Parallel Worlds pro et contra

Zadikyan Artur

Rutra, though not real, understood the scientist's cunning. Everyone knew about Rutra's supervision and support of scientific projects; he really delved into them, actively participated and proposed progressive ideas.

– All right, I promise to give you the floor. You will definitely propose your project. But please, you understand, the main agenda is for another program. If you want, you can give me the details later, preferably with evidence. And I'll gather the new council afterwards. If, of course, the proposed by you has a place in the overall strategic paradigm of the system.

– Oh yes, I'll be sure to introduce you to everything.

"So much for the second stratagem," thought Big-data. It turns out that if in his body he could not find out the secrets of the competing groups, for this he would have to cooperate with them, offering something of his own, then this way he could find out all the plans and programs, the levels of success achieved by all the scientific groups.

Rutra was right. The rest of their dialog made a lot of things clear.

– Tentatively, judging by the mysteriousness of your tone, you have succeeded, I can tell you. I, knowing your fraternity and your experiments on digitizing human consciousness and its further existence inside a supercomputer, am even afraid to think what else you will propose.

It's clear," thought Ruthra in the scientist's body, "this is a direct competitor, his developments are very much needed. Apparently, there were already rumors in the scientific community that the luminary of science wanted to get his project promoted and thus bury all such projects, of course, if the idea was approved. Which was most likely with Rutra's involvement. Big-data decided to listen to their dialog, making an indifferent disinterested look.

– Isn't that bad. You can be in different guises and talk to yourself.

– All right, all right, stop. You know how that turned out.

– I'm sorry, that wasn't with you.

– Do you remember when the computer fell in love with a bunch of girls by pretending to be a famous athlete?

– Yes. That incident was the fault of this man… whatever you call him. I don't know him personally.

– Paris.

– Yeah, that guy, Paris. But he wasn't a big-time athlete.

– Even so. It's a nightmare. Imagine what could be done with this method. What if he talks to his family or business, pretending to be the real him, and then makes you believe that it's the right thing to do? He'd find arguments, examples. After all, how he beautifully falsified and even created some facts. The complete falsification of the broadcasting of international competitions is worth it.

– Well you don't have to, especially for young people, believe everything that comes at you from the net so unquestioningly.

– Oh, my God, I don't know who I'm hearing this from.

They smiled and walked to the conference room and sat down at the table. Already seated, Big-boss nodded to Big-data. The room was full and buzzed like a beehive. Everyone was interested in the topic; both management and scientists had come. The final preparations were underway.

The big boss, who to everyone was Rutra, suggested wearing special masks. All those participating in the discussion, realizing the upcoming presentation methodology, put on without question. After the equipment was checked, i.e. a powerful beam of light flashed in front of their eyes in the mask, after which the surrounding reality completely changed, space disappeared, everything became white light, as if nothing, not even the wearer of the helmet, existed – the invisible presenter announced the beginning of the meeting. The essence of what was going on in the virtual reality helmet was a special special effect: one could be directly in the place, in the process that was being discussed. If the story was about some terrain – the surroundings became exactly the same as what was being talked about. If the story was about space, then, for example, solar flares were drawn directly in front of your eyes, you could be in the boiling atmosphere of Venus, watch the flight of everything that was "swallowed" by a black hole, as well as look at the nucleus of an atom, "dig" into the stomach of a shark, and so on.

For the time being, the "surroundings" were just a white background. Then, from afar, the "celebrant" appeared – a scientist, whom his colleagues called "Mr. Brain" and "the luminary of science," or rather, his body, because Rutra was inside, calling him a magician and sorcerer, to which the scientist smiled modestly. So, this magician and sorcerer, and in fact Rutra, having entered the role, in his style began the narration. Knowing the scientist's manners, the audience was prepared to hear a report on the theory of the universe and everything related to it. Ruthra checked the time. The chipped didn't need to look at their watches to do this. They "saw" the time inside themselves. At an internal signal, which was the thought itself, the time appeared in their minds like an exact memory. So, there was less than a minute left to exit the virtual reality. Ruthra decided to start cryptically, to make one last check before exiting.

– You know, I'm going to tell you something you won't believe, and you'll be wrong. And what I'm going to tell you is this: you don't exist. Soon I will show you this tape, and you will realize that this moment does not exist in the real world.

Then he was silent, waiting for the time to expire. The assembled people, all of whom were periodically tested in the virtual world, knew when and under what conditions they would approve what Rutra was now proclaiming. The expressions on their faces showed incomprehension. Finally the time was up. Ruthra expected a repetition of the process that usually accompanies the exit from virtual reality – "darkening" of consciousness, disappearance of visible things, completely white light in the eyes, a second blackout of senses and mind, and then a "miraculous" appearance in a new place, or rather, in the virtual reality installation. Time expired, Ruthra waited, but there was no change. "What is it? – He thought to himself. – Didn't the timer go off… It couldn't be. Irene was supposed to be in control." There was a nervous silence in the room – there was an explanation to be made.

– So tell us why," the head of the world information services control interrupted the silence.

Rutra had been on friendly enough terms with him, and they occasionally played chess in the evenings, but this played a cruel trick. He forgot his present appearance and began to speak to him as Rutra.

– I will. I'll be blunt. Soon we'll all be watching the meeting on tape. The point is, it's not real. I know what you're thinking right now. I'm sorry if I'm patronizing myself, but I'm speaking as a professional. I, unlike you, intuitively understand the state in virtual and real reality. You can't understand it. For you, what's happening now and your condition are real. This is actually an experiment. The scientific community presenting the project and I conceived it. Let me explain. You have all been in virtual reality and you know what a double feeling you get after leaving it. Naturally, initially everything that happens seems natural to you. Naturally, you don't believe it's virtual reality. Well, what can I tell you about it… You yourself have tried many times to understand – and still do not understand. It's not that important. I conceived this project myself. Or rather, the idea part of it, I took a very active part in its development. Of course, the academic community, namely, the block that directly initiated the meeting, hoped for me as the head of the Council of Masters, counted on me to promote the project.

Ruthra noticed the thoughtfulness and wariness with which the people regarded everything. Not only could you read it on their faces, you could literally feel their emotional state. For some reason, only one person was laughing… "Damn it," Ruthra said to himself. He was the one laughing. Or rather, Big Boss was laughing. Ruthra looked at him furiously. He realized that the trickster had somehow changed the time on the timer. Looking around, Ruthra instantly realized that his speech was illogical, if not comical. He was saying what he wanted to say, but it was not what he wanted to say, because his body was different. He had to explain it somehow.

– Wait a minute, I get it. It's not me talking, I mean, I'm… You'll see. We're conducting an experiment. In addition to being in a virtual world, you're listening to a non-scientist. That is, as if you're listening to a "luminary of science", but actually it's me, the head of the Council of Masters Rutra Tigrovich Paschov.

Everyone looked at Big-daddy in amazement, and Big-boss, clapping his hands, said:

– Well, you know, with all due respect, colleague, I think you are misrepresenting your experiments… or achievements, I don't know what to call it. And I'll tell you, even though you consider this reality to be virtual, I'd like to point out some rules of protocol. You know my name well, so it would be nice if you would call yourself by your first name on the board as well. The fact that you are a "luminary of science", the fact that everyone calls you that and it has already taken root – no one is against it, but still this is not even an international seminar of the scientific community.