mc.prey-第15章

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　〃Nicole　。。。〃
　〃Sor…ry。　But　why　can't　you　have　a　real　conversation；　instead　of　defending　her　all　the　time？　It's　not　normal；　what　she's　doing。　I　know　you　think　she's　crazy。〃
　〃I　don't；〃　I　said。
　From　the　backseat；　Eric　whacked　her　on　the　back　of　the　head。　〃You're　the　one　who's　crazy；〃　he　said。
　〃Shut　up；　butt　breath。〃
　〃Shut　up　yourself；　weasel　puke。〃
　〃I　don't　want　to　hear　any　more　from　either　of　you；〃　I　said　loudly。　〃I　am　not　in　the　mood。〃　By　then　we　were　pulling　into　the　turnaround　in　front　of　the　school。　The　kids　piled　out。　Nicole　jumped　out　of　the　front　seat；　turned　back　to　get　her　backpack；　shot　me　a　look；　and　was　gone。　I　didn't　think　Julia　was　crazy；　but　something　had　certainly　changed；　and　as　I　replayed　that　morning's　conversation　in　my　head；　I　felt　uneasy　for　other　reasons。　A　lot　of　her　ments　sounded　like　she　was　building　a　case　against　me。　Laying　it　out　methodically；　step　by　step。　You　are　shutting　me　out　and　keeping　me　away　from　my　children。
　I　am　here；　you　just　don't　notice。
　I'm　a　good　mother；　I　balance　a　very　demanding　job　with　the　needs　of　my　family。
　You　are　not　supportive　of　me　at　all。　You　undercut　me；　you　sabotage　me。
　You　are　turning　the　children　against　me。
　I　could　easily　imagine　her　lawyer　saying　these　things　in　court。　And　I　knew　why。　According　to　a　recent　article　I　had　read　in　Redbook　magazine；　〃alienation　of　affection〃　was　currently　the　trendy　argument　in　court。　The　father　is　turning　the　children　against　the　mother。　Poisoning　their　little　minds　by　word　and　deed。　While　the　Mom　is　blameless　as　always。　Every　father　knew　the　legal　system　was　hopelessly　biased　in　favor　of　mothers。　The　courts　gave　lip　service　to　equality；　and　then　ruled　a　child　needed　its　mother。　Even　if　she　was　absent。　Even　if　she　smacked　them　around；　or　forgot　to　feed　them。　As　long　as　she　wasn't　shooting　up；　or　breaking　their　bones；　she　was　a　fit　mother　in　the　eyes　of　the　court。　And　even　if　she　was　shooting　up；　a　father　might　not　win　the　case。　One　of　my　friends　at　MediaTronics　had　an　ex…wife　on　heroin　who'd　been　in　and　out　of　rehab　for　years。　They'd　finally　divorced　and　had　joint　custody。　She　was　supposedly　clean　but　the　kids　said　she　wasn't。　My　friend　was　worried。　He　didn't　want　his　ex　driving　the　kids　when　she　was　loaded。　He　didn't　want　drug　dealers　around　his　kids。　So　he　went　to　court　to　ask　for　full　custody；　and　he　lost。　The　judge　said　the　wife　was　genuinely　trying　to　overe　her　addiction；　and　that　children　need　their　mother。　So　that　was　the　reality。　And　now　it　looked　to　me　as　if　Julia　was　starting　to　lay　out　that　case。　It　gave　me　the　creeps。
　About　the　time　I　had　worked　myself　into　a　fine　lather；　my　cell　phone　rang。　It　was　Julia。　She　was　calling　to　apologize。
　〃I'm　really　sorry。　I　said　stupid　things　today。　I　didn't　mean　it。〃
　〃What？〃
　〃Jack；　I　know　you　support　me。　Of　course　you　do。　I　couldn't　manage　without　you。　You're　doing　a　great　job　with　the　kids。　I'm　just　not　myself　these　days。　It　was　stupid；　Jack。　I'm　sorry　I　said　those　things。〃
　When　I　got　off　the　phone　I　thought；　I　wish　I　had　recorded　that。　I　had　a　ten　o'clock　meeting　with　my　headhunter；　Annie　Gerard。　We　met　in　the　sunny　courtyard　of　a　coffee　shop　on　Baker。　We　always　met　outside；　so　Annie　could　smoke。　She　had　her　laptop　out　and　her　wireless　modem　plugged　in。　A　cigarette　dangled　from　her　lip；　and　she　squinted　in　the　smoke。
　〃Got　anything？〃　I　said；　sitting　down　opposite　her。
　〃Yeah；　as　a　matter　of　fact　I　do。　Two　very　good　possibilities。〃
　〃Great；〃　I　said；　stirring　my　latte。　〃Tell　me。〃
　〃How　about　this？　Chief　research　analyst　for　IBM；　working　on　advanced　distributed　systems　architecture。〃
　〃Right　up　my　alley。〃
　〃I　thought　so；　too。　You're　highly　qualified　for　this　one；　Jack。　You'd　run　a　research　lab　of　sixty　people。　Base　pay　two…fifty　plus　options　going　out　five　years　plus　royalties　on　anything　developed　in　your　lab。〃
　〃Sounds　great。　Where？〃
　〃Armonk。〃
　〃New　York？〃　I　shook　my　head。　〃No　way；　Annie。　What　else？〃
　〃Head　of　a　team　to　design　multi…agent　systems　for　an　insurance　pany　that's　doing　data　mining。　It's　an　excellent　opportunity；　and…〃
