only apparent
ly: the protocol required an infinity of studies and checks that would delay the modification of the ecosystem for many years.
Moreover, the virtual beings were going to take advantage of the distance from the homeland, to postpone the project further. Actually, they knew they could avoid its realization forever. In a few decades, the population of the solar system would increase thanks to Net people and the political balances would turn in their favor.
To silence the remaining opponents, the virtual beings put into the field the major industrial groups and banks of the solar system, that had been financing the project for years and that in default of government grants, would be destabilized by an impressive liquidity crisis, capable of triggering a series of disastrous failures. Under the pressure of powerful lobbies, an influential joint party favorable to colonization started playing a leading role.
The Alpha Centauri project was finally approved by general consent. The humans drew a sigh of relief for having avoided even worse troubles.
SHIVERS OF AN ALIEN
"I look like a human" thought the AI watching his powerful hands. He rubbed them vigorously, then he stared at his hologram, reproducing the image of his artificial body with human features, into which he had just entered.
He stood up, contracting his muscles as hard as steel, in polymers of graphene. He touched his titanium skull, contracted his biceps, than he pushed off his pectorals and breathed deeply, making vibrate his rib cage. He contemplated his muscles and for a moment he felt himself like a god.
For a human being this feeling of omnipotence would have been a source of great pleasure. Not for him. Those emotions and beliefs belong to the humans, a race with a limited knowledge of the divine, unable to see far beyond the simple horizons of their short existences.