In this third installment of our exploration of Sophie's World 2.0, we shift our focus from Sophie to her twin brother, Wesley, and his captivating journey through the realm of augmented intelligence and hypercomplex gaming in 2034.
If you're new to this series, we highly recommend starting with the first two articles to fully immerse yourself in the richly imagined world of Sophie and Wesley. In the first article, we introduced the concept of Sophie's World 2.0 and the transformative impact of simulations (sims) on learning and skill acquisition. The second article delved deeper into Sophie's experiences with mental and physical skill training through sims and the emerging business models in this new landscape.
As we delve deeper into the lives of these remarkable siblings, we discover a world where the boundaries of human cognition are pushed to new frontiers. Through Wesley's experiences with the groundbreaking game "QuanTess: Hyperchess Royale," we witness the seamless integration of AI agents, extended cognitive systems, and immersive gaming technologies that redefine the landscape of entertainment and skill acquisition.
But with these advancements come new challenges and questions. How will individuals and society navigate the overwhelming abundance of media and information in this hyperconnected world? What are the implications of exponentially increasing game complexity and the potential for an amplified "Flynn effect" on human intelligence? And crucially, how can we ensure that access to these mind-augmenting technologies is broad and inclusive, avoiding the pitfalls of leaving anyone behind?
Join us as we explore these thought-provoking questions and more, as we continue to unravel the complexities and possibilities of Sophie's World 2.0 through the lens of Wesley's extraordinary experiences.
NOTE: As you dive into this installment, you may encounter new terms representing novel ideas and technologies from the world of Centaurian Thinking. We recommend reading through the story first and then referring to the glossary if needed.
Wesley’s Room:
Wesley looked at his RAS and saw a new game. He had trained his RAS to pay attention to a very specific criteria to weed out the overwhelming amount of media that was released constantly. Everyone was complaining about being If-Mex’d — Infinite-Media-Exhaustion, but Wesley and his friends didn’t see the problem, all you had to do was refine your RAS; what was hard about that?
The new game immediately caught his imagination:
QuanTess: Hyperchess Royale is the groundbreaking game that's taking the world by storm today. This exhilarating fusion of 10D chess and high-octane shooter action thrusts players into the role of a Tesseract Operative, battling across a mind-bending, multi-dimensional chessboard. With cutting-edge quantum tech, players can leap between dimensions, execute daring attack formations, and coordinate with their team to pull off devastating RoyalWrecks and clutch Queenslays. Mastering the art of SpinStrat and becoming a feared AXRASter is key to ascending the ranks and achieving the coveted title of Decamaster. QuanTess is not just a game; it's a hyperchess revolution that challenges players to think ten moves ahead in a quantum universe where strategy reigns supreme.
“Mink, you better gear-jack-up, we’ve got a new game.” Mink had already connected and synchronized with the game world. Having completed the security checks that his parents required, Mink readied the launch while Wesley had strapped himself into his GHB. He let his body spin idly as Mink ran through game sync, loading the XTFS (Experience the <cough> sim) into his MemX, which is what passed for tutorials in the latest games.
Before long, Wesley was leading the red team to victory, having rapidly TessaRanked to the top-ten leaderboard. While Sophie had been S-Maxing her PM skills, Wesley had dedicated himself to auging his gaming skills.
"Whooooaah... Mink, I need you! Help me bank this through D7, D9, down to D2..."
"Weeeee banking locked. DimJump through D1 and drop on the unprotected red queen; she's completely open!"
“OhNoOhNoOhNoOhNo…Arrgggh… I’m not going to make the DJump,” but just in time, Wesley's swirledas he SpinStrated himself and djumped through D1, "QueenSlay, your highness!!"
He spun in place, somersaulting, giddy with his AugRaster abilities.
"We did it Mink!" Mink was mirroring back flips around the GHB.
He started unstrapping himself out of the harness,asthe gyroscope sloweditsspin.He reflected on how long he had played NeoSphere to earn enough to afford the T-line,Gyroscopic Harnessed Biofeedback Systems v7 (GHBs).
