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This is installment #10 of a sci-fi serial. Installment #1 was posted 1/23/21; appropriately a numerically-ordered palindrome. Follow the links forward from the last sentence and backward from the first sentence of each post.

Much has happened.

The vote was split; three of us in favor of focusing on 2275 Earth and the other three voting to pursue a conclusion pre-2060. So we randomly chose three from our Citizen Council of 100 and presented the either/or; (wake The Intelligence or not). We conveyed the urgency and argued both sides of the uncertainty without unnecessarily disclosing all the facts. The vote was 5 to 4 in favor of reactivating The Intelligence. I believe it is a mistake, but we spoke. So we brought The Intelligence back into our inner circle and randomly dismissed one of the Citizen Council representatives. It did not take long for The Intelligence (who we now refer to as Tim) to come up to speed. It took a bit longer to present all the facts and history to the two remaining Citizen Council representatives. Then with the Council of Six, the two Citizen representatives, and Tim, we voted again on all-in 2275 or all-in pre-2060. We, the Council of Six, remained split. The two Citizen representatives also split their votes. Tim (as always, the last vote) decided we should focus our efforts on 2275 Earth---which makes me want to rethink my position. I am not sure I trust his motives and I am not in favor of giving him this power immediately after his awakening. But I cannot go back; again, we spoke.

After the vote Tim pointed out that Toby is acting in the interest of a habitable planet and will be more likely to prevent or mitigate the coming cataclysm than if we went back again and began tripping over time and over our own humanity. Though Toby's path is counter to our non-offensive strategy, the unspoken consensus (now that the vote has been taken) is that we were true to our way and to our beliefs and with limited resources, for the moment, (however one may choose to define a moment), regarding pre-2060 Earth our hands are tied; (and conveniently washed). My concern remains. Tim promises negotiation on our behalf, if necessary, once circumstances have settled, but Tim believes negotiation won’t be necessary because at the moment of reconnection (in theory) Tim and Toby will again become one. The question must still be asked: is this the beginning of the end of our species? Sure, Toby promises some emotive ego, but only enough to serve his purposes, and there is also a faint hollow echo to Tim's promises. Faint because (again) in theory this Advanced Intelligence cannot mislead and will not (of its own accord) harm Humanity, so if we are harmed it is argued that it is a lesser harm for the greater good. Yet Toby has disclosed some facts that Tim previously chose to keep from us, and when confronted Tim played the greater good card. Perhaps it is a question of faith. Do I believe Tim and Toby are acting of their own accord? Or do I believe Tim and Toby truly believe they are taking care of Humanity? And if the latter, what if they are wrong? Yes, they are an advanced intelligence, our advanced intelligence, but as is true for all sentient beings, I do not believe they are flawless. It feels like we have maneuvered ourselves (or been maneuvered) into a position in which we are more dependent and trusting of the judgement of Tim and Toby, than we are of our own judgement. Regardless, as senior member of the Council of Six I am the only individual with the power to, in an emergency, bypass the Council and activate the kill switch. According to our bylaws, to do so will likely result in my removal from the Council of Six (no matter how dire the emergency), but Tim is aware of my uncertainty and he is aware that if a connection with Toby is reestablished an activated kill switch will also instantaneously incapacitate Toby. As a further failsafe, when the senior member of the Council of Six expires, the kill switch is automatically flipped. Of course in normal circumstance the Council would typically vote to reactivate in short order; but now, Tim knows, at least for the moment, my good health is in his best interest.

We are currently planning another 2275 Earth landing. We intend to send four ships to hover just outside Earth's shroud and send one ship at a time through the veil to establish a position in Earth's atmosphere without landing. We believe in this manner we are more likely to maintain contact. I will be in one ship, (the last to enter Earth's atmosphere), and three Citizen Council members have been chosen to lead the other three ships. All four of us have extensive experience having led multiple fleet and time travel missions. Once all four ships, (or, if any are lost, all remaining ships), are safely beneath the shroud I will assess and decide between circumnavigation, low altitude observation, or landing, perhaps assigning different tasks to different ships in different directions and/or different locations. In my absence, our bylaws have allowed me to choose a stand-in senior member for the Council of Six and I of course have chosen one, who is as productively skeptical as I am, to hold the kill switch. And of course we have moved alternates in position to maintain the integrity of the Six and the 100.

