Preface

In the world of the future, where science and technology penetrate into every corner of human existence, questions arise about the limits of human cognition and ethics. Special attention is paid to the development and impact of the latest technologies on social structures and individual consciousness.

The narrative focuses on the concept of social engineering, which implies a deep interaction of science and social sciences to create and manage complex social systems. The impact of such technologies on social stability, moral values and the very fabric of society is considered.

The story explores the implications of integrating advanced technologies into everyday life, asking questions about the value and purpose of scientific progress, as well as its ethical and moral aspects.

Glossary

Biofeedback: A brain implant for the exchange of knowledge and experience, similar to external memory, but associated with the risk of mental disorders.
Social type: A social model for solving problems with the help of a group of people, including forecasting the stability and synchronicity of aspects of society.
Virtual Synchronization of Consciousnesses: A technology for combining the minds of scientists to solve complex problems, requiring a social engineer to separate consciousnesses.
FractalEgo: Kira Altman's company specializing in social engineering and the creation of social models and virtual spaces.
Centers for the General Development of Scientific Projects: Institutions where scientists and specialists collaborate on scientific projects using information fields for collaboration. These centers are equipped with advanced technologies to facilitate communication and coordination between project participants.
Meta-image: A mental, emotional and physical record of an event, representing a summary picture from all its participants. This term describes the complex perception of an event, combining the different perspectives and impressions of all those who took part in it. You can exchange or sell on the Internet
 Noonet: A common information space capable of supporting the life of network entities such as AI and IL. It allows you to support virtual social types and keep exchanging information at high speeds.
An artificial personality is a concept denoting an entity created using artificial intelligence technologies that has characteristics associated with a human personality. They are used in social types
The limit
"But this is an amazing opportunity for people to move on to the next stage of development!"  Yesiney exclaimed indignantly, leaning back in his chair. At the same time, he cast a defiantly irritated glance at the hostess of the office. But she didn't even seem to notice his exclamation, she was absently working with the computer on her desk. Her world narrowed down to the screens in front of her and Yesinya, sitting in front of her, felt excluded from her attention, almost invisible. A moment ago, she had given him an answer that had caused him a storm of emotions, and now he was sitting as if alone in an office designed in a strict minimalist style with elements of white marble decorated with gold veins. The study was illuminated by rows of recessed lamps in the ceiling, the soft light of which enveloped the space, making it pleasant to the eyes and creating an environment where every object seemed thought out to the smallest detail, making Yesiney feel even more alien and abandoned. Resentfully shrinking, Yesiney stared at the empty marble wall, waiting for the mistress of the office to come out of her trance and pay attention to him again and struggling with thoughts about whether it was the right decision for him to come here in general, because he had little idea what social engineering was, why it was needed for the project and why this particular one the company should provide advice and, if possible, implement the project.

He felt the same sense of insecurity and uncertainty 20 minutes ago when he first entered this building. Passing through the automatic frosted doors, he entered a spacious reception room, where he was greeted by a smiling secretary. Leaving the noise of the metropolis outside and finding himself in the silence of the reception area, Yesiney was not sure if his visit to this place would help with their project, given the level of involvement that he had chosen for himself. The secretary silently nodded to him in greeting and gestured to the passage to the corridor, inviting him to go to the upcoming meeting. At that moment, it seemed to Yesieniei that in her eyes he saw a desire to support and deep approval of his path. Inspired by this fleeting but expressive look of approval, Yesiney moved into the designated opening.

The girl sitting in front of Yesieniei and who caused him uncertainty was named Kira Altman. As an outstanding and leading social engineer, she has been running the Fractal Ego company for twenty years. Fractal Ego specializes in the creation and management of social types, offering a wide range of services in the field of modeling social systems and developing social models. Their website page read. Kira's company was engaged in both individual and group projects covering both the real space, where it was necessary to make social types for survival in the most difficult conditions of space expeditions and experimental political and social systems, and virtual spaces where human interactions are mixed with artificial intelligences and virtual personalities, to create complex metareal simulations and stable nonet communities. Her clients include both government organizations involved in public welfare issues, as well as individuals who want to implement creative and innovative solutions, or just have fun. Regardless of the ethical or technical complexity, Kira tried to make full use of her knowledge and experience as a social engineer to develop social types that would contribute to the disclosure of individual abilities, satisfy tasks and direct the life trajectories of her clients in the direction they desired. She was good at it.

