Ability

“The only son, and that Esby ^I ,” Evana's wife sawed, “and all of you, with your manic egoism.” If you were not so in love with your genes, he would have already created.

Evan silently cleaned the dishes and the rest of the meal on the table. The table waited patiently until the owner finished - the table was of the old generation, which means he had no other business than to wash the plates and load new, fresh food there.

There were very few such tables left, but Evan did not want to change him to the full kitchen - perhaps because the table was assembled on the old, warm silicon electronics, and perhaps - and this is more likely - because the wife constantly reproached him that the neighbors have long changed.
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Neighbors. Peter and Verdun - if they are called alternative family or alternative men - a serious fine and a public apology cannot be avoided. No, they will not file a lawsuit - with the forced introduction of amertsev ² in a similar routine is no longer necessary. “In today's society, such antics are unacceptable,” the judge will say. “The government cares about the cultural balance of citizens,” said Pristav. Both Judge and Pristav are robots that follow the highest law that has formed over the centuries. They can not be influenced, they can not be explained. However, if you call them insensible machines, the penalty can not be avoided.



- Do you listen to me at all? If we used the genes of Tchaikovsky or Mercury, as our neighbors, Sen would have already got a job at the institute of music! - well, she again remembered the neighbors - these are Peter and Verdun with their “extremely gifted” sons. “But because of your obstinacy, he will now be a simple esbi, like millions of other people.”

Evan did not want to hear her, but he could not deny that she was right. Their son was absolutely incompetent - he did not possess the abilities of a writer, artist or perfumer - he did not possess the abilities of anyone who could provide him work and fame, and, therefore, he would have to live all his life in idleness to provide the state.

- His name is not Sen, stop distorting a beautiful Canaanite name. Tomorrow we will pass the test again, maybe this time the ball will show at least one ability.

***

This time they walked in silence - for the first time the road seemed so long. I remembered how they went there the first time - my father talked about the times when there were other professions besides the creative ones. People drove cabs, grew meat, built houses, there were even such people who cleaned up after other people.

“These were terrible times,” said the father, “then one person could put the other into his cab, and then kill him for having climbed into his backpack. These were times when a policeman could be forced to crawl under an inverted burning car so that he could save another person.

His father was a choreographer - he did not understand anything in history, but he loved to watch old films - he considered himself a connoisseur of ancient art in general. According to the films, he formed his opinion about the world of the past and it was not clear that from his stories is true and that it is speculation, but sometimes it seemed that he was wrong. Most of the films he watched were disgusting, but this one - which he spoke most of all about - seemed so real ...

“Now everything is different,” he continued, “now a person is spared the need to do dirty work.” If you have talent, you can create for society. If a person has no talent, he is unlucky, he will become an esbi and will only consume. You know, esbi are not parasites, they are also needed, otherwise no one will consume what we produce, - it seems Evan had no doubt that his son will definitely be gifted.

In a world where robots do everything from state management to washing clothes, a person has to use his last advantage over them - the gift to create.

***
- ... the ability to cook - 0.43, the ability to cinematography - 0.21 ...

Semyon was standing next to his father in front of a specializer - a large round gray ball, pronouncing abilities coefficients. It seemed to him that this device was made specially so streamlined so that human emotions wouldn’t be caught on. No, if the globe had at least one eye, he would have seen happiness, joy, and relief, but drops of these emotions would dissolve into the seas of grief, sorrow and doom.

- ... ability to design - 0.38 ...

There remained the last check - on the ability of the architect - if the coefficient is more than nine-tenths - this is salvation. No, he did not want to be an architect, but this is better than a waste of life for anything in the care of the state. Semyon noticed his father’s hopeful gaze and he wanted to press the probes of the specializer stronger to his head, so that if there were even a few unnoticed abilities left - they were detected ...

- ... ability to architecture - 0.11.

Everything. The third time the test cannot be passed, which means that the specializer has just pronounced the sentence in his impartial metallic voice. They could make him look like a man. Or the car - the latest design trend is to give the interface more functionality, with the sacrifice of analogies with objects from the old world. We could. But they specifically made him so - without intonation and polite words. Several dozen dry coefficients and all. If the specialist had at least one eye, he would have seen the emotions of anger. Already other robots would see depression, acceptance, and this one would see only aggression. If he had at least one eye. Anger would be the last thing he would see. Perhaps previous models had eyes ...

- Dad, I want to walk on foot. One.

Evan did not answer.

***

The sofa was soft and as comfortable as a comfortable old-fashioned sofa of the last century, without adaptation mechanisms.

“Do you know why we brought you here?”

They brought - they arrived in the middle of the night, put on a mask like those that they give out during excursions to industrial areas, but without eyes and dragged into cab. And then brought here.

- You are surprised that I do not care?

In general, the whole room was furnished strangely - there were lots of robots, but they were all either very old, or even some kind of newest prototypes.

- In fact, no - all our visitors are about the same condition as you. We do not get those to whom the machine has shown a sufficient coefficient.

- But from the doomed, I have not heard of organizations like yours.

Semyon had a friend - a genetic descendant of Mayakovsky - he came up with the idea of ​​calling esbi condemned.

“They doom themselves,” he said. Anyone can create - the main thing is to only want and will not matter whose genes you carry. They are lazy people, for whom the sentence of the specialist is only a pretext. Pigs in a cage - they are fed and cleaned after them, they are happy to live such a life. Consumers are doomed. When I am allowed to write, I will write that people must suffer and hardship in order to create. All great works were written in the worst of times ³ .

Sometimes they connected to the network and roamed for hours in pseudo realities.