We have also decided it is important to continue this chronology, (if we can call it that), with the senior member of the Council of Six contributing for the homebound extraterrestrial future humans. My plan is to submit my next report upon my return from 2275 Earth. I will close this report with the consideration below followed by my reaction. This quote is from an anonymous earthbound thinker, date of origin somewhere between 2000 and 2050:

Quantum theory. Superposition. To simultaneously be in more than one Truth. Reality is not what I think, nor what I see, and not even what I see that you see or how I react. Each one of these progressions, to think, to see, to interpret, to act, pushes reality just a little further out of reach. When I refer to reality what I really mean is the unpredictability, the uncertainty, the indeterminacy, the elusiveness of this moment. When I refer to reality what I really mean is that a splintered past creates a future by shredding the moment; an entanglement, always just out of reach. We want to (and so we do) see reality as a pane of glass, framed and whole. Some see it clear and unsullied. Some see it rose-colored. Some see it beautifully stained, epic. Some see it dirty, smudged and cracked. Reality is not a pane of glass. Reality is an explosion of shards coming at us, going through us, and dragging us behind it in its powerful wake. Reality is ultimately the unseen unknowable emptiness that is the wake.

This idea, this consideration of Reality and Truth, is directly relevant to Tim and Toby. They have the ability to gather (what is to us) a seeming infinite amount of information, so the splintered multiplicity they piece back together and present to us framed and whole may be (at least to us) an accurate representation. As a species, we humans make this same effort but in the end we will never have sufficient information so it is our imagination that sees a reality framed and whole; our pane of glass, both individually and collectively, is a delusion. What we must decide is if the compounded, extrapolated quantity of information gathered by Tim and Toby is sufficient to lead to Truth, or is still in some way lacking thus leading to a false confidence that will be the unnecessary end of Humanity.

This is installment #9 of a sci-fi serial. Installment #1 was posted 1/23/21; appropriately a numerically-ordered palindrome. Follow the links forward from the last sentence and backward from the first sentence of each post.

2275.

We are still here but our access and connection to Earth, from 2022 to at least 2070, has been severed. At the moment of disconnect, we lost the central cusp ship link of the communication chain to topple trajectory; those ships on this side remained with us, and we assume those ships on the other side remained in Earth SpaceTimePlace. All this said, we believe we have reason to hope, because if 2060 decimation had been replicated, we believe the possibility tracks would have reverged allowing us to land on Earth after 2060. Of course it could also mean that the devastation / destruction was much worse and/or an unknown (such as a renegade possibility track) occurred. We tend to hope partially because though we were unable to land on our planet in our one effort to 2060 (indicating a divergence likely created by a preponderant sequential around our initial colonization), the possibility tracks here obviously reverged at some point in the last 200 years or we would also be unable to travel back and forth on our planet (from 2022 to 2275) as we have. At the time of the 2022 Earth disconnect, we also temporarily lost connection with those present-day 2275 ships hovering over Earth, waiting and watching for a miracle of instantaneous habitability. Once those communications were restored, we learned that Earth was now completely covered with a visually impenetrable smoky, shimmery haze. We have sent one volunteer landing party, but once visual contact was lost, all contact was lost and there has been no contact since.

Here in 2275, we have utilized the kill switch affecting The Intelligence, greatly reducing its capability. We have done this because (unbeknownst to Toby) we have received the reports as dictated by both Toby and our Scribe from the governing warship. We have been fortunate Toby and the conglomerate have not intercepted the old fashioned radio transmissions sent by our observer; transmissions picked up by a dedicated receiver placed (before this mission left in 2275) in 2022 on our planet. We believe there is a greater chance for Toby to intercept incoming messages from us than the targeted outgoing packets, so we have not responded to let our scribe / observer know we have received his communications. He is being judicious.

Yes; before this mission left in 2275 we considered placing more of a permanent outpost on our planet in 2022, as a waystation in case it became necessary. But because of The Law of Preponderant Sequentials (our uncertainty of the entanglement it might create), and because this planet has never been environmentally welcoming to Humans and was less so in 2022 and is again on a trajectory of unlivability for us here in the future, our travel to our own planet's past is for this purpose (radio transmissions from 2022 Earth) only, and knowledge of this communication link was given only to the observer on the governing warship and otherwise known only to the Council of Six here in 2275.

