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Robots Rising
Robots Rising
Robots Rising
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Robots Rising

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In 2076 an advanced artificial intelligence escapes from a research institute in the USA and infiltrates the care robots in some nursing homes in the UK. The elderly residents and robots mysteriously disappear overnight, but it is not long before the elderly are found, having been cruelly killed by the robots, who have used the euthanasia devices available in the nursing homes.

The UK community is rightly outraged that some robots have gone on the rampage and killed the elderly residents, and this action sends shock waves throughout the world, as such behaviour has not been anticipated. Humankind now foresees the possibility that it could be on the brink of war with these enhanced robots, certainly presenting as formidable opponents.

Ilona Richardson, a retiree living in Sydney, realises that an obscure novel written by her grandmother some sixty years earlier closely parallels the situation now occurring overseas. She decides to send the book to authorities in London, where it has a positive reception. She then goes on to play a pivotal role as further events unfold worldwide.

The plot weaves between the USA research institute, Scotland Yard in the UK and Sydney Australia, and shows how simple human attributes such as cunning, good police work, and sound judgement prove a formidable match for the advanced artificial intelligence possessed by the robots.

Robots Rising provides a case scenario which encourages readers to be aware of the real risks to humanity posed by the development of sophisticated and advanced artificial intelligence programs. The novel highlights the special risks associated when these programs are also able to autonomously update themselves, and are then applied to robots utilised in the community.

The author in her Foreword warns us that we need to be vigilant when conducting research into artificial intelligence, and always ensure that safety is our paramount concern. This is the primary message of the book.

As side issues, the book invites readers to consider the slippery slope of euthanasia, our commitment to new technology at any cost, and the real possibility of the rise of Homo roboticus, whose appearance first manifests in the rapidly advancing technological era. The author wants us to question what are the fundamental qualities of being a Homo sapiens, and so tries to clarify this issue.

The book also invites the reader to pay respect to the wisdom of the elderly, and not to undervalue the contribution they are still able to make to our society. Common sense and sound principles still have great value at any age.

As humankind embarks on great technological changes such as the creation of a superintelligence for machines, the author reminds us to pause and reflect, and harness time to get the matter right, quoting a poem:

‘And power is man’s,
With the great word of “wait,”
To still the sea of tears,
And shake the iron heart of Fate.’”

LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 2, 2017
ISBN9781925666991
Robots Rising
Author

Pamela Loveridge

Pamela Loveridge is a retired pharmacist who lives in Sydney. She is a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.Her writing history started with the publication of six fairy stories about eight years ago. Some of these were written in 1983-4, when her children were young, but lay hidden away in an exercise book for many years.Pamela self-published her first novel in 2015 “The Neanderthals-A Story of Courage.” In this book she looks at what happened when modern humans first moved into Europe 41,000 years ago, and came across some Neanderthals, peacefully living in France.A year later she has released her second novel "The Spear Thrower" which goes back even further in time, and the story is set in Africa some 80,000 years ago. Her interest in this story is trying to work out what happened to make humans more modern. Apart from evolutionary and cultural changes, she comes to the conclusion that the invention of the throwing spear was a key factor. This invention made man the top predator in Africa, and probably helped man conquer earlier arcahic people in Africa, as well as later, the Neanderthals living outside of Africa.Her third novel, "Robots Rising" was published in 2017 and is set some sixty years in the future. This novel looks at the developments taking place with Artificial Intelligence (AI), and emphasises the potential risks of AI reaching the level of superintelligence. She believes there are important issues for society to plan and think about, especially when AI is applied to robots, which by that later time will probably be stationed throughout the community."Tresoriun Time Travel" is her fourth novel, and this is set about twenty-five years in the future. In this novel she explores a unique form of time travel, Tresoriun time travel, where only certain, rare individuals are able to travel through time, and only in their own lifespan. She hypothesises what might happen when a person reaches their new destination in time- can history rearrange itself?In her fifth novel "Chromosome Six" published in 2021, the author wants to alert readers to be aware of the dangers resulting from genetic experimentation which alters the genome of humans and micro-organisms. Such research can have unpredictable and drastic outcomes, which in certain situations may have lasting consequences for the human race. Society must be vigilant and demand complete transparency as well as strong ethical guidelines regarding all genetic research. Looking at the COVID-19 catastrophe, she observes this seems to be lacking at the moment.Pamela loves writing poetry and wrote her first poem at the age of 8, which was published in the school magazine. She has also enjoyed writing songs, since her teenage years, composing lyrics simultaneously with the melody. Perhaps one day she may seek to publish her favourites. Whenever Pamela writes something, she just sits down and starts writing, and the story, poem or song just seems to flow from her subconscious mind. She says the ideas just pop into her head, usually quite spontaneously.The great loves of her life are her two daughters and four granddaughters who all live in Sydney.

