![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ahollowmanWhat we've been doing for one-fortieth of a second can't continue indefinitely.
If you compare the six days in the Book of Genesis with the four billion years of geologic time, on that scale, one day is equal to about six hundred and seventy million years. At three minutes to midnight on the sixth day, mankind appeared. At one fortieth of a second before midnight, the industrial revolution began.
And it's unsustainable.
There were a couple things I learned eight years ago in a cave with Ho Yinsin. One of them? Was that it's all unsustainable. And it needs to change.
Ultron wasn't wrong. He wasn't right, either. But he wasn't wrong, even if the execution was, even if he lacked empathy. Even if he had no appreciation for the sanctity of life. Something's got to change. We've got to evolve. There's more out there, we've seen it, I've seen it, aliens, the Asgardians, dark energy. Cosmic Cubes. If we keep doing what we're doing, there is no future.
There's just one-fortieth of a second.
Darrow still used fossil fuels. It was weird, and Tony didn't like it. Why did it work that way? What made it that way? Who the hell could say, because Tony had yet to see even a single convincing piece of evidence that Darrow wasn't just some elaborate simulation, that it wasn't thoughts thinking thoughts of their own, ten million billion calculations every second on an alien computer.
So why did his motorcycle still run on gasoline?
There was a way to fix that.
It started with Henry Cheng, a boy whose first language was thought, a boy who needed his RoboBee. It became Panoptes Solutions. Soon it would be too big for the two of them, especially because there were things they couldn't, wouldn't, or shouldn't be in charge of. A think tank of two guys was a pretty shit tank. Phil had asked Tony how he'd sift for employees, and Tony had known the answer. He'd set up shop -- he had literally set up shop, they had computers and a band saw and a screenprinter -- and began to make logic puzzles.
Little metal boxes, opened very specific, convoluted ways. Not all the same, but different, with different kinds of puzzles. Meant to target different kinds of minds. Mechanical intelligence, social intelligence, knowledge of chemistry or advanced maths. Things for tactile learners, some puzzles better suited to observers or the more auditory type.
In the end, they all contained a business card with a web address on it.
The web address took them to a website that prompted them to submit a resume.
And if Tony liked the resume, the submitter was given the address of the shop that would one day be Panoptes Solutions and an invitation for an interview.
[ any characters who might be interested in joining the think tank are free to respond here under the assumption they solved one or more puzzles they found around darrow. it's up to you how difficult it was for your character. they can meet him at his shop, which looks like a half-furnished cement-floored shop with some equipment, a refrigerator, a blaring ghetto blaster, and truck delivery bay doors in the far end of it.or chase him down somewhere else. ]
If you compare the six days in the Book of Genesis with the four billion years of geologic time, on that scale, one day is equal to about six hundred and seventy million years. At three minutes to midnight on the sixth day, mankind appeared. At one fortieth of a second before midnight, the industrial revolution began.
And it's unsustainable.
There were a couple things I learned eight years ago in a cave with Ho Yinsin. One of them? Was that it's all unsustainable. And it needs to change.
Ultron wasn't wrong. He wasn't right, either. But he wasn't wrong, even if the execution was, even if he lacked empathy. Even if he had no appreciation for the sanctity of life. Something's got to change. We've got to evolve. There's more out there, we've seen it, I've seen it, aliens, the Asgardians, dark energy. Cosmic Cubes. If we keep doing what we're doing, there is no future.
There's just one-fortieth of a second.
Darrow still used fossil fuels. It was weird, and Tony didn't like it. Why did it work that way? What made it that way? Who the hell could say, because Tony had yet to see even a single convincing piece of evidence that Darrow wasn't just some elaborate simulation, that it wasn't thoughts thinking thoughts of their own, ten million billion calculations every second on an alien computer.
So why did his motorcycle still run on gasoline?
There was a way to fix that.
It started with Henry Cheng, a boy whose first language was thought, a boy who needed his RoboBee. It became Panoptes Solutions. Soon it would be too big for the two of them, especially because there were things they couldn't, wouldn't, or shouldn't be in charge of. A think tank of two guys was a pretty shit tank. Phil had asked Tony how he'd sift for employees, and Tony had known the answer. He'd set up shop -- he had literally set up shop, they had computers and a band saw and a screenprinter -- and began to make logic puzzles.
Little metal boxes, opened very specific, convoluted ways. Not all the same, but different, with different kinds of puzzles. Meant to target different kinds of minds. Mechanical intelligence, social intelligence, knowledge of chemistry or advanced maths. Things for tactile learners, some puzzles better suited to observers or the more auditory type.
In the end, they all contained a business card with a web address on it.
The web address took them to a website that prompted them to submit a resume.
And if Tony liked the resume, the submitter was given the address of the shop that would one day be Panoptes Solutions and an invitation for an interview.
[ any characters who might be interested in joining the think tank are free to respond here under the assumption they solved one or more puzzles they found around darrow. it's up to you how difficult it was for your character. they can meet him at his shop, which looks like a half-furnished cement-floored shop with some equipment, a refrigerator, a blaring ghetto blaster, and truck delivery bay doors in the far end of it.or chase him down somewhere else. ]
no subject
Date: 2016-07-11 04:48 am (UTC)Galen wasn't sure if he would consider himself a builder and a maker. Galen could build things, he had a basic understanding of electronics, mechanics, computing, and other things but it wasn't what he was. But maybe it could be? Maybe that was what he could become, or at least be useful for security for what this man wanted.
"I am," Galen said, almost surprised by how sure he sounded. Because he did want to make this place better. "Would you like to see something I built? I didn't design it should give you an idea of what I know."
no subject
Date: 2016-07-14 05:53 pm (UTC)"I'd like to see it. You have it with? If bot, I guess it's field trip time.n
no subject
Date: 2016-07-17 05:08 am (UTC)"It's blade is plasma and it's powered by a kyber crystal. It can cut through nearly everything."
no subject
Date: 2016-07-22 02:35 am (UTC)"Okay," he admitted, "I'm impressed now."
He reached a hand closer. The temperature was low, and the hair on his arm wasn't being raised.
"Holy Christ. The positive ions and free electrons are in practically perfect balance. It has no electric charge. Perfect collective behavior. You can hold the thing in your hand? Respect. Please turn it off now."
no subject
Date: 2016-07-24 05:48 am (UTC)Galen took the lightsaber back into his hand and turned it off. It probably wouldn't really do to defy a potential employer but at least the man seemed to be impressed by it. While Galen didn't exactly invent the lightsaber he did understand and know how to use it.
"So do I have a job?" Galen asked. "I come with the added bonus of being a... security expert."
no subject
Date: 2016-07-30 02:25 am (UTC)He held out a hand to take Galen's.
"You're hired. For as long as you'll have me. When can you start?"
no subject
Date: 2016-07-31 05:35 pm (UTC)Galen was honestly a little surprised that he got the job. He wasn't sure he had even really wanted it when he first got here but once Tony had started telling him about it Galen really wanted this job. He wanted to do something important, something that helped people.
"Well, I'd have to clear my busy schedule of meditating and getting frustrated that I can't find a way out, but I think I could start immediately," he said, reaching out to shake the man's hand.