Exchanging Pleasantries

[Kaden]

"Hmm," Kaden was standing in his cell. He had left the bed in its proper place when he'd awoken this morning, deciding to devote his day to academic study instead of physical maintenance. Though he did some sort of exercise each day just to stay in form, he would not require as much space if he were going to do the simple exercises. But that was for later, for now he was trying to figure out how to proceed.

When he began down this path of instruction last night he'd had a clearer idea of his destination or at least of the direction he'd wanted to go in. But it seemed he'd lost track of their path in the night. Which would have been fine if he were the student, he'd certainly done it often enough as a student. But he was in a different role this time and he was supposed to at least have an idea of where they were supposed to be going.

So he was pacing, trying to figure it out. He'd hoped Deux would give them a direction but, failing that, Kaden decided to return to the previous day's discussion and to some of the unanswered questions there, hoping one would lead them to a new rule.

"So yesterday we concluded that societies of any size are formed for mutual protection. Without a rule against the arbitrary taking of life such communities would not be able to exist. And, further, as a member of a community, there is an expectation that you will try to preserve the lives of those around you as long as it does not endanger your own. In fact, some callings in a community come with the expectation that you will value other's lives over your own such as the occupation of a military officer, a police person, a firefighter or any other warrior type occupation. In fact, I'm going to say that the very nature of such occupations are that you are choosing to risk your life and to put yourself at risk for the betterment of your society or the majority. But I digress, sorry Deux, I get lost on interesting paths. Back to the one at hand.."

Kaden turned towards the young man, his eyes briefly alighting on the knife before moving on. He wished he had his own pair of twin knives at his belt but they had been confiscated along with the rest of his possessions. Of all the things that had been taken from him when he'd been stripped of his name and sent off planet, those had been left to travel with him. He was grateful that, once earned, a man's knives were his by right and considered part of his body until death. Not even the PG would violate that tradition, nor would they ever even think to. No one had thought to disarm him and leave him defenseless.

But the off worlder barbarians? Taking his knives had been as easy as taking his bags. And even if he made his escape, he would not have a chance to go looking for the prized pair of weapons if they even were still in Greg's possession. For all he knew, they may have been sold by now. Their loss was an unneeded and unlooked for hurt and, as such, made him more angry than sad.

None of this he allowed to show to Deux except in the fact that his eyes may have lingered too long. He put it out of his mind and forced himself to concentrate on the work before him.

"It does lead to an interesting question about the nature of a responsibility and a right. What makes something a duty versus a choice? Arguable everything is a choice but there are some actions we are compelled to obey so strongly that they don't feel like choices at all. These I would call your duty or your responsibility. I have said that it is one of your duties, as it is mine, to attempt to protect and preserve the lives of those around you. But what makes this so? Is it only because there is an unspoken and strong expectation that you should? Is this the definition of duty?"

[Deux]

“That sounds right,” Deux tapped his knee. He narrowed his eyes slightly and turned his head as Kaden looked at his knife. Kaden wasn’t allowed to have weapons at the Captain’s orders. His interest in them was concerning and Deux stopped himself from covering the blade with his hand.

“I see no harm in the paths you take,” he said after straightening up, “they give me things to think about.”

“I would say it was an order, a particularly important one at that. One that should not need to be repeated. I’m not sure how I would be able to fulfill an implied order,” he shrugged.

If it was his duty to preserve life Deux wasn’t sure how he was supposed to do that. Before talking to Kaden he only thought of protecting himself and his brother if the occasion should arise. His brother was no longer around and now he had to protect those around him. He tilted his head in thought. Deux only knew two ways to handle a threat, incapacitation and elimination. If the threat was human however, was he supposed to protect them as well? He pushed back the thought and focused on Kaden instead.

[Kaden]

Kaden looked at Deux straight on, troubled. Deux hadn't said it explicitly but it sounded like he would follow any order given to him by the proper authority. With that type of attitude there was nothing to stop him from following an unjust order or even the ability to evaluate just from unjust.

Sometimes, in the Fleet, he had gotten the sense that his trainers had wanted to create a human weapon that would respond like a machine. Something that walked talked and took every order given to it, whether just or not. But he had been raised to constantly evaluate the world around him and this was never more important than when one was a warrior or soldier. Such people got put into morally suspect positions a hundred times more than the average citizen. They were responsible for making the call between life and death. It was not a responsibility that could be passed up to their superior, each person had to choose for themselves. He remembered what his mentor had said to him once, "But remember that, even when those who move you be men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God you cannot say 'but I was told by others to do thus' or that 'virtue was not convinient at the time.' This will not suffice." It had always stood out to him because it was a rare Safi who would admit belief in God or souls of any kind.