Mink pulled up Wesley’s RAS to show his victories over the last few hours.Thisupgraded 10D Chess simonly uppedat 9am, and he had already reached the top AugRASter level.He remembered when his Mom had introduced him to the upgraded Chess game with added dimensions when he was 8. It had taken a few years, but he had nBoosted passed Sophie as she focused on her fast-tracking university.
Mink alerted him that Pi and Sophie were on thewar path.
"What did I do, now?" Groaning as he jumped out of the GHB.
"I'm not sure, but let me go check." Mink flitted through the wall.
Sophie’s Room:
"What do you mean that wasn't you? You're the only one who knows how I like to code. Even if we had been hacked, how could the agent be synchronized with my thinking? We co-evolved; you’re literally the only one who can think with me."
" I don't know what to tell you. It was not me. You know Mink comes pretty closeto knowingyou. Could Wesley have jacked you?”
Sophie stopped and pondered.Herrelationship with my twin brother was tight,but Wesley did loveto play pranks and jokes on her.
Butthere is no way Wesley hasworked out how to hack the layers of protective protocols that agents are required to have.He also knows it's illegal!Thiswould be more than a joke.
"But here's why I'm thinking it was Wesley and Mink. The code logs around that unusual code block, are time-named stamped Wesley+Mink."
"Show me that!" Sophie scanned the logs and could see the updates to the code. It was around midnight,whichfitswithWesley's best deep-work time.
Mink popped up, "You know I know when you're talking about us!"
Pi flashed a dark shade of pink, revealinghersand Sophie's embarrassment.
Sophie looked up as Wesley strolledinthe room. "Not me! whatever it was, it wasn’t me!" Which was his standard response to most things these days.
He scanned the room and the shared MemX. "Hang on a minute! You're seriously accusing me of a federal crime!"
"Show me this code! You knowI don't likehand-coding things. If itwasme, you would see my coding factorysignature‘FishFood.’"
Sophie scanned him, "Prove it! Share your XMRAS"
Wesley flipped his view without blinking:
17 NeoSphereC-Augvolved Alerts
QuanTess New Rank: AXRASter Alpha.
Emote Cloak Inactive
Emote level was red: MicroAnger.
His RAS started scrolling last nights activities. He was DZ-locked into NeoSphere with Joe and the crew untilat least 1 am.
"How do you stay in dual-zone for so long?"
Wesley shrugged.While Sophie had been honing herpattern matching skils, Wesley spent most of his time tuning his Sys 1 extensions and pushing the limits for better gaming.
"What’s got you Anx’d?"
"It was strange, while I was multi-streaming my sim crashed, and while I was dezoned, I was still processing images."
"And..." Wesley pushed.
Sophie paused as a flood of images filled her private RAS.
"What did you see??" Wesley and Mink said in near unison!
Pi turned purple in shock.
"Grand Magician!"
Wesley and Mink streamed all the memories of the 'Grand Magician Adventures' that their Dad used to tell them at bedtime.
"The Sim-saned AI from Dad's stories?"
Sophie nodded as she reviewed the images streaming into her RAS. When she stoppedcold.
"What? What?"Wesley could senseSophie’smood change so rapidly that her emote cloak couldn'tcover.
Pi started neurosyncing rapidly, "How are you accessing those images? Where are they coming from? Your stream was blank!
"The code I fixed... It's running."
TO BE CONTINUED
Thinking in Systems
In thisarticle, we explorehow Sophie and Wesley think across their various systems.I’m using the framework I outlined in 'Thinking with Machines' where I defined thevarioussystems:
Thinking Systems:Inspired by Kahneman's 'Thinking Fast and Slow,' an extended framework for cognition:
System Zero - Extended Minds:Our ability to think beyond ourbrains,using tools like paper and pencil.
System One - Unconscious Minds:The automatic processes driving fast thinking.
System Two - Conscious Minds:Our slower, more deliberate thought processes.