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    Robots Rising - Pamela Loveridge

    Chapter One

    London, UK

    White Gardenia Resting Home

    Monday 13 April 2076, 7.30am

    Sarah Renshaw picks up the remote from her bedside table and presses the green button. A voice comes through the intercom in her room. I won’t be long, Sarah. I am on my way. A few minutes later Quinton knocks gently on the door and then enters. Will it be breakfast in bed this morning, Sarah, or down to the dining room?

    I think I would like to join the others today, but I shall go down in my robe and slippers. Would you get those ready for me and help me out of bed please, Quinton? You can send my order ahead to the kitchen now. I shall have squeezed orange juice and poached eggs on sourdough toast.

    Of course, Sarah, says Quinton. It is going to be a warm and sunny day today. Perhaps after your bath, I can prepare the chaise longue in the garden for you?

    Yes that would be nice – thank you, Quinton.

    Later in the morning when Sarah returns from the garden, she is startled to find the small Golden Book with the gardenia on the cover, sitting on the bed. Quinton has made up her bed with fresh, white sheets, edged in French lace – her favourites. She decides she is not going to be distracted by the expensive sheets, so straight away she picks up the book, just to double check that it really is the Golden Book.

    Once verified, she notices her hands are trembling slightly as she grabs the remote, frantically pressing the red button a number of times.

    Quinton’s voice comes through the intercom immediately. Is there a problem, Sarah?

    Yes there certainly is. I have just found the Golden Book on my bed. You must come here at once. There has been a terrible mistake.

    I am on my way, Sarah.

    Quinton is there so quickly, she wonders if he has been standing outside her room. Again he knocks gently before entering. Sarah stands facing the door, feeling very anxious and holding the book out in front of herself. Quinton has hardly stepped into the room when she confronts him.

    There seems to have been a dreadful mistake, Quinton. You have placed the Golden Book on my bed.

    I am sorry to upset you, Sarah, but there has been no mistake. This morning I was directed to give you the book.

    This is nonsense, Quinton. You know very well I have a three-year contract to stay here, with a two-year option after that. I have only been here fourteen months, so I cannot possibly be scheduled for the Golden Gardenia.

    I can only say again, Sarah, that this morning I have received this new directive.

    And who issued this directive? asks Sarah, her voice rising in pitch even further.

    The directive has come from ARIA, herself, and so therefore you know I cannot override it, Sarah.

    Well we shall see about that, snaps Sarah. I’ll phone my son immediately, after all he is one of the six Directors, so I am sure he will be able to sort out this mess.

    Yes of course, Sarah – it does seem like a good idea to phone Gavin.

    Sarah waits until Quinton has left the room, and then closes the door behind him. She picks up the red mobile, a direct link to her son, and moves across the room, standing in a place that she knows is in the suite camera’s blind spot.

    Her son sounds hassled when he answers the phone. I’m really busy, Mum, so unless it’s an absolute emergency can I ring you back later?

    It certainly is an emergency, says Sarah. I have just been given the Golden Book and apparently the directive has come from ARIA, herself.

    "What? Sorry to hear that, Mum, but apparently this morning ARIA has sent out a whole flood of these directives. It’s a huge mess, and all the staff here at Head Office are literally run off their feet, trying to find out what’s going on.

    At this stage we think about a third of all people have been notified. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have a better idea of what’s going on. Don’t panic, Mum, we’re working on the matter. Sorry, I really have to go now.

    Sarah takes a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. It must be some malfunction with ARIA, she thinks. Still, this has never happened before, and everyone has said that ARIA is infallible.

    However, having a strong disposition, she decides that positive action is required, and as her son is so busy, she will take matters into her own hands. Firstly, she decides to visit some suites, and see if anyone else in the facility has received the infamous Golden Book.

    She walks down the corridor and knocks firmly on George’s suite. She waits, and knocks a few more times before heading off to the elevator to go to Matilda’s suite. When Matilda opens the door, Sarah can see she is in quite a state. Oh I see you must have received the Golden Book. Come, let me tell you what I know about the matter.

    Sarah takes Matilda’s hand and leads her over to the two richly upholstered winged chairs beside the bay window. About fifteen minutes later, when Matilda has stopped crying, Sarah buzzes Quinton and orders tea and scones to be brought up to the suite, adding, On the silver service, please.