"What compels you to obey such an order Deux? You, I'm assuming, are a person. Ideas of what makes a person a person have differed throughout the ages but a common trait among most definitions is the ability to choose or free will as it is commonly referred to. Whether we have free will or not is also debateble but, personally, I have never been very interested in that question. For myself I think we must live as if our choices were our own even if some scientist tomorrow discovered or proved everything was determined. So, if you are a free agent, you can not be forced to follow an order, you must choose to do so. If duty is a particular sort of order that still begs the question of what compels us to follow these orders so strongly that we feel like we don't have a choice."

[Deux]

Deux mentally paused at Kaden’s first question. It caught him off guard so much that he almost missed what the man said afterward. He went over the reasons they had discussed earlier but none were his reason for following orders. The fear of punishment was something he kept in mind but it was a secondary thought at most.

“I am a person,” he said to fill the air. The sentence felt awkward coming out of his mouth, like it was somehow wrong. Deux knew for a fact he was human, which from there he assumed that he could be considered a person. He didn’t know of any other criteria. Out of uneasiness and self consciousness Deux pulled his knees into his chest.

He had never thought of himself as a free agent, no the less having choice. For as long as he could remember he followed orders. The times he did think of doing otherwise were few and far between and never acted upon. He could make sense of unstated laws, eventually, and even the things Kaden had discussed the day before.

“I don’t know,” he finally said quietly. It served as an answer for the first question and a response to duty as well.

[Kaden]

It seemed they had run into another dead end and Kaden was not sure how to proceed. He sighed and ran a hand over the short stubble of his hair. "Well, let's go back to the basics. I was taught that the only way to truly build any sound theory was to start with fundamentals and go from there. So far we've been trying to rebuild human society from the ground up and, by doing so, understand it better. But perhaps we have gotten ahead of ourselves. Before we can understand human society we must understand humans."

Glad that talking through it had given them a new direction Kaden sat against the wall to try to figure out where to begin. "Let's lay out some fundamentals and you tell me if you agree. A human being is a biological system. By that I mean we are a functioning and partially self contained system that is made up of biological components. This was how one of my many teachers explained it to me anyway. He was a very interesting A.I. and he was trying to explain the difference between human and machine to me and how much the line has been blurred and why. But let us stay on course. The most common name of such biological systems is either plant or animal, of which, we would be classified as an animal. Are we in agreement so far?"

[Deux]

His body immediately relaxed as Kaden tried another avenue. Deux had admitted he didn’t understand people. He would like to learn more about them, and welcomed an opportunity to do so.

Deux tilted his head at the mention of an A.I. He read about them and found them interesting. One day he had hoped to meet one. By Kaden having known one he felt like he was closer to doing that.

“Yes,” he nodded. Deux stretched out his legs and leaned forward a bit.

[Kaden]

"Alright," Kaden said, satisfied that they were on the same track. He relaxed a little and looked over at Deux though he was seeing the classrooms of his childhood and listening to his mentors speak. As they had spoken to him so he spoke to Deux, letting the words flow through him instead of from him.

"Well, as animals, we have basic needs. We must eat, sleep, dispose of unusable waste, secure the future of our species via replication which, in the case of humans, is done through mating. In order to ensure that we do these things nature has given us desires. Now, this is an odd way of phrasing it since, as evolutionary history teaches us, we are not given anything by some sort of omnipotent being. Evolution has simply selected those creatures that had suitable desires that helped ensure survival. Still, it is a useful way to speak in order to carry on our conversation."

"So, as living animals we have desires for those things that will aid us in continuing to live and in continuing our species. It is important to remember both. Often theories of human psychology leave out the second consideration. It is assumed a human being will do anything and is optimally designed to ensure its own survival and its own survival only. However, this would not explain why we desire mates. The act of mating and reproducing can be quite dangerous, especially for women, and if our only desires were towards our own survival I do not think any woman would ever have children, at least not naturally. Nor would parents sacrifice their own lives for their children, nor would family units form at all. So it is important to remember that we are not only optimized to ensure our own survival, but that of our species as a whole."

At this point in the conversation Kaden wanted to jump back into social theory but they'd hit a dead end in that direction already. Instead he tried to stay on track and to begin to build a proper model of a human being that they could base further theories on.