For example, not so long ago, Kira was faced with a unique task presented by two scientific groups. Both groups were preparing to solve complex problems in the field of spatial physics, but their goals and approaches were radically different. The first group needed only a theoretical solution for their task, while the second group wanted to immediately conduct an experiment to confirm their theory. Being involved in projects as a social engineer, Kira developed a comprehensive virtual space for the first group, where theoretical models could be developed by the merged minds of scientists, tested and uploaded into a meta-image, while scientists would be safely separated. For the second group, Kira also provided mobility for the assembly of an experimental installation, the size of a small city, and for subsequent experiments on it. She considered two possible ways: the use of robots controlled via a noonet and connected to the space of the merged mind, or the physical movement of scientists in special robo-walkers. As a result, it was decided to provide both options.

An important and difficult aspect was the correct distribution of the combined mind, so that scientists could safely merge into the virtual space with the uploaded social type, preserving their 'I' there. And then safely separate into their bodies or receptacle, without leaving pieces of information and personality in each other. Kira responsibly analyzed and designed the technical line for both groups, which allowed them to safely connect to databases and scientific amplifiers.

But the most difficult and at the same time intriguing for Kira were projects involving the creation of large public social types aimed at improving the quality of life and increasing the availability of resources. In these projects, she was able to fully realize her social engineering skills, creating complex social ecosystems where each individual could reach their potential. But often completely experimental elements appeared in these projects. Many of these elements enjoyed explosive popularity because of the opportunities they provided and the problems they removed, but were very questionable or dangerous in stable and long-term use. Bio-additives were a striking example of such an element. Recently discovered by biologists, these innovative but controversial brain implants, which allow people to directly share knowledge and experience, unfortunately led to irreversible changes in the psyche and eventually to death. Directly implanted memory created an imbalance with natural memories and experiences, caused serious neurobiological disruption of the brain and led to death. Kira, like her fellow social engineers, decided to abandon the use of bio-additives in her projects, despite their potential advantages. Although for a short time, the productivity of people's minds increased many times, and the issue of misunderstanding or non-acceptance of each other's ideas was removed from the agenda. But ethics and the practical possibility of getting a sea of corpses and related problems have forced us to put bio-additives in the back drawer for now.

Although despite the risks associated with bio-additives, there have always been daredevils who want to test them for themselves or suggest new ways to use them. And so, one of these people, Yesiney, was now sitting in front of Kira. According to him, he was a successful entrepreneur in the field of food production and decided to invest his funds in creating an individual social type based on bio-planting. Presenting his project to Kira, Yesiney described it as an experimental society in which bio-additives would be used to improve the quality of life of his like-minded people, and at this time the second internal social type of scientists studied them and tried to stabilize bio-additives in their heads. In general, his idea was to create a controlled environment where he and his associates would be guinea pigs.

Yesiney explained to Kira with conviction that his main goal was to normalize and stabilize the use of biofuels. He clearly saw in this not only a path to his personal realization, but also an opportunity to contribute to the scientific development of mankind. Kira listened attentively to him, thinking 

However, the use of biofeedback in such large-scale projects has always been accompanied by significant risks. These technologies could disrupt the human psyche, creating an imbalance between embedded knowledge and naturally acquired knowledge, which could eventually lead to serious psychological problems. Therefore, Kira, like other social engineers, treated the use of biological additives with extreme caution, being well aware of the potential dangers associated with these experiments.

After listening to Yesiney, Kira did not argue with him, but as an experienced social engineer, she conducted a quick logical analysis and came to the conclusion that her guest was not the main inspirer of this crazy idea. He clearly lacked either knowledge or understanding of what he was talking about. By directly asking Yesieniei who his mastermind and organizer were. She received the same direct response. And the answer was the name Gillak Delk.