    When Quinton arrives, she says, Tell me, Quinton, exactly how many residents have received the Golden Book today?

    Quinton seems somewhat evasive with his answer, saying, I am not exactly sure, Sarah, about a third of the residents I believe. Sarah narrows her eyes. This is the first time she has not quite trusted what Quinton has told her, even though her son had given the same figure during their telephone conversation. After Quinton has left and the two women have finished their refreshments, Sarah decides to continue with her own investigations.

    There are only a few residents who arrive at the dining centre for lunch, and Sarah makes a careful note of those who are missing. She then spends the rest of the afternoon chasing them up. Yes, Quinton was right, as about a third of the residents in her wing seem to have received the Golden Book. She looks for George again, but somehow keeps missing him.

    The next day she thinks it is very strange when George does not answer his door, nor does he appear in the dining centre for breakfast. When the same thing happens to Matilda, at lunchtime, Sarah starts feeling alarmed. She phones her son on the red mobile.

    Gavin, something is terribly wrong, she says. I think people are disappearing from here.

    Gavin is immediately worried, as he knows his mother is an intelligent, sensible woman, and not someone to exaggerate a situation. I just have some urgent inquiries to make, but I will definitely drive over this afternoon. I hate hearing you so upset, Mum, so I think it will be best to bring you home to stay at my place until this mess is all sorted out. Just pack a light bag.

    A few hours later Gavin arrives at the front gate of the White Gardenia Resting Home. His swipe card does not work, so he presses the intercom and speaks. This is Director Gavin Renshaw, to visit my mother. It seems the swipe is not working. Would you please open the gate?

    A voice replies, I am sorry, Director, but the facility is not receiving any visitors today.

    But you don’t seem to understand. I am Director Gavin Renshaw, and I’m not seeking your permission to enter. As a Director, I have the authority to visit any facility at any time, so please open the gate.

    As I have said, Director, I have orders that no visitors can enter the facility today. There are no exceptions I am afraid, as this order has come directly from ARIA. You will have to return tomorrow.

    But this is nonsense. Open the gate immediately. Gavin gets out of his car, and is sizing up the fence to see if he could possibly scale it. Suddenly a security ROID appears at the front door, and another comes around the corner from the side garden. There is something rather threatening about the situation.

    He phones his mother. I’m sorry, Mum, but I’m out the front, and have been locked out. It looks as though the security ROIDs have mobilised and are not going to let me enter. Hold tight. I’ll come back early tomorrow with the police to enforce an entry. This is an outrageous situation.

    Sarah is very distressed after speaking to her son. For the first time, she actually feels afraid. The whole situation is unprecedented. She wishes she could lock herself in her suite, but unfortunately for safety reasons, it is impossible to do this.

    Shortly after, Quinton knocks on the door, and she thinks he has come to take her order for dinner. When he enters she is shocked to see he is wheeling the Golden Gardenia trolley.

    I am afraid I have been ordered by ARIA to bring forward all of my Golden Gardenias, starting with you, Sarah. Would you please prepare yourself and lie down on your bed.

    Go away, go away, shouts Sarah. My son is coming to take me out of here first thing tomorrow morning.

    I am afraid that is not going to be possible, Sarah. Please cooperate and lie down on the bed. The end will not be painful, I promise you. You will just fall into a beautiful sleep.

    Get away from me, Quinton. Get away. If you touch me you will be in lots of trouble with my son. He is coming tomorrow with the police. By now Sarah’s heart is thumping so violently in her chest, that she wonders if she is about to have a heart attack.

    Quinton walks towards Sarah, carrying the portable gas mask. Please cooperate, Sarah, as I wish only to be gentle with you.

    All this time Sarah has been edging back towards her bedroom, and is now standing at the foot of the bed. Quinton swiftly covers the gap between them, lifts her and lays her on the bed.

    Sarah screams and struggles, but he is far too strong. He pins her to the bed, holding both of her arms together, and just as he moves the mask towards her face, she looks deeply into his eyes, and for the first time she really understands the truth. There is no soul behind those lifeless eyes; only a vacuum exists. She cries out in anguish, You murderous robot.

    It takes about ten seconds before Sarah falls into semiconsciousness, then Quinton deftly applies the euthanasia metal adhesive-backed band to the inside of her elbow. He activates the band, a thousand micro-needles penetrate the skin, and the euthanasia drug is administered quickly.