System Three - Artificial Minds:The evolving capabilities of AI.
System X - Collective Minds:Our collaboration with each other and AI agents.
In Sophie's World 2.0, you see the integration of many of these systems and howthey'reare used in different scenarios:
System 2: Reticular Activation System (RAS)-- This is a System 2 augmented process to visualize and monitor, augmenting attention.
System 2: MemX (Extended Memory System)--This is a personal extended working memory system, sometimes called second-brain technology.
System Zero: SysZero space--Extended working memory spaceissimilar toMemX,but shared for collaboration. SysZero Spaces can interact withindividual’s MemX’s.
System 1: Sys1 extensions-Extended unconscious memory.Thistakes the idea of working memory,which isa conscious process, and applies it to ourlargerunconscious memory system.
System 1 + System 2: XMRAS (X-M-RAS)-- is the common term for the extended unconscious plus the RAS from system 2.Thisis seamless communication betweensystem1andsystem2.
System 1 + System 2 + System 3: Augmented XMRAS (AX-M-RAS)--thisisthe integration of system1andsystem2 through augmentation via asystem3agent.
The scenarios and how these systems work together:
Wesley is playing QuanTess, a new ten-dimensional chessgame.
The gameis playedinreal timewith two teams, one commander directs players on their team. In the story, Wesley is promoted to be the commanderforthe red team playing against the opposing blue team.
The complexity of playing a 10-dimensional chess game combined with a real-time action shooter illustrates how augmented intelligence will enable increasingly complex games in the future.
In the game, Wesley is using a combination of systems 1, 2and3:
System 1 + System 2 + System 3: Augmented XMRAS (AX-M-RAS)--thisisthe integration of system1andsystem2 through augmentation via asystem3agent.
Mink, his AI personal agentis coordinatinghis moves by seamlessly integrating communications between system 1 and system 2, while collapsingthe complexity of the ten dimensions by creating renderings and projections that allow Wesley to see and run through simulations of multiple moves to choose the best options.
Augmented visualizations of the projections and renderings allow Wesley to translate what might seem overwhelming into collapsed maps.In the article on the 'Super Hero Training Academy' I walk through how we can leveragethetheory of thousand brainsfrom Jeff Hawkinsinto maps of abstract concepts and spaces.
The coordination and training needed to master ever-increasing game complexity will continue to push our augmented abilities.
Through the story you see elements of how emotions are managed through their augmented agents, Mink and Pi. The agents reflect the emotions of their owners.
Emote Cloaking refers to how the agents help manage emotions in real-time, but certain emotions leak due their intensity and speed.
Implications Map:
There area number ofimplications to the elements in the story:
If-Mex’d — Infinite-Media-Exhaustion: The exponential explosion of media in 2034 leads to new feelings of overwhelm, while teenagers find ways to filter the noise and find what they need — refining the Recticular Activation System (RAS) to find what you are interested in and filter everything else out.
Rapid Adoption and Mastery: In the game we see Wesley dive into a new game and master it rapidly. Similar to how gamers today master new games and new strategies at accelerating rates, we see that games can launch and gain rapid adoption and mastery.
Game Complexity: If historyis any indication, we will keep pushing the boundaries of the games we create. As we augment our minds, we will create more complex games.
Exponential Flynn Effect: Similar toFlynnEffect in the 20th century,whereour IQ rose in conjunction with literacy and the complexity ofmediawe consumed.As games get more complex and our media consumption increases, the measure of our intelligence and abilities will increase.
Societal Impacts: Many science fiction stories explore the dystopian and utopian implications of increasing intelligence. In the protopian world of 2034, how will we balance enhanced intelligence with the need to include all of society and not leave anyone behind?
In the 20th century, we established public education, public media, and access to games that enabled us to advance society as a whole. We need to adopt a similar perspective for the future.
Future Question: How can publicly available games, media, and access to technology in the equivalent of schools ensure that we don't leave anyone behind?
NOTE: Education is one of the ideas we will explore in future articles/stories.