　〃Where？〃
　〃Austin。〃
　I　sighed。　〃Annie。　Julia's　got　a　job　she　likes；　she's　very　devoted　to　it；　and　she　won't　leave　it　now。　My　kids　are　in　school；　and…〃
　〃People　move　all　the　time；　Jack。　They　all　have　kids　in　school。　Kids　adapt。〃
　〃But　with　Julia　。。。〃
　〃Other　people　have　working　wives；　too。　They　still　move。〃
　〃I　know；　but　the　thing　is　with　Julia　。。。〃
　〃Have　you　talked　to　her　about　it？　Have　you　broached　the　subject？〃
　〃Well；　no；　because　I…〃
　〃Jack。〃　Annie　stared　at　me　over　the　laptop　screen。　〃I　think　you　better　cut　the　crap。　You're　not　in　a　position　to　be　picky。　You're　starting　to　have　a　shelf…life　problem。〃
　〃Shelf　life；〃　I　said。
　〃That's　right；　Jack。　You've　been　out　of　work　six　months　now。　That's　a　long　time　in　high　tech。　panies　figure　if　it　takes　you　that　long　to　find　a　job；　there　must　be　something　wrong　with　you。　They　don't　know　what；　they　just　assume　you've　been　rejected　too　many　times；　by　too　many　other　panies。　Pretty　soon；　they　won't　even　interview。　Not　in　San　Jose；　not　in　Armonk；　not　in　Austin；　not　in　Cambridge。　The　boat's　sailed。　Are　you　hearing　me？　Am　I　getting　through　here？〃
　〃Yes；　but…〃
　〃No　buts；　Jack。　You've　got　to　talk　to　your　wife。　You've　got　to　figure　out　a　way　to　get　yourself　off　the　shelf。〃
　〃But　I　can't　leave　the　Valley。　I　have　to　stay　here。〃
　〃Here　is　not　so　good。〃　She　flipped　the　screen　up　again。　〃Whenever　I　bring　up　your　name；　I　keep　getting…listen；　what's　going　on　at　MediaTronics；　anyway？　Is　Don　Gross　going　to　be　indicted？〃
　〃I　don't　know。〃
　〃I've　been　hearing　that　rumor　for　months　now；　but　it　never　seems　to　happen。　For　your　sake；　I　hope　it　happens　soon。〃
　〃I　don't　get　it；〃　I　said。　〃I'm　perfectly　positioned　in　a　hot　field；　multi…agent　distributed　processing；　and…〃
　〃Hot？〃　she　said；　squinting　at　me。　〃Distributed　processing's　not　hot；　Jack。　It's　fucking　radioactive。　Everybody　in　the　Valley　figures　that　the　breakthroughs　in　artificial　life　are　going　to　e　from　distributed　processing。〃
　〃They　are；〃　I　said；　nodding。
　In　the　last　few　years；　artificial　life　had　replaced　artificial　intelligence　as　a　long…term　puting　goal。　The　idea　was　to　write　programs　that　had　the　attributes　of　living　creatures…the　ability　to　adapt；　cooperate；　learn；　adjust　to　change。　Many　of　those　qualities　were　especially　important　in　robotics；　and　they　were　starting　to　be　realized　with　distributed　processing。　Distributed　processing　meant　that　you　divided　your　work　among　several　processors；　or　among　a　network　of　virtual　agents　that　you　created　in　the　puter。　There　were　several　basic　ways　this　was　done。　One　way　was　to　create　a　large　population　of　fairly　dumb　agents　that　worked　together　to　acplish　a　goal…just　like　a　colony　of　ants　worked　together　to　acplish　a　goal。　My　own　team　had　done　a　lot　of　that　work。
　Another　method　was　to　make　a　so…called　neural　network　that　mimicked　the　network　of　neurons　in　the　human　brain。　It　turned　out　that　even　simple　neural　nets　had　surprising　power。　These　networks　could　learn。　They　could　build　on　past　experience。　We'd　done　some　of　that；　too。　A　third　technique　was　to　create　virtual　genes　in　the　puter；　and　let　them　evolve　in　a　virtual　world　until　some　goal　was　attained。
　And　there　were　several　other　procedures；　as　well。　Taken　together；　these　procedures　represented　a　huge　change　from　the　older　notions　of　artificial　intelligence；　or　AI。　In　the　old　days；　programmers　tried　to　write　rules　to　cover　every　situation。　For　example；　they　tried　to　teach　puters　that　if　someone　bought　something　at　a　store；　they　had　to　pay　before　leaving。　But　this　monsense　knowledge　proved　extremely　difficult　to　program。　The　puter　would　make　mistakes。　New　rules　would　be　added　to　avoid　the　mistakes。　Then　more　mistakes；　and　more　rules。　Eventually　the　programs　were　gigantic；　millions　of　lines　of　code；　and　they　began　to　fail　out　of　sheer　plexity。　They　were　too　large　to　debug。　You　couldn't　figure　out　where　the　errors　were　ing　from。
　So　it　began　to　seem　as　if　rule…based　AI　was　never　going　to　work。　Lots　of　people　made　dire　predictions　about　the　end　of　artificial　intelligence。　The　eighties　were　a　good　time　for　English　professors　who　believed　that　puters　would　never　match　human　intelligence