"So I suppose the opposite of desires would be fears or aversions. We have aversions to those things that would bring harm to our life, our person and our mates and children. I would then claim that all of our action is either motion towards a desire or motion away from an aversion. Tell me though, what room is there for free choice in this? What do you think? Are we a system of inputs and outputs? How do you imagine we are constructed?"

[Deux]

Deux leaned back as Kaden spoke. He had not been presented information about humans as a species in the manner Kaden was. The books he read touched on the topic but it was quickly abandoned for what ever point the author was trying to make. Even histories were biased after all, being written by the winners. It was also possible that the writers did not feel it was an important subject, it wasn’t like he had the opportunity to ask them.

“I do not desire a mate,” Deux said, it was the only problem he found with Kaden’s story.

He rested his head against his right shoulder and looked into the cell. “Some desires are also more powerful than fears and vice visa. If a person is willing to protect others, mate, child or otherwise then their desire to do so is greater than their fear of injury or death. Still they can be ignored if someone is willing to live with the consequences and learn how to disregard the impulses. Desires and fears, can be controlled and overcome. Though, it would seem the majority would rather go along with them than fight them.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by constructed,” he added.

[Kaden]

"So. just to clarify," Kaden began, "are you saying there is something other than fears and desires? Something else that allows us to choose whether we listen to those fears or desires? That is all that I am asking. Are we like machines? We have desires and fears and they are the sole determinants of our actions? Or is there something else? Something more?"

[Deux]

Deux sat up straighter and blinked rapidly. The questions seemed to come more quickly than the previous had. No pauses or expanding just one question after another. If anything he was more engaged and interested in the conversation than he sounded previously.

“Yes,” Deux said after taking inventory of the questions, “Yes, desires and fears do not always dictate the best course of action. Logic comes into play or simply deciding to work against the impulse for some other goal. I would say there is something else then.”

He watched Kaden through slightly closed eyes, wondering what caused the man’s reaction and if it would persist. The blinking from early had been replaced by a fixed stare as he tried to figure him out. So far he began to believe that the most confusing thing in the room was Kaden and no longer the conversation.

[Kaden]

"Hmm. You speak of reason or should I say Reason with a capital R," he said, emphasizing the second 'reason,' adding a grandiose accent to it. "I apologize. I do not mock you in any way," Kaden continued just to make sure he hadn't offended his young friend. He didn't want Deux to leave in anger. He realized that the boy was the only company he had and the closest thing to a friend on this ship.

"When I was growing up, learning these lessons, I read many of the old philosophers. My teachers wanted us to see the errors of their reasoning and to never repeat their mistakes. You see, to us, it seemed obvious that human beings were just another animal among many and believing anything different was a terrible act of arrogance. Many of the older philosophers believed that humans were different, special. Those that didn't outright believe some god had set us up as rulers of all the world still believed that we were different and, often, the cause they pointed to for this difference was Reason. Man, and later, humans had the ability to reason and to will and other animals did not."

Kaden shook his head. "This is a really hard argument to fight mostly because it is not an argument at all. It's what we would call an intuition. Unlike in science, in philosophy intuition is given a lot of respect and is seen as one of the only guides we have to the truth. Even when we argue against intuition it is often informational to understand it. This is because our intuitions do not arise in vacuums. They are the product of a lifetime of beliefs and learned behaviors. When giving an intuitive answer we are simply stating a conclusion our minds have come to after reviewing a lifetime's worth of knowledge but so quickly that we can not track its reasoning. For this reason, tracking intuitions to their source can often tell us a lot about the person and the society they live in."

Kaden paused to assess where he was and where he was going with all of this. He had gotten off track but this was not a wasted detour. Learning a bit about intutions would be helpful and he was, as always, learning something as well. Forced to think through his lessons and to state them in a way someone else would understand was forcing him to understand them better.

"Our intuitions tell us we are different. We look around and see no other animals that can build a starship for example. And we seek to understand what makes us different. As our understanding of biology improved it became more and more apparent that our bodies functioned just as any other living organism and so philosophers retreated into the only territory left to them, our minds. But even that has been explained away, our neuro chemistry carefully mapped and simulated in AI. I have even heard of nascent experiments being done to subvert the will of biological humans, treating the human mind as the complicated biological machine it is now seen as and these scientist attempt to program it as one would a machine. Even the preliminary experiments are on the edge of illegal you understand and there was a lot of controversy surrounding the research in the Sentate before Earthfall. Many feared they would be successful and prove that humans could be trained in such a way as to finally get rid of the illusion of free will. I, however, opposed the issue for another reason. I do not fear it being proven we have no will, I only feared what would happen to the people they chose to experiment on."