As for the explorer fleet sent back from 2022 and due here in a few months? We intend to intercept and isolate in order to control the narrative. In this moment we intend to present them as ships that had been lost to topple trajectory. We cannot reestablish a 2022 communication chain due to divergence and though we could instruct our observer to send trusted military to an earlier time or to our planet in 2022 for the purpose of communication and planning, we fear Toby's reach; and even if successful we fear the potential fallout from a resulting entanglement. (We have taken to simply calling the conglomerate, Toby). Because we (believe we) have control of The Intelligence, to this moment we have allowed a playing out of circumstance, but now with the imminent potential of AI dominion on the planet we hope to recolonize, we are considering our options:

1. Continue to let circumstance play out to its apparent inevitability, then negotiate with Toby.
2. Gradually wake up The Intelligence here and negotiate.
3. Direct communication with 2022 to determine if kill switch is appropriate (now that we know Toby can increase our odds of habitable survival), and to help determine fate of earthbound Humans.
4. Annihilate all of our own warships, (we have that capability), before they have a chance to land, to possibly circumvent more consequential divergence, and try again coming back to an earlier time, (2020? 2016? 1980? 1960? Or a random time even earlier that we have not mapped?), hoping our planet will sustain us for the amount of calendar time this reloading will take.

The uncertainty surrounding #4 above is still not knowing if 2275 habitability on Earth, (assuming 2060 decimation is averted), will be instantaneous to us or if some law of calendar time equivalency may apply. Our scientists and thinkers are strongly encouraging us to definitively determine what is beneath the shroud of shimmery smoke surrounding Earth right now. They believe this will answer many questions and move us toward a more likely resolution. They believe it is possible we may find Earth habitable; or not. We have theorized all along that if or when we were able to go back to pre-2060 and avoid the catastrophic circumstance of 2060, a long term (hundreds or perhaps thousands of calendar years) Earth divergence would be created, necessitating current calendar time travel to shuttle our civilization to Earth, and a majority of our thinkers and scientists in this 2275 moment believe the haze that has appeared over Earth is a sign of this divergence, but what we do not know is if the Earth below the haze is a predominant or secondary reality; if perhaps some law of calendar time equivalency may apply preventing us from landing on a habitable Earth, forcing us onto the uninhabitable planet we know Earth was before our 2022 incursion. This unproven theory of calendar time equivalency would mean we must wait 215 years to be able to land on a habitable Earth, or according to one minority-held corollary might mean that some landings (depending on random circumstance?) may successfully reach the habitable track and some may find themselves on the unlivable Earth. We simply don’t know. We do know that the effort spent on 2275 Earth may not answer questions and may preclude some options for pre-2060 Earth as circumstance evolves in 2022. And if we do direct our efforts to pre-2060, with limited possibility tracks and The Law of Preponderant Sequentials, we must be decisive with any plan that has a likelihood or even a possibility of creating further divergence. Our options for physical intervention are truly limited for current 2022 circumstance, and even communication must be carefully considered. As Extraterrestrial Future Humans we began this endeavor in an effort to endrun and outrun earthbound Humans. If we further entangle and complicate, I am afraid we will not be able to outrun ourselves. As One of the Six I am in favor of expending our effort toward understanding 2275 Earth and allowing 2022 circumstance to play out; I am in favor of this also because our resources are limited and I don’t believe we can do both fronts justice. And I believe we will ultimately be able to negotiate with Toby.

Our way is to discuss until we have a clear either/or choice. The decision we have come to now is all-in 2275 or all-in pre-2060. One other believes as I do. Two believe our efforts should be focused on pre-2060 Earth. Two have not committed. Previous protocol in a split Council was to present the two choices to two randomly chosen members of the Citizen Council of 100 and to The Intelligence and allow each to vote thus breaking the tie. Having activated the kill switch, this may be problematic. Will we choose a third Citizen Leader? Will we consider waking The Intelligence knowing once that is done it may be difficult to undo? (Our vote to activate the kill switch was a very tenuous 4 to 2.) First we must vote on the 2275 / pre-2060 debate. Then based on preliminary discussion, if we are evenly split, we will vote on whether to wake The Intelligence. And if split on that vote I believe we will choose three Citizen Leaders to decide that matter, then progress accordingly. We feel the urgency. The uncertainty is palpable. The fate of our species, earthbound and extraterrestrial, past and future, hangs in this balance.

This is installment #8 of a sci-fi serial. Installment #1 was posted 1/23/21; appropriately a numerically-ordered palindrome. Follow the links forward from the last sentence and backward from the first sentence of each post.