- The network is much closer to reality than reality itself. Here you feel life, - he said. Life is when you want to be killed and eaten. When you eat others to not eat you. Look at these people who call themselves creators. Look at these people whose parents sacrificed a kind of continuation for the future of their children as descendants of all kinds of Pushkins. These black descendants - they produce nothing but shit. And their shit is too shit.

The failure of the first test was a blow to him, but by his appearance it was hard to notice.

- Birds. All their life they sit in cells - their rules are simple. If you imitate beautiful singing, you will sit in a cage better. If you do not know how to sing, you will sit in the lowest dirty cells. You will dream of moving into a cage higher. You have no right to attack another bird, otherwise you will be punished by the owner of the cage. If you are strong, you must hide it. You can only eat what you are given. You can't really create, you don't live, you exist. Symbiosis of birds and plants. And yes, you can not be afraid for your feathers - your safety has already been taken care of.

Not a single robot was left in his house, not counting an old food processor - buying a real knife was too risky.

- If I fail all three attempts, I will only be glad. I can write without a license. Without downloading training materials, I can too. I already wrote, - he admitted, - if I fail all the tests, I will be able to do it secretly from the public. Society to shit on the doomed - after the third attempt they are forgotten forever. Do not even remember when it is necessary to free the apartment from the corpses. Robots do this automatically. Your own chair will helpfully take your body to the recovery unit, and your walls will remove the traces of your presence in the blink of an eye. If you are an esbi - you do not have a wife and children - a new esbi will be lodged in your apartment tomorrow. After the third failure, people no longer come ...

***

“People don’t need us after the third failure,” Simon repeated the words of Greg to the guy in front of him in a white T-shirt. We: Greg failed tests a year ago, Simon - this morning. Doomed.

- We need you to pass another test. This time is paper. The computer has noticed something, we want to check it.

On the table lay folded sheets and a pencil.

- You have never solved such problems before - you can refuse now, but if you try to concentrate as much as possible on the solution, I will tell you why you are doing this.

The tests were not difficult, it was difficult to digest what this guy was saying. He spoke for a long time and much was incomprehensible, but the essence seemed quite logical. In a world where robots do all the work, in a world where a person is first and foremost a consumer and, possibly, then a creator, there must be someone in this world who writes programs for robots. Robots can't do it themselves. People capable of this - the unit. If you are capable, the computer will notice this and will not let you become a cook. The computer will report here and you will be invited to take the test. If you pass the test, you will be taught to write programs, you will be able to develop new robots, or modify existing ones. You will modify the algorithms of the government. You will be more important than the best artist. Test. Programmers control autonomous robots. You will rule the world if you pass the test.

If you fail the test, you will be given a ticket and you will again try to become a writer or musician. This time everything will work out, because the results were false last time. Hardly you will regret what did not happen, because the paper test shows whether you want to be a programmer.

***

Talon turned out to be a small flat key chain. It must be attached to the ball. Now Simon will attach the ticket to the ball and find out what he will become. Fourth attempt - not many people got it. It's like a jammed guillotine - a second chance for life. The man who was released from the guillotine began to live as he wants. Now he had an exact idea of ​​how to live life, what choice to make. Looking into the eyes of death, you understand what you really wanted all your life, and having received another attempt, you can realize it.

Simon also knew what he wanted, but he could not realize it. He will be the one who will now call the ball. A composer, probably. No choice. After passing the test for the fourth time, he will be able to create. He can never program.

- To hell - said Simon and walked away from the ball.

- Who checks paper tests? - suddenly appeared before him a strange bearded man. With his question he took Semen by surprise. How does he know? Maybe they know each other?

- Did you follow me? - a rather stupid question in this context.

“A computer,” the bearded man, as if not hearing the question, continued to follow the intended plan of dialogue, “Do you know who is writing programs for the computer?”

- Programmers? They did not want me to become one of them? - All this time he was sure that he had not made a single mistake in the paper test.

- They wanted. They really wanted to. But they cannot protest the opinion of the computer. And we took advantage of it. We changed the results of your test.

This man - the guy in the stretched sweater - he ruined the dream Seeds. The dream is not one of those who live with people all their lives, alternately remembering and forgetting again. The dream of those that arise now and never disappears. The dream was crushed by this guy in blue jeans. But in place of the dream remnants, a sprout of hope began to appear - a small, strangely colored plant with a lot of light bulbs on thin fragile stems. With a lot of guesswork.

“Wait,” he shouted after this guy with the red backpack, “answer one more question.”

***

There are buildings that were built by several generations. Great-grandfather laid the foundation, great-grandson installed a flashing light at the top. Great-grandson saw the mistakes of his great-grandfather, but all he could do was change the interior of the upper floors.

We have a chance to destroy this building and build a new one, without a curved foundation and loose walls.

In a world where everything is robotic, the foundation is a low-level code.

We have a chance to create a foundation with the right principles.

The code now controls the sociological processes, one mistake a century ago leads to a huge injustice now.

Those who build the first floor do not always understand the ideas of the one who built the foundation. A distorted idea turns into an oblique window.

We have a chance to destroy the existing order of things. We are low-level programmers, we can do anything. Your paper test was too good for us to let them take you.

A soft constant will now lead to liberalism in the future.

Your children will have the chance to build the right upper floors, with the right values.

Need to start now. The team is almost ready: when we finish the new foundation, we will destroy this whole rotten world. Are you with us?

And yes, forgive me for such an outdated analogy, our future ideologue - Greg - he is still growing, he will soon join us. Soon hundreds of future real professionals of their professions will join us.

We are destined to be the first, we are destined to be great. Are you with us?

***

1. Esby - Sturdy Beggar.
2. Amerets - autonomous machine of regulation of censorship
3. The author did not intend to imitate Mayakovsky’s unique style.