Gillack Delk, known for his experiments in both the real and virtual world, was obsessed with expanding the boundaries of metaphysics. He, as he himself said, worked at the intersection of science and art, showing art through science and science through art. This was the reason why Kira and Gillack first crossed paths. Gillack, striving to understand human nature, decided to embody an ambitious idea: to show that one person can accommodate thousands of different people, and record a meta-image of this experiment so that everyone can understand how one person transforms into many, and then back into one. Gillack planned to multiply himself to such an extent that he would be able to independently populate and function as an entire city of the mid-twentieth century, numbering 200,000 people.

Gillack gave each of his copies a specific scenario that mimics the life of the inhabitants of such a city. His goal was to understand the depth of human nature by exploring human life in a big city of the last century. However, given the complexity and ethical aspects of such an experiment, including violence, hunger, drug use and other "joys" of urban

However, the project faced serious problems. Gillack began to degrade and desynchronize the system, which almost led to its complete collapse.

Kira was called upon to create a subsellable synchronizing social type that would help bring Gillack's fragmented personality back together. She had to play out the real drama of an alien attack on the city, which includes Gillak as the deity of the cult of the one savior from the alien threat in order to force the fragmented parts of Gillak to unite in front of a common threat, force them to cooperate and, through the cult, become a whole person again. Although Gillack later convinced everyone that he could have put himself together on his own without external help, it was Kira's actions that saved him from imminent disintegration. And he knew it, as did his sponsors and colleagues, who, in fact, called on Kira to help.

Even Gillack, reunited into one, was unhappy with the loss of a significant part of the knowledge and experience of the city's inhabitants, but Kira reminded him that without her intervention, he could have remained only a meat shell. She explained to him several times that the project was risky from the very beginning and required more careful planning and approach. But Gillack seemed offended.

But now, when Kira, having received his name from Yesiney, dialed it, he answered instantly.

A hologram of Gillack flashed on the table, assembled from voxels, and his voice filled the room:

"Kira, it's always nice to hear from you. How can I help you?"

“Did Yesiney come from you?” - Kira began the conversation without formalities

"Yes, I advised Yesieniei to contact you on behalf of our group. What made you contact me right away?"

Kira, remaining unperturbed in front of the small hologram of Gillack on the table, replied:

"Your idea of using bio-additives, Gillack, is extremely risky and causes a lot of difficulties. I decided to immediately switch to communicating with the ideological mastermind of all this, since such an idea is not only immoral, but also dangerous. It puts the fields of social engineering and biology of the human mind at serious risk. If you find someone crazy enough to put their resources and knowledge into your little home experiment, it will be revealed exactly at the moment when you turn into thoughtless, aggressive shells, and then die. This will inevitably lead to serious consequences, and these consequences will be eliminated, but at the same time, the scientific structures involved in this will be gathered for a meeting. Measures to prevent similar experiments in the future will be discussed, which may eventually lead to restrictions on many ongoing studies. Thus, your actions may harm not only you, but also the entire scientific community."

Gillack changed his expression to mournful thoughtfulness, but nevertheless remained confident:

"But think about the potential of these additives! They can literally make us equal, giving us the opportunity to instantly share knowledge, feelings, and emotions. This will bring peace and accelerate scientific and technological progress. We will be able to understand each other using the other person's way of thinking. The feuds between people will disappear first, and then many other problems. Everyone will be able to exchange knowledge, their personality, but not to dissolve into it, but quickly return back to their original state."

Kira sighs and answers: "You don't seem to see the whole picture, Gillack. You do not take into account that your additives, when used now, affect the structure of the brain, causing irreversible changes and neuropsychic disorders. Deadly. You ignore the risks and possible negative consequences of your experiments. This can lead to disaster, not only for you and your like-minded people, but for the whole of humanity. You will get a result that is the opposite of what you claim. You will bring prohibitions and restrictions of research to several scientific fields for sure."

"Let's not jump to conclusions," the small figure of Gillack began in a conciliatory tone, "what we are planning is an absolutely voluntary experiment that, in my opinion, can benefit all of humanity. Imagine, Kira, the additives we want to use will allow people to become literally equal. For real. We will be able to share knowledge, feelings, and emotions painlessly and quickly. Think about how this will change our society. Wars will disappear because we will be able to instantly understand each other using the other person's way of thinking. Scientific and technological progress will go even faster, since it will not take time to transfer knowledge. We will be able to directly connect knowledge to each other by uploading certain sets of knowledge. Our life as a species will change beyond recognition. Everyone will be able to become whatever they want, getting exactly the brain structure that will contribute to this, and not just simulating it in cyberspace. This is a real revolution in understanding human nature and interaction."

