2022 by Ken Kroes Page B

village:
births and deaths, marriages, and, of course, the specific people
of the population who exhibit the chosen strengths. You’re also
required to make entries for traits that you want to see
eradicated, such as inheritable diseases.
    “The GDP will do its best to apply
randomization and follow specific rules around inbreeding,
marriages, and your personal feedback, both positive and negative.
And while it’s more likely that a child from a marriage would be
from the partners’ DNA, that’s not a guarantee.”
    He looked at the group. “Any burning
questions on this subject? All the finer details are given in some
of the books in the library along with the village manual, and all
of you will receive training on how to use the GDP.”
    One of the elders spoke up. “What did you
mean about us now having random breeding?”
    “We’re currently on the top of the food
chain,” he said, “with no predators and with enough medical
knowledge to prevent diseases from culling our population. Everyone
gets enough food and selects their mate based on emotion versus any
kind of survival trait—it’s essentially random.
    Another elder raised his hand. “Don’t take
this question the wrong way and it is not related to the genetic
pairing, but why can’t we start with computers?”
    “There actually are a few reasons. For
one thing, they wouldn’t last very long—twenty, maybe thirty years
tops. The GDP is more like a calculator than a computer so we can
build it to last longer. To setup the tools required to build new
computer parts would be a big effort and can wait until there are
more villages built to share the burden. Also, we want to get the
population away from instant answers that computers and the
Internet now offer. People will need to better appreciate
communications, relearn how to think independently, something I
believe is lost in today’s expectations for instantaneous answers
and solutions.”
    “Won’t it be easy to detect us when we use
the radio to communicate with other villages?”
    He answered with a description of the
radio-base stations for each village and emphasized that they
contained special circuitry, with messages encrypted on select
frequencies. If any normal shortwave receiver picked up the signal,
it would sound like static.
    Another member asked, “How about our first
year’s food?”
    “Taken care of. Each of the cold rooms under
the occupied clan huts will be fully stocked. You could get away
with growing no food for two years if you stretched it.”
    “How bad is this virus?”
     
    Richard frowned, admitting that it was
lethal, but not extremely contagious since its transmission
occurred only through direct contact. He said there should be no
issues as long as everyone was vaccinated. “I wish there were
another way to handle your defense, but this is the best that I
could come up with for a short-term solution. For the long-term,
say a few hundred years from now, I am hoping that the cognitive
powers we are trying to enhance will be able to be used for
protection, but that is just a theory of mine.”
    “A few more guns would help in the
short-term,” an elder quipped.
    Everyone laughed nervously, waiting for
Richard’s reply. “It would help with protection,” he admitted, “but
would destroy the experiment. Suppose a great collapse happens and
the village is threatened by some group. You’d build your weapons
to at least match their strength. Then they’d increase their
capabilities, and you would then have to increase your weapons, and
so on. Roughly twenty percent of our budget in this country today
is for defense. An enormous waste of resources. Think about
it—people work at least three hours each week just to pay for it
along with the needless use of natural resources.”
    A general sense of agreement was shared
around the table.
    “I’m sure there will be plenty of issues for
you as a group to work through,” he said. “I’ve given you
guidelines and