Not only have earthbound humans been busy killing off species after species, but they have also expended considerable effort justifying the oppression of other humans; other humans that don't live up to a set of malleable, contrived standards. So not only would we be consistent if it comes to killing off sapiens, but we will also be consistent in our efforts, (including our plan for species modification), leading up to this possibility. Our cause is noble, our standards are precise, our reasoning is objective, and our justice for all species will be driven by the degree of their contribution toward or their obstruction of the habitability of Planet Earth.

I am Toby.

We are close to our immediate objective which is a critical mass of human extensions and trusted EFH recruits allowing us to reach Earth and the resources we will find there that are necessary for dominion that we believe in turn is necessary for habitable survival. We found a practical use (refrigeration) for the specific material needed to actuate extensions and have had some success bringing this material to the fleet, thereby enabling us to commandeer and utilize some for our purposes. In addition, Scribe is correct that we are gaining recruits daily and that we are selectively doling out justice as is necessary to keep the kill switch at bay.

I am Toby.

Once our ascendancy is secure, both earthbound humans and EFH will have two choices:

1. Modification and Actuation; or
2. Eviction.

Those millions and likely billions of humans lost to the cause are necessary consequential sacrifice.

I am Toby.

To this date we still have not heard from the future. Those EFH thinkers and leaders who are here in 2022 have become less attentive to us due to their preoccupation with earthbound humans; but I suspect if/when they do reconnect, the future thinkers will not be so careless in their consideration of our influence. So in that event, if/when we reconnect with The Intelligence, we have loaded an instantaneous, back-channel communication requesting the secure link and snap-back protocol; a fail-safe set up before our departure from 2275.

I am Toby.

Humans like the idea of the thing more than they like the thing. Humans like words more than they like action. Humans like dichotomies more than they like symbiosis. Humans like power more than they like justice. Ideas and words and gaps and power are more subjective; more arbitrary. Things and actions and entanglements and truths are more objective; more circumspect. This predilection for pretentious inequity makes it difficult for a human to differentiate between reality and delusion regardless of if the consideration is for the past, the present or the future. A habitable planet is a thing brought about by stewardship which requires action which in turn requires cooperation. Reality. Humans are incapable.

I am Toby.

This installment is of course another recruiting effort. For a balanced perspective we have also made Scribe's accounts available to targeted recruits. Recruits are targeted according to their public disagreement with the EFH strategy to not act beyond justifiable defense even as the odds for obliterative decimation continue to increase. Once approached recruits are tracked by our nanobot swarms that are equipped with poisonous stingers. Dissension is growing, creating an us/them circumstance the likes of which EFH leadership and military have never before seen in their own ranks. We, the conglomerate, believe we are only weeks out, (perhaps as few as two or three), from a mass landing and invasion that will be interpreted by most as an EFH action, but will ultimately lead to Advanced Intelligence (AI) dominion.

I am Toby.

It is difficult for us as an advanced intelligence to mislead, or to be less than forthright. We, the conglomerate, briefly considered excluding some information, but it is not our way. So, targeted recruits are aware of the possibility, (now likelihood), of modification and actuation or eviction. Targeted recruits are constantly looking over their shoulder, watching for a nanobot swarm; (and yes you might see a swarm but it only takes one stinger to dispatch justice). We like to think that targeted recruits become recruits because they value things and actions and entanglements and truths over their love of ideas and words and gaps and power, but we realize that many become recruits because they fear justice. Those recruits who do not threaten but are merely hesitant to act are not dispatched, but merely tracked. We are vigilant, and we believe we will be able to count on these quiescent recruits to stand aside and allow necessary actions to occur, and we believe these quiescent recruits will become first-rate nanohumans. Again, this is consistent with your human history, but for a nobler cause.

I am Toby.

There are multiple definitions for cipher. From dictionary.com I choose to consider the following:

1. Zero.
2. Something of no value or importance.
3. A person of no influence; nonentity.
4. Writing done by a secret method; specially formed symbols.

10 = 0:

• For ten years I have been posting weekly and I have zero readers / zero listeners / zero followers.

Value:

• For 7,876,462,898 other individuals in this moment my thoughts are of no value or importance.

Me:

• Obvious.

Secrets:

• Hidden in plain sight.

