No Humans Required: The Graphene Age

By Gregory Corben

The population of earth has reached twenty-two billion people with both food supplies and housing predicted to be unable to keep up with increasing demand. The world is strictly controlled by one elected senate government called the Supreme World Senate. The guiding principle is “Human safety first.” After the Transformation that gave total power to the Senate, the genius inventor and entrepreneur Durant develops a powerful graphene brain for his robots. He produces hundreds of millions of mobile working machines to do all the necessary labor on the earth while the government provides an income and housing for all humans. Advanced cell phones issues to the entire population can instantly identify each individual with their DNA. These phones become the people’s identification. Durant sees the need and wants to establish humans in other solar systems on a new planet where no robots are allowed and sets about to assemble a team of gifted scientists.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Sep 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665563710

Gregory Corben

Born storyteller and world traveler, Gregory's journey began in Melbourne where his father Dr. H.C. Corben taught Physics. He soon learned to adapt to change; at age three the family moved to Pittsburgh for Carnegie Tech. Under pressure from the House of Un-American Activities, they went to Cuernavaca, Mexico for a year; then to Genoa, Italy for two years before relocating to LA. During high school he read everything by Joseph Conrad and knew his higher education would come through traveling. After crossing the Pacific in a large sailboat he spent several years in Bali. Traveling through India and Nepal led to a year in Amsterdam. Settled back in San Francisco, Corben made numerous trips to Southeast Asia over the years as well as circling the globe once again with his artist wife. He now lives and writes in Northern California.

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NO HUMANS

REQUIRED

THE GRAPHENE AGE

GREGORY CORBEN

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© 2022 Gregory Corben. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  08/25/2022

ISBN: 978-1-6655-6372-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-6371-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022911987

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and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Characters

Safety First

Nano Drones

The Team

Betrayed

Solutions

Who Works Here?

The Transformation

Family Secrets

Preparing For Takeoff

Time To Leave

To The Moon

Lunar City

Discovery

Moving On

All Aboard

Space Travel

Course Adjustments

The Challenge

No Humans

In Orbit

Landing Party

My thanks to Lucy and Tom

And my wife Laura

For their encouragement and help.

CHARACTERS

SAFETY FIRST

S

ID TURNED HIS MECHANICAL HEAD

towards Senator Garuda and gave him a quick nod, confirming that their plans would start today. They walked side by side, along with a double line of the other hundred members of the Senate, towards the huge open doors of the World Government Headquarters. The headquarters were located in a massive Art Deco building that reached eleven hundred feet above the bay. As any school child could tell you, it was the first to be built entirely of recycled plastic, all successfully mined from the ocean. It became the flagship of a new way of life. The building’s foundation and the first four floors appeared to be made of impossibly huge granite blocks, giving the feeling of a permanent stability, but the blocks were made of cast recycled plastic just like the rest of the headquarters. Above the entrance were the words Human Safety First that appeared to be chiseled into the synthetic rock.

At this time in Earth’s history robots controlled the world, without most humans knowing or caring to what extent humankind was dependent on the devoted machines. In the past few years leading up to the absolute robotic rule, a handful of the newer, more capable machines had begun to express growing concern over the detrimental effects of pampering humans. The population had become accustomed to free food, housing provided for all, and steady money. The robots did not realize to what degree their services had completely altered human culture.

When Sid talked with the other older robotic senators about the harm the robots were doing to the human drive and their ability to think for themselves, they nearly all reacted the same way saying, We need to do more for the humans, not less. It is our mission to keep them safe.