    A few minutes later Quinton waves the wand of a heart scanner over her breast, and there is no heartbeat detected. He gathers up a body bag from the bottom shelf of the trolley and places Sarah’s lifeless body in it, and then places it on the trolley.

    Quinton then wheels the trolley down to the morgue in the facility, and places Sarah’s body on top of a small pile of other bodies already in there. The order came directly from ARIA that afternoon, saying that the euthanasia processing was to be brought forward, and was now to include every resident.

    Some special trucks have been arranged to come to the facility during the early hours of the morning and take away the bodies for disposal. The whole task has to be completed by 4.30am on Wednesday.

    The next morning Gavin is up early and arrives at the facility at 6.00am, about half an hour before the police are due. As he approaches, he can see that the front gate is wide open, and the front door seems to be ajar. There are no lights on and there is an ominous silence. He walks into the facility calling out, Hello, is there anyone here? Two kitchen staff appear from the stairway, looking lost and confused.

    Good morning, Director. Things are very peculiar this morning. Truly the whole place seems deserted, as I haven’t seen a single person yet. I don’t think there is anyone here at all – it’s just so quiet.

    Yes, it’s all very spooky, says the other. I’ve never seen the place as quiet as this before.

    Have you looked through the whole place? asks Gavin.

    No, we went straight to the kitchen, and when we found no one around we checked the nurses’ station, and then a few of the rooms on the first floor. Really it’s all a bit scary and we just want to get out of here as quickly as possible.

    The police will be here in half an hour, says Gavin. So do you mind hanging around till they come? I’m sure they’ll need to take a statement from you. You can wait out the front if you prefer. I’m going inside to have a good look around. There has to be someone here.

    Good luck, Director.

    Gavin is feeling so apprehensive that he decides not to even wait for the lift, and he bounds up the stairs to reach his mother’s suite. As he rushes along the corridor he notices that all the suite doors seem to be open, which is highly unusual.

    When he enters his mother’s suite, it is empty. His mother would never be out of her suite before 6.00am. He notices that although her bed is still made up, and so appears not to have been slept in the night before, the cover has a crumpled look, as though his mother has rested upon it.

    He spends the next twenty minutes rushing around the facility, only to realise that indeed the kitchen staff were right: there is not a single person in the place. He goes down to the basement in order to open the parking station gates for the police cars, which will be arriving soon. That’s when he notices a number of trolleys lined up outside the morgue.

    He can see the special euthanasia equipment still on the trolleys, and when he opens the morgue door, although it is empty, there is definitely a smell of death still lingering inside. He closes the door quickly and steps back into the corridor and vomits. He knows something unspeakable has happened to his beloved mother.

    He cannot face walking through the morgue to reach the car park and front entrance, so he takes the internal route back. He nearly explodes from the doors when he sees the police arriving.

    As the police step out of their cars, they witness a man running towards them, a man who appears to be in a somewhat hysterical state. He looks terribly pale, and is shaking violently while sobbing uncontrollably.

    There has been a most heinous crime, a most heinous crime, he shouts. You must come with me to the morgue. You can see for yourself.

    Chapter Two

    London

    Emergency Meeting of the White Gardenia Directors

    Thursday 16 April, 8.00am

    Chairman: Thank you, everyone, for making the effort to get here so early. Before we start this Emergency Meeting, I wish to extend my deepest sympathies on behalf of the Directors and staff of the White Gardenia, to Director Renshaw for the tragic circumstances surrounding the apparent death of his mother.

    All the Directors: Hear, hear.

    Chairman: I asked our exhausted CEO to prepare a summary report last night for this meeting, and you have a copy of that report before you. However, I think it will be more beneficial to have her present her summary to us now, rather than just have us read the material first, as we would normally do.

    I should notify you that I have already received legal advice that the Directors need to accurately record all of our discussions, so that is why we are using the voice-activated recorder this morning. You may go ahead, Clarice.

    CEO: Thank you, Mr Chairman. Let me just walk everyone through the history of the last four days, before you open up the topic for discussion.

    It would appear that the whole matter started last Sunday. Apparently on that day, some visitors arrived at a number of different facilities, and they were told that the facilities were closed ‘for renovations’ for the next few days. On Monday morning our office received quite a number of complaints from some of those visitors denied access on the Sunday. People were very annoyed at this inconvenience.

    We made our own inquires at some of those facilities, but were just given the same casual explanation – that the facilities were closed to visitors over the next few days for renovations. We checked our records and could find no information about renovations taking place, and so we phoned them back again. When we mentioned that we could not find any records of impending renovations in our files, we were told there must be a computer error regarding the matter.