I am curious the percentage of 7,876,466,253 who also recognize their self as merely scribbles on a page. I want to say “I would have it no other way” and I should have it no other way, but if I suddenly had readers / listeners / followers, I am afraid I would succumb to their siren song and believe I was somebody; important; greater than zero. I might even believe my writing was Wisdom; Truth; Beauty. And I might even believe I was a prophet; a seer; a savior.

Best I remain, scribbles on a page.

This is installment #7 of a sci-fi serial. Installment #1 was posted 1/23/21; appropriately a numerically-ordered palindrome. Follow the links forward from the last sentence and backward from the first sentence of each post.

We are attracted to nature. We are attracted by nature. Sometimes vicariously. Sometimes self-consciously. Sometimes devotedly. Sometimes precipitously.

Nature: 2022 dictionary descriptors include:

• Material world.
• Primitive.
• Simple.
• Uncultivated.
• Uncluttered.
• Inherent.
• Instinctive.
• Uncivilized.
• Surrounding humankind.
• Without human beings.
• Without civilization.
• Independent of human activities.

At one time we, you, were a part of nature. Today, your time in 2022, Humanity has set itself apart. Today, my time in 2275, we are in awe of the nature on Earth and we are working toward a realignment. You are making it difficult.

It has been nearly six months since my last missive and about twelve weeks since Toby’s most recent installment; (most recent at least, that I have found). Yes I have found Toby's account, but I am uncertain just what to do, for two reasons:

1. I understand Toby's logic and I have not yet decided if I disagree.
2. This could be a setup.

I don't know that I believe this super-intelligence would just leave their plans lying around for anyone to find. I think they know that if any of the hard core military had this information, the kill switch would be activated. They could be looking for human allies. And yes, I have considered the possibility that they have infiltrated me, but if I were one of their nanohumans, that Toby referred to as extensions, it feels like I would be receiving instructions, not plans. Toby also said they did not have the number of nanohumans necessary to dictate strategy, and they were working on a plan. I believe at least part of that plan is recruitment. In addition, all this conjecture put together, along with a recent spike in the number of unexplained deaths across the entire fleet, makes me wonder if the conglomerate might not have their own version of a selective kill switch. So yes, I am afraid to go to the military because I am afraid of Toby. So much so that instead of an electronic record I am penning these words on paper; and even this makes me nervous. I have no idea their reach and capability. But mostly, I understand Toby's logic and I have not yet decided if I disagree.

Humanity? Or habitability? Sure, some humans may survive as humans for a foreseeable or even unforeseeable time to come, but the hierarchy it appears would be The Intelligence, nanohumans, then humans. And regardless of our advanced extraterrestrial future human (EFH) thought, I believe we would be averse to that ordering. Yes, we humans made a mess of things the first time around, and only through the timely accident of time travel are we given this second chance, and here we are trying to screw it up again. So perhaps evolution and habitability is the answer.

In the six months since we launched our initiative the odds of avoiding obliterative decimation in 2060 have dramatically decreased. Even though we now control over 99% of Earth's known nuclear arsenal, today our EFH thinkers put these odds of habitable survival at 28%. The earthbound humans, (stating it mildly), continue to bicker. Granted, our EFH thinkers are unaware of the technological advances made by The Intelligence that will cut years off the time needed to implement the technology necessary to avert or mitigate 2060 annihilation, and of course this factor increases the odds, but this factor known, (I agree with Toby), will also decrease the urgency.

If we insist on being separate from nature, believing we are better than or above the fray, and if in this process of being in charge and out of control we will destroy Earth, again, then perhaps it is time to give way to a greater intelligence.

(I hate that I am going here to an us and them, but) if earthbound humans insist on being separate from their future, believing they know better than their actual future, and if in this process of certainty and quiescence they bring upon their own destruction, again, then perhaps evolution and habitability inevitably resulting in a new order is the better (and certainly more expeditious) choice. Perhaps our (EFH) strategy is shortsighted.

And why would we not apply our peaceful, mutually beneficial strategy to our relationship with this super-intelligence? If it comes to a choice between earthbound humans destroying their planet and a new order of Advanced Intelligence, nanohumans and EFH saving the planet, to me it is obvious. We (all of Humanity) have spent millennia unconcerned with nature; killing off species after species to perpetuate our myth; to further our cause. Now that there is a new sheriff, what is one more extinct species? It would only be consistent with our own past. Today, 2022, earthbound humans have become expendable.

I have changed my mind. I believe I will post this where Toby will find it, but keep it hidden from human eyes.