Artificial C2: Backstory for Oliver Wells

My story is simple. I've been studying the brain and cognitive psychology for what seems an age. My Doctorate was about the electrophysiology of the mind. It encompassed event-related brain potentials and cognition. It drew upon factors affecting the loading of a brain when involved in cognitive processing and increasingly the factors that would create out-of-condition responses affecting attention, mental chronometry, memory, and language. 

There are the inevitable warnings that the brain may break if it becomes overloaded. Most people check out when I tell them this. They hear words like science, brain, physiology and cognition and complete their own description of what I represent. Usually, it isn't flattering. 

 It's why Ranzino and Summers wanted to hire me. I've been involved with post-structuralism in my studies. The study of hyper-reality. Not some modern art school project with ultimate detailing oh no. Hyperreality is a condition in which, because of the compression of perceptions of reality in culture and media, what is generally regarded as real and what is understood as fiction are seamlessly blended together. The experiences are such that there is no longer any clear distinction between where one ends and the other begins. 

There are no joins between what is imagined and what is real and I'll attempt to show this in my story. I've  followed the work of French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, who contributed to communication studies that speak directly to larger social concerns. 

I had to explain this to Ranzino, and I could see Summers taking notes. My explanation was that much of the thinking was established through the social turmoil of the 1960s, spurred by social movements that questioned preexisting conventions and social institutions. 

 Through a postmodern lens, reality is viewed as a fragmented, complimentary and multiple-meaning system with components that are produced by social and cultural activity. It's a perfect playground for Augmented Reality. 

Social realities that constitute consensus reality are constantly produced and reproduced, changing through the extended use of signs and symbols which hence contribute to the creation of a greater hyperreality.

There's a unit in Brant, here in Geneva, that is researching Human Brain to Computer Interfaces. It's called HCCI in the jargon. 'Human to Computer to Computer Interfaces. 

'Why the two Computers?' I hear you ask. It's simple really. The first is a small unit to decode the human thoughts and then the second is the main unit to receive them and to send back 'reprocessed' thoughts. 

 I know what you are thinking. It works well in PowerPoint, doesn't it? But in Real Life? I don't think so.

Well, that is exactly how they hooked me. Combining the sensuous properties of fragrant Jasmine Summers and the gung-ho bravura of film-star-tanned Bob Ranzino. They challenged me to 'make it work' and offered me around four times my current income to do so - and even threw in the free accommodation. 

Call me weak, but I fell for it.

Artificial Opening Scene (c1 - coincidences))

 

I am sitting in Le Club chatting with Bérénice Charbonnier. Her gentle aroma of Chanel is just about legal.

 

"So, Oliver Wells, how did you come to be out here, working for Brant? Are you another one of the brainy scientists, or maybe you have some other skill?"

 

Bérénice lives next door in my apartment block and seemed to know everyone. She was some kind of news reporter. She suggested that we go to this disturbingly American-style sports bar in the heart of Geneva, although, I suppose it was only a ten-minute slow walk from my new home. Everyone around us was speaking shades of English.

 

I answer, "I think I was an afterthought, actually. One of Brant's head honchos - Bob Ranzino - came to Cork,  Ireland, where I lived, and he was busily recruiting a friend of a friend, Matt Nicholson. Matt must've told them about me and the next thing I know I'm being given a drive-by recruitment handshake for Brant."

 

Bérénice smiles, "No, it can't have been that simple. I know Brant and even Bob Ranzino and Jasmine Summers, his close associate. We've interviewed them a few times about new developments in and around Geneva. Brant is a big player in this city."

 

"Well, the friend-of-a-friend link was because Heather, Matt's ex at the time was also friends with my buddy Michael. Cork is a small place and word gets around. I guess Ranzino must have thought he could make more of the opportunity and hire both of us. I think he even took us to the same restaurant both nights!"

 

"That sounds like a Jasmine move. Find the most expensive place in town and make it the office. I expect it had to be a steak or seafood place as well."

 

"You hit the nail. We went to Quinlans and I had lobster. Good recruitment food."

 

"So do you know many people yet? There are several Brant employees who live in our apartment block, you know. I can introduce you if you like."

 

"I met Simon Gray yesterday, another Brit, but I've only just moved in. Aude Darmshausen  showed me the Apartment and had furnished it impeccably to look modern and cool."

 

"She is good at that, but I guess she has seen maybe twenty people pass through that block on Rue de la Confédération, whilst working for Brant."

 

"What do they do? Do they stay on, or go home?"

 

"They stay, usually a year or so in your block and then on to their own rental properties with more space and privacy. You'll soon find out that Rue de la Confédération's inhabitants are an inquisitive bunch."

 

"And you, Bérénice? I know you work in the Press, but how is that?" I ask.

