The Genome Reference Consortium is a real agency. They’re the ones who collate the research done by people like the Human Genome Project (of which they are a subdivision, if I recall correctly), and they make sure the results are shared by researchers across the globe.
As for the plane chatter in the background…well, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. 🙂
↓ Transcript
AI: I'm opening a safe under that table. There's a disk in there for you, Jacob. And a book we'll give to that young gentleman there.
Roger: A book? Made of paper?
AI: The best way to protect a secret is to never put it in digital form.
Jacob: An old DVD? "Genome Reference Consortium Catalog, 2018 edition." This is obsolete. We have much better gene maps now.
AI: Oh, do you? Well, I suggest you compare that map to your more recent ones. See how much better they are.
Jacob: How will this lead me to Fumiaki?
AI: It won't. For that, I'm leaving directing in the memory banks of your plugged-in friend.
Roger: You -- oh, wow. You dropped a ton on me. My firewalls didn't even notice you.
AI: Of course not. Why should they?
Roger: A book? Made of paper?
AI: The best way to protect a secret is to never put it in digital form.
Jacob: An old DVD? "Genome Reference Consortium Catalog, 2018 edition." This is obsolete. We have much better gene maps now.
AI: Oh, do you? Well, I suggest you compare that map to your more recent ones. See how much better they are.
Jacob: How will this lead me to Fumiaki?
AI: It won't. For that, I'm leaving directing in the memory banks of your plugged-in friend.
Roger: You -- oh, wow. You dropped a ton on me. My firewalls didn't even notice you.
AI: Of course not. Why should they?
Amazing art on this page. I really like roger’s head in the third panel, it is really lively.
Also, can’t wait to see how plane disfunctions and AI ending are related, if they are at all …
Four minutes is enough to crash those planes anywhere in Dakar, possibly strike multiple points with the military ones, land a few on any sufficiently large piece of pavement, or create a huge swarm capable of confusing radar for a good ten minutes. Still an awfully imprecise tool for people-sized work.
It’s not always about precision or economy of force, my friend…
I don’t suppose any AI has committed suicide simply by switching off it’s power source. Then again, if you crash a plane (or thirty) into the power plant and distribution nodes of the electrical grid, it’s pretty much the same thing.
If I were William Gibson I’d be kicking myself for not thinking of web-enabled piercings. Good episode!