Читать книгу The Mirror Maze. Almost a chess novella - - Страница 2

Only the desperate can be worse than the frightened… The Caribbean crisis of 1962 kept the whole world tense and in fear for several months. It’s no wonder that the order to start the Project was given precisely at that time. Nuclear war stopped being an illusion or the plot of sci-fi novels. A decision was made to seriously begin developing a survival strategy. The order was formulated with special precision: select and make an inheritable tendency to solitude and sedentariness, which would combine with efficiency and work performance capability. An underground bunker was taken as a model for the ideal habitat. It was difficult. Many test subjects fell into depression. They started becoming lethargic and apathetic. Their performance dropped. Claustrophobia. Panic attacks. Numerous suicides. We did not find the correct approach right away.

Now, sixty years later, it became clear that the Experiment had succeeded, however, there was a moment when the whole project was hanging by a thread… 1999. Hikikomori.

They began to be written about. Recluses. Loners. Psychos. Every label imaginable was used to describe them: egoists, idlers, drones… The mass media created many problems. Young people refused to leave their rooms and go to work. This was frightening. Back then the question of the labour force was still relevant, and the “drones’ looked like a bug; a mistake. Funding was almost cut off. Cash flows have always depended on wars. How nice it was during the Afghan war of 1979! Adaptation to life in the bunker didn’t seem so necessary during the peaceful periods, but 9/11 put everything back in its place. My Project became a priority again.

A great journey was completed! I can be proud of myself. Zimbardo1 and Milgram2 are kittens compared to me. They played games and conducted experiments. I, on the other hand, was out there creating a new breed of people. Of course, I could not do it alone. I had a great team. I cannot mention those who are still alive, but Lick died in 1990. You do know who Joseph C.R. Licklider was, don’t you? He led the first research programme targeting rapid messaging. He’s responsible for what everyone now calls the Internet. His article “Galactic Network’, published in the same year of 1962, laid the foundation of my Project. He developed the concept of a global computer network, whereas I began breeding “computer rats’ that would then populate his “network’.

Now, in 2022, I can consider my project completed. It has become self-sustaining. Everything is moving in the right direction. I am not worried for my creation or humanity. We are ready for life in a bunker. Mission accomplished…