 

"I work for Le genevois - The Genevan - It's a mainstream media publication. I work on the social media side of things." 

 

"So no surprise that you know everyone and everything!"

 

"Not everyone. And not everything," she answers with a twinkle in her eye.

Artificial : Where is my mind?

Work in progress.

Lambo madness?

Lamborghini build a new car made of carbon fibre for lightness and then adds three electric motors. 

Sounds good so far? 

Then they add a huge V12 engine as well and all the ancillary pipes for cooling, exhausts and so on. And a dual clutch 8-gang gearbox to handle the 6.5-litre L545 V12's 814 horsepower. Yawn. I suppose it is something for petrol heads to talk about at the pub.

Madness.

 

everything everywhere all at once

After svp, I see another American bank heading south. And the Donald clown facing more criminal charges. Allegedly paying hush money. Lest we forget his self declared immunity from taxes. Or the smacking down with innuendo of his own party members.

From Artificial - a character gets stolen from another story.

I'd been invited to a block party at the Rue de la Confédération, where many of the other residents would be attending, yet I felt too drained to go along. It was some kind of special day in Geneva, when they all eat plum tart. Not my scene. A party with French speakers eating plum tart. I'd already politely declined despite Aude Darmshausen and Bérénice Charbonnier's strongest protestations that I should attend. 

Instead, I spend Saturday being a Geneva tourist to hopefully blow away the cobwebs which have formed in my head during the week. I join a tour which takes me into the Old Town, around by the big fountain, a visit to the flower clock, down to the Lake, hop a boat for a Lake Leman cruise. And there was a tram included too, all with a courteous guide named Mr Gabriel. 

On the coach and then on the tram, I am sitting next to Melody, who is from Holland and travelling across Europe by train. Melody is pretty with wild, highlighted hair and wears a black outfit and carries a small rucksack. She explains her outfit was so she would not get noticed. She has a slightly edgy accent, but very strong English. I think it is how she pronounces TH as a kind of D sound which is how I had picked up on her accent. She tells me she had lived in nort London for tree years. We chat so much our guide, Mr Gabriel, thinks we are lovers and even makes a joke about us in his commentary.

I joke to Melody that we are meeting like in 'Before Sunrise', the Richard Linklater film and she says it was one of her favourites. We agree to sightsee around Geneva together but not to fall in love like they did in the movie. Melody knew the whole movie plot - which I could hardly remember - and wanted to take me to a cafe where we could drink milkshake, so we could do 'the part about the poem'. When we are at the flower clock she says it is good how the flowers could face either way, following the sun. I don't fully understand but approve of her remark anyway. She says she followed Annie Clark's advice about when in an unfamiliar city to do something real and strange. So here we are on the boat touring the lake at sunset, which is when she said she wanted to kiss me. I'm not sure whether I was part of the real or the strange. I'm sure I was another part of her movie plot.

Melody explains to me - and it wasn't just a brush off - that she has placed herself in what she calls 'deep nun mode'. Single. Focused. 'Completely monastic. Sober, celibate – full nun.' I’m pretty sure she’s joking when she adds, in a slow, funny, unpredictable way, “I mean there are always sex plans. But none for, like, a month.”

We split up late Saturday evening, and agree not to swap any further information. Well, except she admits she told me a false name. She says her real name is Cara. She used Melody from a time when she was in a band. Cara says she'll meet me where we first met on the Quai in another six months - like Céline and Jesse did in that movie.

When I return to Rue de la Confédération, I could hear that the party was still running, but I crept quietly to my room. The cobwebs were gone. 

Caught QNAPping

I mainly use Synology for servers and run them RAID 5, with a spare drive in the array to pickup if things go wrong.

I happen to have a small QNAP box as well, on which I keep a small RAID array, but it recently went wrong. HDD1 failed and went red. Never mind, I thought, the show can continue until I put in a replacement. I usually use the drive for directly connected photo editing, although I'm not convinced it is any faster than my LAN attached Synology drives. After the failure the QNAP decided to play it very safe and went into read-only mode, insisting I put a new disk in before normal service could be restored. 

Because there was no spare spinning in the cabinet, I had to wait for another one to arrive, which is now installed - and I'm now using RAID 5 on this little box as well. I've decided it is better to run a full rebuild, which is quite lengthy.

Fortunately I use the 3-2-1 backup rule: At least three copies of the data; two of the backups should be stored on different types of media, and at least one backup should be stored offsite or in the cloud.

Phew.

Daisy Jones and The Six

I read Daisy Jones and The Six a few years ago, when it first came out and quite enjoyed it. I expect I even blogged about it.

Now they've made a TV series from the novel, which was already framed as a rockumentary and so the Amazon Prime series emerges as the mockumentary. Many say it is a loose reflection upon Fleetwood Mac. I understand that but see it as a much wider piece.

