Kim Robinson - New York 2140

Whoever writes the code creates the value.

That isnt even close to true.

Yes it is. Value resides in life, and life is coded, like with DNA.

So bacteria have values?

Sure. All life wants things and goes after them. Viruses, bacteria, all the way up to us.

Which by the way its your turn to clean the toilet.

I know. Life means death.

So, today?

Some today. Back to my point. We write code. And without our code, theres no computers, no finance, no banks, no money, no exchange value, no value.

All but that last, I see what you mean. But so what?

Did you read the news today?

Of course not.

You should. Its bad. Were getting eaten.

Thats always true. Its like what you said, life means death.

But more than ever. Its getting too much. Theyre down to the bone.

This I know. Its why we live in a tent on a roof.

Right, and now people are even worried about food.

As they should. Thats the real value, food in your belly. Because you cant eat money.

Thats what Im saying!

I thought you said the real value was code. Something a coder would say, may I point out.

Mutt, hang with me. Follow what Im saying. We live in a world where people pretend money can buy you anything, so money becomes the point, so we all work for money. Money is thought of as value.

Okay, I get that. Were broke and I get that.

So good, keep hanging with me. We live by buying things with money, in a market that sets all the prices.

The invisible hand.

Right. Sellers offer stuff, buyers buy it, and in the flux of supply and demand the price gets determined. Its crowdsourced, its democratic, its capitalism, its the market.

Its the way of the world.

Right. And its always, always wrong.

What do you mean wrong?

The prices are always too low, and so the world is fucked. Were in a mass extinction event, sea level rise, climate change, food panics, everything youre not reading in the news.

All because of the market.

Exactly! Its not just that there are market failures. Its that the market is a failure.

How so?

Things are sold for less than it costs to make them.

That sounds like the road to bankruptcy.

Yes, and lots of businesses do go bankrupt. But the ones that dont havent actually sold their thing for more than it cost to make. Theyve just ignored some of their costs. Theyre under huge pressure to sell as low as they can, because every buyer buys the cheapest version of whatever it is. So they shove some of their production costs off their books.

Cant they just pay their labor less?

They already did that! That was easy. Thats why were all broke except the plutocrats.

I always see the Disney dog when you say that.

Theyve squeezed us till were bleeding from the eyes. I cant stand it anymore.

Blood from a stone. Sir Plutocrat, chewing on a bone.

Chewing on my head! But now were chewed up. Were squoze dry. Weve been paying a fraction of what things really cost to make, but meanwhile the planet, and the workers who made the stuff, take the unpaid costs right in the teeth.

But they got a cheap TV out of it.

Right, so they can watch something interesting as they sit there broke.

Except theres nothing interesting on.

Well, but this is the least of their problems! I mean actually you can usually find something interesting.

Please, I beg to differ. Weve seen everything a million times.

Everyone has. Im just saying the boredom of bad TV is not the biggest of our worries. Mass extinction, hunger, wrecking kids lives, these are bigger worries. And it just keeps getting worse. People are suffering more and more. My head is going to explode the way things are going, I swear to God.

Youre just upset because we got evicted and are living in a tent on a roof.

Thats just part of it! A little part of a big thing.

Okay, granted. So what?

So look, the problem is capitalism. Weve got good tech, weve got a nice planet, were fucking it up by way of stupid laws. Thats what capitalism is, a set of stupid laws.

Say I grant that too, which maybe I do. So what can we do?

Its a set of laws! And its global! It extends all over the Earth, theres no escaping it, were all in it, and no matter what you do, the system rules!

Im not seeing the what-we-can-do part.

Think about it! The laws are codes! And they exist in computers and in the cloud. There are sixteen laws running the whole world!

To me that seems too few. Too few or too many.

No. Theyre articulated, of course, but it comes down to sixteen basic laws. Ive done the analysis.

As always. But its still too many. You never hear about sixteen of anything. There are the eight noble truths, the two evil stepsisters. Maybe twelve at most, like recovery steps, or apostles, but usually its single digits.

Quit that. Its sixteen laws, distributed between the World Trade Organization and the G20. Financial transactions, currency exchange, trade law, corporate law, tax law. Everywhere the same.

Im still thinking that sixteen is either too few or too many.

Sixteen Im telling you, and theyre encoded, and each can be changed by changing the codes. Look what Im saying: you change those sixteen, youre like turning a key in a big lock. The key turns, and the system goes from bad to good. It helps people, it requires the cleanest techs, it restores landscapes, the extinctions stop. Its global, so defectors cant get outside it. Bad money gets turned to dust, bad actions likewise. No one could cheat. It would make people be good.

Please Jeff? Youre sounding scary.

Im just saying! Besides, whats scarier than right now?

Change? I dont know.

Why should change be scary? You cant even read the news, right? Because its too fucking scary?

Well, and I dont have the time.

Jeff laughs till he puts his forehead on the table. Mutt laughs too, to see his friend so amused. But the mirth is very localized. They are partners, they amuse each other, they work long hours writing code for high-frequency trading computers uptown. Now some reversals have them on this night living in a hotello on the open-walled farm floor of the old Met Life tower, from which vantage point lower Manhattan lies flooded below them like a super-Venice, majestic, watery, superb. Their town.

Jeff says, So look, we know how to get into these systems, we know how to write code, we are the best coders in the world.

Or at least in this building.

No come on, the world! And Ive already gotten us in to where we need to go.

Say what?

Check it out. I built us some covert channels during that gig we did for my cousin. Were in there, and Ive got the replacement codes ready. Sixteen revisions to those financial laws, plus a kicker for my cousins ass. Let the SEC know what hes up to, and also fund the SEC to investigate that shit. Ive got a subliminal shunt set up that will tap some alpha and move it right to the SECs account.

Now you really are scaring me.

Well sure, but look, check it out. See what you think.

Mutt moves his lips when he reads. Hes not saying the words silently to himself, hes doing a kind of Nero Wolfe stimulation of his brain. Its his favorite neurobics exercise, of which he has many. Now he begins to massage his lips with his fingers as he reads, indicating deep worry.

Well, yeah, he says after about ten minutes of reading. I see what youve got here. I like it, I guess. Most of it. That old Ken Thompson Trojan horse always works, doesnt it. Like a law of logic. So, could be fun. Almost sure to be amusing.