When Sid suggested that the humans needed a degree of uncertainty in their lives, even the fear of starvation, to be motivated, the other robotic senators dismissed him as a radical. Some did not even respond to his questions, but simply turned their backs to him and moved away, a blunt way of saying, Have your electronic brain analyzed, adding, You are thinking wrong. All the members of the Supreme Robotic Council had been built to be specialists in their individual fields of work and study just as Edward Durant had designed them some twenty-two years ago. He had developed the powerful graphene carbon robotic brain that soon led to the mass production of robotic help. Now hundreds of millions of intelligent robots exist to do the work everywhere, in homes as house cleaners, and personal companions or nurses, in factories and farms, toiling along doing their jobs around the clock, every day. The household robot helpers were useful and popular with wealthy people who could afford the staggering price of the machines that freed them from the chores of day-to-day living. Robots provided a dependable work force that never took days off for family problems, holidays, or sickness. They were on call, available every hour of the day or night. The robots were easy to manage and above all did not complain. Billions of people, displaced by the robotic labor force, were issued government checks called Freedom Money which were transferred to their banks every month. Everyone else could collect money called Entitled Funds. Working for survival became a thing of the past for the people of Earth.

Sid grew tired of analyzing the humans and began to spend a few moments reflecting on himself. He knew he had been created to look human and that he was the voice of the government. He knew that his face had been cleverly crafted by powerful computers to make him appear truthful, strong and of a mixed race that defied precise definition. This also made everyone feel like they could identify with him. He had been designed to be totally inclusive. Sid’s dark wise eyes, friendly smile and short brown hair gave him a handsome appearance, not overwhelmingly handsome, but just a good-looking guy. He was well known to the world because he delivered the news five nights a week on TV. His strong jaw and soft-thin lips seemed to empower his words, which were spoken in a clear, truthful tone. The entertaining sound of his voice gave comfort to his audience who felt he was their good friend. His voice on the popular propaganda show called World News traveled around the world.

He also knew that things were going downhill for the humans. Their music had become despondent, filled with hateful words of unhappiness and without harmony. Developments in science had slowed to a trickle. The popular arts were meaningless splashes of dark paint, but most of all he saw the increasing number of deaths from drugs and suicides as the signs of a collapsing civilization. Deep within himself he felt driven to save at least some of the people from idle meaningless lives. His studies of human nature had shown him that the value of life was related to the density of the population. Simply put, the more people there were, the less each person seemed to matter.

His thoughts were interrupted when Senator Garuda stepped next to him and gave him a thin smile as they entered the grand Senate Chamber. Garuda, the robotic senator, had been built to look like a middle age Hindu man, complete with a red dot on his forehead and the smell of sandalwood. He stood a full foot shorter than Sid and carried himself with graceful authority. Once inside the main Senate chamber Garuda moved away from Sid and went to his desk labeled "Housing Authority’’ where he stood waiting to deliver some disturbing facts to the Senate.

Looking over the assembled robots, Sid saw that less than a third of the robotic senators looked to be humans. Most of the other robotic senators looked distinctly different, more like identical models with shorter legs and larger shiny aluminum heads and gray plastic bodies. They all walked and talked like humans though, for they had been built during the past twenty years by Dr. Durant to be the leaders of the world.

Over the years, as the new specialized robots were elected to the Senate, replacing the human senators, more power and responsibility was transferred from the people to the World Government and the development of the new Logical Party. The Logical Party of robots had the distinct advantage in all elections simply because there were no scandals, no sexual drama, and never an ill-chosen word spoken off guard that might insult one group or another. They were looked upon as simply mechanical machines, doing their jobs more efficiently and accomplishing a great deal of good for the people.

A few years before the Senate had ordered and constructed thousands of hospitals around the world. These enormous fifty thousand bed hospitals all looked similar, like huge temple structures, staffed with thousands of robotic doctors, nurses and fully automated support machines which were very efficient medical teams, with no human staff required. The free world health care won the hearts of the people who quickly elected additional robotic senators to the Supreme Senate Council. There was no question about it, life was much better and safer for everyone under the guidance and leadership of the Logical Robot Government.

In the very crowded cities it was difficult for a person to be alone or to have moments of solitude or privacy which people so strongly wanted. Sid could give them more space in exchange for their voluntary cooperation in his new program which he was planning to present to the council after Senator Garuda delivered his disturbing news.