Kaden continued to stare at the ground in front of him as had since he began this particular track, seemingly lost in thought. But he was paying attention to Deux, who was still clearly visible in the top section of his field. He didn't know Deux's history and he could be hitting wide of the mark on this one but even so, talking about brainwashing could still be helpful. So far Deux had shown an alarming inclination to listen to whatever orders were given to him. Kaden hadn't meant to come down this track but it was a natural way for a discussion on free will to go and as good a time as any to feel Deux out on the subject.

"Among my people it was believed that humans have a will. In this we agreed with the older philosophers. Unlike they, however, we believed all things have a will. The dog that moves toward the bone is exercising its will as surely as the Senator that seeks to pass a bill. The level of complexity of the desire does not change the essential act of willing it. For this reason, we believe that a will is as innate as a heart or a neuron. Being able to will things is simply a part of being a living creature." Kaden wanted to emphasize this point because he planned on expanding on it later.

"As with any other faculty of the body it can be impaired and even taken away if you remove the organ doing the willing. We know enough to know that our will originates in our brains for when this is impaired we don't will anything. But to impair it would also be to impair all voluntary action. Is it possible to create an automata of a human being? Yes, it's been done before. But what you get is similar to a very amazing wind up doll. It can perform all physical actions it has already learned since muscle memory is stored in a different part of the brain. But it can't learn anything new, nor can it improvise or respond accurately to new situations. Such a creature can only move through its routines as it has always done, never doing anything new or original."

Kaden again had to pause to figure out where he was going with this. He kept getting off track, throwing in information that was tangential to their discussion. He just found it all interesting and found that it was all connected. Of course that was the very principle this teaching method was based on, that one could start anywhere with a pupil and eventually get to every subject. Still, they were suposed to move through it on their own. He could remember being lectured when he was younger but it hadn't happened often and, for that reason, they were often memorable. It seemed he had a problem with lecturing though. It was difficult to reign in his own enthusiasm for the subject matter. Once again he marveled at the patience and wisdom of his teachers and tried to figure out how to bring this impromtue lecture to a close as soon as possible.

"Willing then, was seen as a tool given to us by evolution in order to make us more adaptable. A creature that could adapt was more likely survive. This is why I didn't fear it ever being proven that humans could be programmed and that we could create a natio of slaves. Once the will is taken away you get something much less than human or even a living creature. And, even assuming no one in the universe had an ounce of compassion, the slowest person could see that such creatures are hardly useful for anything, let alone the type of people you want making up your society."

Kaden looked up at Deux now. "I apologize for going on. It is just that you happened to hit a trigger. I always hated the talk of Reason that made humans better than everything else. I was taught to hate it I suppose." He shrugged slightly. "Anyway, that is why it is good to hear you say that you believe we have some faculty over and above our desires. Can we agree to call this faculty Will where will means simple being able to choose to follow a desire or fear or ignore it? And will you forgive my choice to give in to the desire to talk for longer than I should?"

[Deux]

“You’re not mocking,” Deux assured him before thinking, just odd. “No need to apologize”.

He relaxed as Kaden started talking about his home and things he had read. He liked hearing about a life in one place. Just learning about something was pleasant, even if it was difficult at times. Intuition had never been given much credit in his book before. Deux could track the reasoning behind most of his actions, even if it was in hind sight. But still he listened.

“Why?” Deux asked when he spoke about the attempts to remove free will. It seemed like a lot of work to prove a point. Still he was surprised by how much effort it took for him to get the word out.

He tilted his head, “You sound very sure about it not working either in practice or application.” Part of him wanted to make it a question but for the moment he choose reframe.

“No need to apologize,” he repeated, “It’s just not something I am used too. Yes, I can agree to that definition and yes I forgive you.”

[Kaden]

"Well that's a good place to stop for the day," Kaden decided as he sat back. "I think we've made some progress on our problem. We have decided a human is a living organism, specifically an animal. As for the mental life of a human it comprises of desires, fears and a will. I think we can pick up on it tomorrow. Hopefully flesh out our model of a human before figuring out why they act as they do, especially in groups."

Kaden looked over at his empty dish. Twice a day someone brought him (and Deux if he was here) some sort of food. If he was any judge of time someone should be coming around shortly. Of course he always overestimated his ability to judge time. He'd been quite good at it as a child and young adult but he hadn't realized how much his seemingly internal sense of time relied on external cues such as the quality of the sunlight until he'd gone off planet and started spending a significant portion of his time on spaceships. And the past few weeks were worse than usual since he didn't even have the routine of on board life to structure his days. All of his time was spent in this cell.