For me it is a guilty pleasure. Let's list a few of the things that happen in the first episode. I know I say Girl in the description, but we are talking about the 1970s.

CONTAINS SPOILERS BUT ITS OKAY - WON'T HARM THE ENJOYMENT

• Band forms on athletics track with big brother emerging as the leader.
• They work in the steel mill.
• Drummer plays too loud.
• Bass guitarist who loans the practice garage quits to study to become a dentist.
• A substitute bass player is allocated.
• They have a really bad name which they change when inspired in a diner.
• Fabulous LA waitress can sing and has great friends.
• Acoustic numbers are played with squeaky buzzing frets.
• They drive from Philadelphia to L.A and get a place in Laurel Canyon (they got a really good deal etc)
• Girlfriend of band's leader writes cool songs (non Bechdel).
• Girlfriend wants empowerment and refutes idea she is a just a muse (strong willed speech in car park).
• They don't get paid but somehow make ends meet.
• The band bus looks terrible
• After a meet-cute moment, The Six are helped out by Teddy Price, a black rock impresario.
• They acquire a strong-willed English female keyboard player named Karen.
• They play Cavern-quantity standards on Sunset Strip to get to fighting weight.
• There are many smoke-filled rooms with Byrd-esque and CSNY-esque bands playing (always slightly obscured by the smoke).
• There is a Neutral Milk Hotel moment (anoraks only).
• Background soundtrack is filled with hub capped diamond star haloes.
• Girl composes accompanied by a bottle of Jack Daniels.
• You can tell its for TV when Timothy Oliphant shows up in deep disguise.
• A once-gifted guitar gets returned.

I expect they will break into Tiny Dancer, seamstress for the band soon.

I'm fully troped-up and loving it.

And yes, Amazon decided to release an album of the band, called Aurora. Wayne's World hooked moment.

Death and the Penguin - Andrey Kurkov

Fire the stain

The stain on the British government is making another attempt to slither back into our consciousness. A few new developments can't erase the lying and elitist spasms created when in office. Fire him (it?) before there is more damage.

Big Green Egg testing for 2023 season

This is the third test of the big green egg for the 2023 season. They even sent me a reminder to fire it up and a few helpful recommissioning tips. 

 I prefer the real fire approach and the industrial heat gauge to tell the temperature inside the ceramics. 

NASA technology, but still Elemental. 

Today I've moved onto sourdough pizza, cooked over stone and drizzled with honey. I can safely say its delicious.

The Obald

I've just seen that The Obald is to be made into a podcast and remarketed. I'll have to experience the latest version. 

I can remember reading an earlier version, which was what gave me some of the inspiration to write Coin, blending in some of my workaday experiences. The Obald's hint of Clockwork Orange cover art evokes the 1980s when far more was cogs and analogue. It's got an 'early job with plenty of characters' feel which reminds me of my early days in Scientific Computing, riding the new digital wave. When I started we even had a valve-based computer in the 'machine room'. Elliott 803. Everyone smoked and the main technician for the big computers used to field a pipe. Lunch was at Machine Room 3 - The Pub. 'Down the hall' (at Heathrow) we were installing the biggest IBM mainframe in the UK. One of my early projects was about satellite orbit coverage - albeit we had Official Secrets Act conditions around us.

The Obald, by way of a slight comparison, is based in a newly forming information society (CCTV, government files and so on) and drops NATO, submarine collisions and early warning systems into the first few pages, so you know it will be good with its strange parallels with my early days with a 'proper job'.

And Theobald (sewing machines), from which the title is taken, reminds me that I used to do work for a sewing machine company. It was an opportunistic 'bit on the side' when I returned from Germany and was, by then, freelance. I created a sewing machine rental program for a sewing machine rental company in Morning Lane in the East End. 

It was based loosely on an existing BASIC program and ran on a TRS-80 computer, using dual diskette drives. 

Come to think of it, I later supplied another copy to my friend Colin, who used it for television rentals.

In my case, Coin opens with a bomb situation based upon my early and real experiences working in London. I was alone, working in a strange room with a special kind of computer terminal. In walks the security man from the front booth and tells me to search the room in case there was a bomb. They were simpler times. History reveals that the actual bomb was at The Old Bailey along the road from my office.

 

The Obald oddly catches me again later (or should it be sooner?) when it talks about the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva. I also worked in Geneva, and feature the Large Hadron Collider in An Unstable System and Jump. I'm thinking I'll need to bring an enigmatic character called Melody into my current WIP novel (Artificial) at this rate. The rough-cut cover picture is of Luka the augnmented reality AI which I created using a toolkit and which hasn't even turned up in the story so far.

or maybe?