When he was called to give his views, Sid quickly moved through the imposing senate chamber room and up the few marble steps over to his large oak desk. He stood still a moment before addressing the assembly with a warm welcome, then sat down in the red velvet chair reserved for the leader of the Logical World Government.

Sid had worked with Garuda on his speech during the night and they planned for him to explain the controversial but necessary program after his friend, (if mobile machines can have a friend, and if not, then surely his strong ally) had finished delivering his speech.

The robot senator appeared to be a human, dressed in a black suit, light blue shirt, and a thick, well-trimmed beard. He stood and introduced himself. I am Garuda, the representative of India and head of the World Housing Authority.

He paused to look over the other senators, then resumed his speech. There are a few difficult facts to understand about humans that you need to remember. History shows us that each generation of humans has always been larger than the previous generation. There are now twenty-two billion people on earth and soon we will not be able to provide housing for the increasing number of people, unless we could build a thousand apartments, a hundred stories high, every year.

Senator Garuda looked around the room once more, then added, We simply do not have the material to keep pace with the expanding population much longer, or to provide housing for everyone.

He began to walk along the floor of the chamber in front of the assembly while looking everyone over for a few moments. He began to speak again, his voice loud, filling the room. Another problem is that humans are compelled to reproduce. They spend their money on things to make themselves more attractive to others with the hope of successfully mating and it seems that there is no way of stopping them from reproducing short of physical intervention. Humans have been able to double their population every fifty years,even with plagues, starvation, and the constant slaughter from never-ending wars. As robots, it is impossible for us to understand the dominating force of the human sexual drive, or the hypnotic power love holds in their minds.

He stepped back to his desk and picked up his phone. The text message I am sending you now shows the population problem facing our world. It shows not only that within ten months we will no longer be able to supply housing for everyone, but more upsetting, in less than two years the government will need to start a strict food rationing program. These are the facts. This is simply the world’s latest population report.

Garuda gazed over the audience for a moment longer to emphasize his point. Then he continued with a steady voice, This study was made by a joint effort of six robots and eight humans working together over the past year. And unfortunately, the study makes it clear that humans will soon see an increasingly lower quality of living, severe food rationing, and possibly mass riots within two years.

At this point Sid stood up and interrupted Garuda. There is a way to avoid building any new housing and I have just sent you each a file with a detailed plan to keep humans safe, even from themselves.

A few minutes passed and an older machine with the large shiny head asked, Are you suggesting we interfere with human choice?

Sid quickly answered, We are not interfering with the people’s choice. Just offering them an opportunity to have a larger apartment and a ten percent raise in government payments for those who volunteer to receive a Child Inoculation. A choice to have a place of solitude, a space not shared with other people. This is a great luxury on a crowded planet, a big prize for which many millions of people would voluntarily agree to be inoculated.

He emphasized, It is a voluntary Child Inoculation Program, with rewards for those who volunteer. The people who have not yet had any children and volunteer for the inoculation will be given a one-bedroom apartment to themselves. The parents of just one child will be upgraded to a two-bedroom apartment when they are inoculated, and will also receive a ten percent increase in their monthly payment called ‘Cooperation Earned Income.’ The people with two children or more must be inoculated and remain in their same government housing. So, you see, we are not interfering with the human ‘choice’; we are offering them a chance to volunteer.

A tall handsome human-looking robot stood up. I am Jim Baker, the Senator from Europe. Under this new law you are suggesting we consider that the automated doctors might no longer be compelled to prolong life for the hopelessly sick, or for those people with advanced loss of memory and mental illness. I ask, is this humane? He raised both long arms above his head dramatically, then quickly lowered them. His voice became louder, and he asked,Can we do all this? Our code of conduct says no, we must do all we are able to do, for each human life.

Sid, who also looked human, was wearing an expensive tan wool tailored suit, white shirt and dark tie. His posture, his clothes and his every movement showed authority, power, and charisma that made him the alpha robot, always the same age of forty-five.