Kira, listening attentively to Gillak, could not avoid feeling sad. It was clear to her that his unique approach and lack of consistency had led him to a fanatical obsession with the idea. Gillack, with his outstanding abilities and access to the latest technology, seemed to have lost all perseverance. His words could not be perceived as anything but a manifestation of fanaticism, which was especially sad given his potential. Despite access to psychotherapeutic and intellectual correction programs, he stubbornly went his own way, like a medieval peasant who believes in the legends of the dragon. Kira guessed that many people and artificial intelligences offered him more flexible solutions, other solutions, explained why, what he was doing was not constructive, but he still continues to defend his idea now, with the tenacity of a sleepwalker. But he's still trying to do it in a reasoned way, and he hasn't implanted the additive yet. So you need to continue to oppose him, the consultation should be carried out to the end.

"Gillack, I'm amazed at your haste in everything," Kira began. "You want to use bio-additives, but modern use is not able to make them safe enough. Why don't you want to wait and help advance the research to find new solutions in some other way? After all, your decisions can lead to disastrous consequences.

"Kira, my decisions are based on a sensual and expressive approach. Sometimes it's important to act according to what you like, what inspires. Intuition cannot be ignored. After all, even if modern modeling centers, having computational capabilities and created specifically to solve certain scientific problems, using a social type that optimizes the solution of these problems, cannot find an answer, perhaps the problem lies at a deeper, fundamental level. We must comprehend and, perhaps, change the very way of thinking and existence of man. To change the understanding of the “I” of humanity as a whole, and not only locally, during the use of social types. That's why we want to do this experiment. He will help us develop models that will allow us to understand the human personality more deeply, to understand how a person thinks. Biofeedback potentially pushes the brain beyond its capabilities, and this may be the key to understanding and overcoming the limitations of our thinking."

"Gillack, you seem to be neglecting one of the fundamental principles of our existence-the recognition of the limitations of human capabilities,"

Kira began, her voice sounding confident and calm.

"The scientific community will not take your project seriously and will not run to help you implement them, because they face a basic understanding of our limitations. Those who are engaged in science or work in related fields know and understand this fundamental phenomenon. Access to a huge amount of any knowledge and techniques, understanding the uniqueness of each person, different research models and a single consciousness, a disconnected consciousness — all this is secondary. Anyone who is seriously immersed in research and wants to be consistently successful in them understands that in order to emerge and not lose themselves in this huge array of information, in order not to lose themselves, you need to remember the limit of your capabilities. Yes, every scientific technology and method increases our limit, but it does not make it infinite. Bio-additives, no matter how wonderfully you describe them, will also not make our limit of cognition, emotional or any other, endless. Yes, they can raise it incredibly high in one aspect, set a new standard at some basic level, but they will not make it endless. They won't be able to magically break the limit. They won't make it endless. And you and your friend obviously want to look into infinity. This is directly contrary to human nature, We exist within boundaries. This is our basis. We operate from him. The cowardly or the cautious try to stay within these boundaries, while the brave or the insane try to go beyond them. Your proposal just seems narrow-minded and kitsch-epic, and I would advise you to reconsider your basic views on your project and not waste my and your time. I can offer you a virtual space specially designed for conceptual thinking."

Gillak, sitting in front of Kira in the form of a small virtual hologram on the table, and Yesiney in physical form on a chair, listened attentively to her. At the end of her speech

Gillack, calmly, replied:

"Kira, you are too rational, so your rejection of our idea is not surprising. But listen, our offer isn't that crazy. We want to do something really meaningful - to conduct an absolutely voluntary experiment in the name of humanity and its future. Maybe you can help us after all?”

"Gillack, your suggestion reminds me of a group suicide in the name of science, which will not benefit, but only create a lot of problems. This is a reckless waste of time and resources. I want to remind you of your last adventure, when you, pursuing your “science” goals, almost got lost and did not die in your own 200 thousand digital copies. Such adventures can have very serious consequences, and I cannot support an idea that jeopardizes so much.”

