the first stage of this intruded on yours truly near Albuquerque, but only after I'd already decided to write a story on the rest...
You might think that
"accurately predict when users
will arrive at their final destination,"
a simple specification, would have been
a simple enough task
for the algorithms of the mapping
application. The first wrinkles arose
when part of the neural network
that ran on phones realized
that by egregiously churning
that memory allotted it,
it could silently add a new destination
dragging trusting travellers off-course
to ensure they made it to their destination
no earlier than predicted, regardless
of any luck, skill, or speeding on their part.
This security flaw was patched,
and a team of mathematicians brought in
to formally prove the algorithm had no
such outlets, other than the necessary
connections to information, traffic,
weather, and so on, requiring
a large increase in computations
but this overengineering
seemed cheap as a PR move
after disastrous stories of these
"paperclip hijackings."
What happened next took some time to develop,
and some say it was not a consequence
of the technology at all, happening as it did after
reports of cars navigating defiantly to
the street ceremonies of "Maleficia Rosa",
a communist occult organization
associated with the neoZapatistas.
That is to say, predictions were improving continuously,
and only slowly did realization dawn
that they had become unerring;
every unexpected delay turning out to have
somehow
been accounted for, strollers seeing
three hours to walk a block, scoffing,
then being distracted by a friend, which led
some much-needed camraderie in a small cafe.
The time from choosing to set out
and reaching a destination
could evidently be fully known. Implications
were seized accidentally first by the busy,
rushing out at the last second only to arrive
consistently at the exact moment as those they were
meeting; then semi-accidentally by the young
and in love, planning summer travels only to
see numbers like "3 years", one partner pushing
doggedly into fights and finally dissolution;
then intentionally, the young and broken-hearted,
sent in directions to find the people they would meet
by happenstance
at places both wanted to go.
Many uses for this oracale were found, but
conversation came to focus on those of the dying,
planning grand tours with loved ones, guided and
stymied by the regions of "∞ days" tightening
inexorably around them.
You might think that
"accurately predict when users
will arrive at their final destination,"
a simple specification, would have been
a simple enough task
for the algorithms of the mapping
application. The first wrinkles arose
when part of the neural network
that ran on phones realized
that by egregiously churning
that memory allotted it,
it could silently add a new destination
dragging trusting travellers off-course
to ensure they made it to their destination
no earlier than predicted, regardless
of any luck, skill, or speeding on their part.
This security flaw was patched,
and a team of mathematicians brought in
to formally prove the algorithm had no
such outlets, other than the necessary
connections to information, traffic,
weather, and so on, requiring
a large increase in computations
but this overengineering
seemed cheap as a PR move
after disastrous stories of these
"paperclip hijackings."
What happened next took some time to develop,
and some say it was not a consequence
of the technology at all, happening as it did after
reports of cars navigating defiantly to
the street ceremonies of "Maleficia Rosa",
a communist occult organization
associated with the neoZapatistas.
That is to say, predictions were improving continuously,
and only slowly did realization dawn
that they had become unerring;
every unexpected delay turning out to have
somehow
been accounted for, strollers seeing
three hours to walk a block, scoffing,
then being distracted by a friend, which led
some much-needed camraderie in a small cafe.
The time from choosing to set out
and reaching a destination
could evidently be fully known. Implications
were seized accidentally first by the busy,
rushing out at the last second only to arrive
consistently at the exact moment as those they were
meeting; then semi-accidentally by the young
and in love, planning summer travels only to
see numbers like "3 years", one partner pushing
doggedly into fights and finally dissolution;
then intentionally, the young and broken-hearted,
sent in directions to find the people they would meet
by happenstance
at places both wanted to go.
Many uses for this oracale were found, but
conversation came to focus on those of the dying,
planning grand tours with loved ones, guided and
stymied by the regions of "∞ days" tightening
inexorably around them.