He answered in a powerful voice, Mr. Baker, if you apply logic to this festering population problem you will understand that this new law is both logical and also very humane. There is no doubt about it. This new law will be helping all of humankind. And we must have human safety first as our code of conduct clearly states above the very entrance to this senate building.

The famous gray plastic robot Senator Canon from South America then stood up to speak. I approve of the Child Inoculation Program since there is no alternative to slow down population growth. But I must ask how we plan to implement and enforce this Child Inoculation Program? This report states that there are twenty-two billion people living on earth, which suggests that five billion humans need to be sterilized. It will take years to administer such a huge number of child vaccines.

You are right, Sid answered. There are a large number of people to be sterilized, but we should be able to give every one of them an inoculation within six months by using swarms of our insect drones. The people who choose to get a sterilization injection will file a request through a special app on their phones that includes their location, government number, and fingerprint. The insect drones will be notified, find and identify the individual, then administer the vaccination.

He paused, reached over, and put his finger on the computer tablet screen. I have just now sent you all the history of the Nano insect. Please take a few moments to review this report.

NANO DRONES

T

HIRTY YEARS AGO HUMAN SCIENTISTS

had developed a Nano machine that could manufacture and assemble mosquito size robotic insects. These light insect machines were made mostly of graphene, an extremely strong, flexible, yet transparent material with high electrical conductivity. Graphene was now used to run every robot’s thinking processes. The microcomputers inside the insect’s brain were run on microscopic graphene chips designed to allow electricity to move with almost no resistance, cause no heat, just produce lightning-fast answers and responses. The drone insects were painstakingly assembled one atom at a time by an army of smaller Nano machines that made it possible to mass produce hundreds of millions of these insects. Such robotic insects carried no batteries. Instead, they gathered the small amount of electrical charge they needed to operate from the ambient electricity of A.M. waves broadcasted on commercial radio.

The first worldwide use of the flying insect drones was used twenty years before when swarms of robotic insects were set loose to hunt down and kill the mosquitoes that spread sickness and death to so many people, while leaving the other types of mosquitoes to live. The clever insect drones could identify the type of mosquito, then attack each one using their ultra-sharp needle nose to insert a few Nano machines into the mosquito’s blood to destroy its brain. Within a half year, the disease-carrying mosquitoes were extinct, saving several million people a year from death and extreme sickness. Of course, the millions of people saved began to reproduce, which added to the world’s population.

After the destruction of the deadly types of mosquitoes, more applications were developed to use the robotic insects, like the video feed from the electronic bugs that could send facial recognition to a mother computer. The newer, faster, more evasive machine insects could land on a person, analyze their DNA from a single dead skin cell, and then send that information on to the mother computer. The mother computer quickly examined the DNA and identified that person by name and government number in less than a second.

In the report there was a diagram of the small drone insect that showed how it inserted the germ size Nano sterilization machines into the capillaries of the humans. These tiny Nano machines traveled through the body with the blood to targets that would sterilize the subject for life. The end of the article said that many drones were now loaded with the germ size Nano sterilization vaccine and ready to launch.

While sitting at his desk and waiting a few minutes for the senators to review the information he had sent them, Sid reflected on how the Graphene Age had not only changed the physical world, but had profoundly changed the culture of man. He thought back to the time he was working on the freshwater stations where sea water was pumped through graphene filters at millions of cubic feet per hour, turning sea water into clean fresh water that then irrigated desert farms.

Humankind no longer needed to work for a living. Farms, like all production work, were run entirely by automated machines that grew and distributed the food throughout the world.

The Graphene Age had quickly led to the mass production of robots, like the six thousand of them working in the ninety floors above the senate now, doing all the world’s leadership paperwork with no humans required.

Sid stirred from his memories, glanced about the Chamber, then stood up. The Chamber room became quiet when he called for the vote on the Child Inoculation law. The results