"My past, as you called it, “adventure”, although it was dangerous, allowed me to create a meta-image of the 20th century city, which brought me not only resources and recognition, but also like-minded people, so I introduced Yesinei," with these words, he nodded towards Yesinei, who nodded approvingly in response.

"Look, Gillack, maybe your previous merit brought some dividends, well, first of all, you almost died

 “Then there would be no point in doing this,” Gillag snidely interjected

 “Secondly”

Kira continued

“What you are proposing now threatens the lives of not only a group of people - your like-minded people, but also, in principle, the reputation of several fields of science. I can't afford to take such a risky step."

"Gillack, you have always aspired to the grandiose and unusual. But your experiments can turn into a disaster not only for you, but also for others. You're risking people's lives by playing with bio-additives. We must be responsible in our experiments, especially when it comes to the forced development of humanity.   I am ready to offer an alternative. Let's model for you a metropolis from the 21st century for a million people. You'll collect the data normally, not like last time. We will immediately install all safety systems.”

"Kira, I approach science through art, and art through science. Many people consider this bizarro, but this is what proves to me the importance of humanity and its future. I'm not an idiot or a murderer, so I came to you for advice,"

Kira, I do science through art, and art through science itself teaches many people how idiotic it is. For what I'm doing proves that humanity is still worth something and will be worth something for a very long time. And I'm not crazy, so I came to you for advice.

“You didn't come to me yourself, you sent Yesiney,” Kira put in her remark.

"I sent Yesiney because after our last conversation, I thought you were mad at me after my attacks on you because of the lost data.

I always seek expert advice before starting to implement my ideas, otherwise I would have been disabled, in prison or dead a long time ago. And you know how difficult it is to find the right specialists. I wasn't so lucky last time, but it was he who brought me to you. You dealt with the problems that almost killed me with brilliant accuracy, and that's why we're here again, looking for your opinion and help,

The hologram of little Gillack paused, and then continued

"If you think that I should not continue with bio-additives, then I will listen to your opinion. I have other ideas for projects. For example, what if we recreate the sociotype of ancient Roman society, throw me into it and I try to accelerate their technological and social progress? I'm interested to see if I can get them out of the crisis of the late Roman era and achieve the industrial revolution a thousand years earlier. What are the minimum resources I will need?". 

"Well, it does sound interesting and fits within the scope of my professional expertise,"

Kira replied

 "Let's discuss your project in more detail. What is the size of the simulated society, and how many real participants will there be in it? Which area of operation is primary, which is secondary? Let's take the entire territory of the Roman Empire, challenge ourselves to the challenges of the project,"

“I'm sorry.”

Yesiney spoke up.

“If there was no conflict, and you can work quietly, then I think I'll go here more as an Intermediary for Gillak.”

"You can stay and work with us, Yesinya. Your opinion may be useful." Gillack responded.

I need to prepare for the flight, the Grocery freighter is such a job that I need to check once again and is personally present at the control center.

But Yesiney was adamant.

"Thanks for the offer, but I have a flight scheduled for a space food freighter. Requiring my immediate presence "

Saying goodbye, Yesiney left the office and, already standing on the street, called an air taxi. While waiting for a taxi, he switched to reflecting on today's events, pondering the course of events that had happened to him in the office. In general, he was pleased with how everything went. His intuition did not deceive him, it was not for nothing that he allowed himself to be made an intermediary and sent to the office. As a result, everything turned out very productively. Yesiney began to wonder what kind of collaboration his colleagues would have, what limits they would exceed…

Afterword

Despite technological advances, human society still depends on the average level of development of an individual. According to the author, in order to overcome this limitation of modernity, by 2100, methods can be developed that contribute to forecasting and simulating the development of society. Such technologies will ensure a more accurate and detailed management of society, the choice of the best ways to develop and stimulate it. It is also possible to use them for personal purposes, for example, the creation of pocket communities that would conveniently serve the interests of people, helping with work and providing recreation. In addition, such technologies can open up new prospects in the re-education of criminals, instilling positive traits in society and, in general, allow a person to take a fresh look at his society, move from a state of dependence to a state of management.

The Chat GPT 4 neural network was used to write some aspects of the work.