So, he thought with a slightly sick feeling enhanced by his empty stomach, he could be completely wrong and food could be hours away. He decided to distract himself by answering Deux's questions.

"Why would someone want to remove another's will?" Kaden mused. "Power I suppose. Convenience and, in the end, laziness. People are hard to deal with, to control. There was never a person in power that did not once have the thought, 'if only I could make them do...'" Kaden waved his hand to indicate that whatever action Deux could imagine could fill the empty space and finish his sentence.

"Have you ever heard the saying, 'ultimate power corrupts ultimately?' It's mostly true. Even I have gotten frustrated with those under my command and just wished I could make them do something. Well what if you could? What if you had that power? There are arguably times when using such a power would be considered a good thing but would you trust even the most altruistic person with it? It's the ultimate power and it's much too tempting to misuse it."

Kaden leaned back against his cell wall and thought of some of his conversations with the Safi ambassador and senator concerning the issue. "I think many were rightfully afraid to give anyone that power. Others feared the implications of the research, the thought that we were really nothing more than the sum of our parts. No soul, no will that could never be taken away. Nothing that was ours and ours alone."

Kaden shrugged and looked up at Deux. As he did so he realized he'd become more relaxed in the boy's presence. Enough to shrug. "As I said I never feared this. I was never taught that I was more than the sum of my parts. Nor was I ever led to believe that this was a bad thing or made me less human or myself. On the contrary, just as every snowflake is undeniably a snowflake and nothing more than frozen water and dust particles it does not change the fact that they are unique nor that they would cease to be a snowflake if taken apart. A will is as innate to a human's structure as anything else. If it were taken away we would cease to be human. Further, the limited experience we have in such matters shows us that the results of similar experiments or accidents that resulted in a loss of will have left only a shell behind, much less useful than a fully functioning human. I do not claim that you can't remove the will of a human, simple that you can't leave it intact and still completely control it. It would be like trying to control the pace of another's heart beat or the patterns inwhich their brains store memories. How can it be done?"

[Deux]

“No I haven’t heard of the saying,” he answered. Deux rested his arms on his knees and tilted his head slightly. He wasn’t sure how long they had been talking but it must have been a while if Kaden was willing to call it a day.

He shrugged at the last question, “I am not sure but it seems there are people willing to try and figure it out. Maybe there are a few with the ability to control it.”

That was something he hadn’t really given much thought too, the abilities people seemed to have now. For some reason he seemed to be able to keep those powers from working. He’d heard others talk about their attempts to control theirs. Deux, he just existed. Closing his eyes he tried to stop whatever it was that he was doing to those around him. It wasn’t anything he could identify what it was or what the change was. He didn’t feel any different physically since he had discovered them.

The progress was slow but finally he found it. Trying to stop “it” did not go as effectively as planned. He felt his power come back into him for a moment. Deux wrapped his hands around his stomach and leaned forward breathing slightly harder. A few seconds later he had to let go before he lost control. In retrospect it hadn’t been his best idea.

Stopping negation in front of a teleporting prisoner was a bad idea on principle. Finding out it made him exhausted in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time made it worse. Breathing slowly Deux hoped his stupidity hadn’t given Kaden the opportunity to escape. He wasn’t sure he could stop him in his current stat if it had.

[Kaden]

"Hmm," Kaden said, wondering what control of the process of removing another's will would even look like. He leaned against the back wall of the cell and watched Deux do...something. He wasn't really sure what the boy had attempted until a minute or so into the process when he felt as if a weight had been lifted from him. For a moment he felt like he could breath easier and a bit of his energy came back. He wasn't quite as hungry as he'd been a moment ago, a sign his body wasn't craving replacements for the energy he'd expended.

But the reprieve was short lived. Almost as quickly as it'd come it was gone. Kaden felt the draining process begin again and, now that he'd experienced what it was to be without it, he was more aware of its presence and where it was coming from. To him all of this just meant that there may be a way to block it or stop it. If he could remove Deux's ability to limit him without removing Deux himself he'd be much happier. He had no desire to hurt him or to even be put in the position where he had to make that choice.

He watched Deux through half-lidded eyes that did not reveal his thoughts or even that he'd felt any effect of Deux's attempt to limit his power. "Are you ok? You appear as if you need to eat as mush as I do. Is there any way to contact the kitchen?"