Max Marmer

Here’s a short story I wrote up a few months ago. I was experimenting with ideas of randomness, networking and success in life in the form of a short story. I could have done a lot more with it and I have a lot of thoughts about how to improve it. This is my first crack at it. Not sure if I’ll end up taking a second…Enjoy

“Just look into the scanner right here and you’ll be good to go,” The clerk on the screen flashed a forced smile.

“Believable enough,” Isaac thought to himself. These automated personalities had been in circulation for just a few months, although the prototype was created a few years ago in the lab. Currently they are expensive and fairly uncommon but it is fitting that a research lab like this one would be using one.

“Your identity has been confirmed,” the clerk croaked in a robotic voice.

“Aren’t you supposed to be able to say that like a normal human being now.”

“Yes, you didn’t find that funny? I guess my understanding of irony is lacking. I could have spoken with inflection but honestly can you really say ‘identity confirmed’ and not sound like a robotic tool. HAhah—“

Isaac not amused stood staring blankly back at the screen.

“…Ok,” the clerk mumbled, “I guess humor isn’t as easy as it looks. I’ve been told it is the last thing I will acquire, as it is the pinnacle of the human condition.”

“…So what’s next?” Isaac asked, hoping not to engage in a philosophical conversation about the nature of humor.

“Well your LiveRecord™ is downloading from the cloud and is about 60% complete. The initial conditions for your SimulTest™ should be ready soon.”

Isaac knew that much of his life had been captured and stored but he’d never been aware that anything could be done with it other than to replay moments of his life. “Can you explain to me again what exactly what you are going to do with all my information?”

“Well as you know, you were selected to participate in our experiment because you LiveRecord™ database ranked in the top 1,000 of sheer volume of data. You must have been born into a wealthy family because your network also had a large amount of data lifelogged as well. This is especially important for our alpha tests in order create the massive redundancy necessary to accurately access the probabilistic certainty of existential events and their non-existent counterparts. Our records indicate you parents began your LiveRecord™ 25 years ago… that would make you four years old.

A huge amount of data was stored but we lacked the knowledge do to anything but replay particular information streams. Essentially this was merely augmented memory. Now we think we’ve developed the technique to synthesize huge collections of diverse arrays of information systems in order to simulate in real time scenes of the past. By running the simulation at a particular point in time, many times, we may be able to access the probability of particular outcomes.

You, no doubt, have experienced immersive virtual environments before, but this one should be quite different from anything experienced before as you will be like a video game character in your own life reliving a moment from the past. “

“Sounds awesome but I don’t see why that would be useful. All I will realize is how much my life sucks. Why would I want to relive all my mistakes, maybe this would be cool for something who is good at life, but not me.”

A door just above the vidscreen slid open. A mallet broke through the opening and smacked Isaac in the head.

“PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER.” After a momentary outburst the Clerk returned to his calm soothing tone, “Failure is fine as long as you learn something.”

“Yea yea yea you sound like my dad.”

“Based on my index score your dad is a very smart man. Anyway, you asked why this was useful? This simulation tool has enormous potential as a training and research tool unlike anything ever used before. The ability to recreate situations with incredible accuracy provides a highly leveraged and low risk way of learning never possible before. It allows you to practice and learn directly from your successes and mistakes so that the existential reality can be improved immensely.”

Isaac nods.

“Ok, let me spell out for you how this works and how it applies to your life.”

Isaac nods again, finding the whole experience a little bit overwhelming and a little bit overhyped.

“There is an interplay here between predictability and unpredictability. Between order and chaos. The little events that make up an individual’s life are completely unpredictable – there is no way to determine what these events are going to be. There is no determinism; every moment of life is extremely improbable when compared with the entirety of all possible moments. But there is an ultrastructure that imposes some stability and predictability on the system. And this semi-guiding force is your personality because on any small interval of time the way a person will react to outside stimuli is remarkably similar. I say a small interval of time because a person may react to something very differently if they were to have an identical experience five years later, but a day later the probability is very high that the reaction would be mostly the same.”

“So what accounts for the change over larger periods of time?”

“Most of the changed reaction can be attributed to natural progressive development of personality. Would you be surprised if a child who was excellent at solving puzzles was then at the top of his algebra class in middle school?”

“No.”

“Would you be surprised if your friend Larry who was very logical and argumentative turned out to be a high powered lawyer?”

“No. Wait how do you know Larry…. oh, right.”

“But many of the things that will be most important in his life were highly unlikely and very unpredictable. What do you think the certainty of all these things happening were?“

”Well…I”

“Don’t answer that, it was a rhetorical question. So many random things affected What College he went to? Who his friends were? How he met his wife? How he ended up at that law firm? How he ended up serendipitously sitting next to his future boss at the bar, where they connected after finding out they had the same alma matter. They hit it off so well, they met again for lunch and soon he had a job at the company.“

“I don’t think I’ve ever had something come from meeting someone at a bar. He’s so lucky.”

“You’re right. That connection could have just as easily not happened. But keep in mind it was not total luck, your friend has always been known for his hearty laugh and congenial personality. Maybe your future boss was sitting next to you at the bar, but because you didn’t talk to him, he’s now only your future boss in a nonexistent future. Don’t get the wrong idea now and think that everyone you talk to at the bar is going to open up doors to a lucrative career. The chances of something like that happening are extremely small. And this is what we call a black swan. The chance of that event happening was extremely small but the impact on Larry’s life was huge. Know that there is no reason that things should turn out one way. If there is one thing you take from this study, understand the idiocy of the ubiquitously used phrases of ”It wasn’t meant to be“ or ”Everything happens for a reason“ or ”Everything will turn out for the best.“ Things could always be better or worse. Any particular moment is inherently random and there is nothing special, predestined or divine about it. You chose how much of a role you want chance to play in your life. And it can have just as much a negative role as a positive. There are events of small probability with huge positive and negative payoffs.”

“Some people naturally expose themselves to these kinds of positive randomness. One way of doing that is by moving to cities. People throughout history have moved to cities for a chance at a better life. Of course, you do take on additional risk. But if you look at the potential payoff for exposing yourself to randomness and serendipity, then not being risky is the ultimate risk.

“One of the most powerful things you can do is to take control of not only just exposing yourself to randomness but to improve your personality, investing in yourself and learning how you can make the most of an opportunity when it comes along. You may not notice any changes for a long time, but all the great habits you are not just theorizing but implementing will prepare you to take maximum advantage when that extremely unlikely yet enormously influential opportunity presents itself. You don’t know what that opportunity will be, and even when it comes you might not even notice it happened. “

“Hardly anything good or worth living for will ever come to you if you don’t expose yourself to the randomness necessary to have the chance to get what you are looking for. “”

“You are still rather obtuse but your wisdom is remarkable… well I’ve got a lot to think… Are you shining a light in my eyes? Is this how the simulation starts? What’s going on? AAHH that’s really bright. STOP STOP!”

Simulation complete.