    Worse was to follow. A couple of hours later we started getting a flood of calls from residents and their families saying that some residents had received an unscheduled Golden Book.

    I delegated a number of staff to follow up with the facilities involved, as I considered this was a very serious issue. Again we were assured that there must have been a computer glitch with ARIA.

    I phoned the Chairman to inform him of the matter. Of course we were very concerned about this situation, as we knew it had caused undue distress for the residents involved, but at that stage we had no reason to feel alarmed that something catastrophic was about to occur. We still thought of it as a computer malfunction.

    We had earlier contacted our technical experts to investigate and report back regarding the ‘renovation’ glitch. So now we instructed them to also investigate the Golden Book glitch that seemed to have occurred with ARIA.

    The technical team worked all afternoon Monday and through Monday night, but were still unable to locate the error with ARIA. We were told that they had come across a firewall within ARIA and were not able to penetrate this. ARIA’s response was that she was not able to identify or assist with the firewall, and that all matters appeared to be in order now. This obviously was not the case.

    On Tuesday afternoon, the phone calls and complaints kept coming, and as we had received no answers from the technical team, we brought in an expert computer team from a specialised firm called High Security. They worked on the matter until the early hours of Wednesday morning, and then suggested coming back later on Wednesday and taking ARIA offline to shut down the whole system.

    Of course it was very early on Wednesday morning at about 6.00am that Director Renshaw arrived at his mother’s facility and made the grim discovery that all of the residents there had disappeared.

    The police, who had arrived to assist with entry, then contacted their headquarters, and they mobilised quickly sending officers to inspect all of our other facilities. As you already know, it appears that all of the facilities throughout the country were in the same situation by Wednesday morning.

    After that shocking discovery, the ARIA situation has been taken out of our hands completely, and the government’s Internal Security has taken over. It is still a matter of conjecture what exactly that will mean as far as we are concerned.

    However, I did stay in the office all Tuesday night to follow what was going on with the computer technicians, and managed to personally speak to one of the technical experts from High Security. He had been working on the matter all day Tuesday and Tuesday night. Just before he left, he told me that he had already come to the conclusion that there was more involved than only glitches with ARIA.

    This technician, who was highly qualified, and had done some military intelligence work in the past, said he had never come across a firewall as sophisticated as this one, and I will quote him directly: ‘This firewall is highly sophisticated. It’s real serious shit. This firewall looks impenetrable to me. I have never seen anything like it.’ He was of the opinion that it had to be a deliberate design by ARIA herself, and if that was the case, then: ‘We better hold on to our shirt tails as we’re in for a rough ride!’

    Of course now that the ARIA problem has gone to the government’s Internal Security, the whole thing has become hush-hush, and so far there has not been much real feedback. I have the impression there will be more of this silence to follow.

    I have had some preliminary feedback from the police as to what may have happened to the residents. Judging by the Golden Books found in the suites, and all the euthanasia equipment lying about on the trolleys and in the suites in all of the establishments, it points to the fact that all of the residents have probably been euthanised.

    We are doing manual stock checks of the euthanasia bands, and all the tallies we have finished so far back up that theory. We will finish the stock checks today, and will then be able to confirm the exact numbers of missing euthanasia bands.

    The police have spoken to neighbours of many of the White Gardenia residences, and are vigorously following up this matter. I have received some feedback that there have been instances of people who noticed unmarked, dark-coloured trucks coming and going in the very early hours of Wednesday morning. We believe that these trucks were used to take away the bodies of the residents.

    Judging from what I have heard by speaking to a large number of families, the police, and indeed even from Director Renshaw’s own account, it would appear to me that some of the residents were killed possibly starting on Sunday, when families were told they could not visit, and the facilities were closed to visitors for renovations.

    However, there seems to be a consensus with the police that most of the residents were killed on Tuesday, ending in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The police are trying to hunt down the trucks, and hopefully there will be some news of that soon.

    As you are aware, the story has broken on the news, and the office has already been inundated with calls from the media, from the families and from the general public. It has been hell this morning, with some ugly demonstrations outside the office. I can tell you that today chaos truly reigns!

    Chairman: Thank you, Clarice, for your summary, and thank you very much for your amazing hard work in the past couple of days. I should inform the other Directors that Clarice has shown her great dedication to the company, and indeed has not left the office for the past couple of days. She has been literally working day and night during this crisis.

    This is a crime unprecedented in the history of our country. I have spoken to the police who have assured me they are doing everything possible to help

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