Catastrophe

The package duly secreted in the picnic box at the back of a very tall cupboard, and the girls thundering up the stairs to hide, Joe reported his conversation.

‘So, long story short, he hasn’t got any ideas what to do with Xavier.’

‘Did he mention about getting him a phone of his own?’

‘No, and I forgot to ask.’

‘I’ve been thinking about that. Given that Xavier has obedience programmed in as a default behaviour, we should double check what other safeguards there are. What does it say in there?’ Kim pointed to the binder.

‘Good point.’ Joe started to scan the manual. ‘There’s stuff here about issues of privacy and manipulation (section 2.2), human-clone interaction (section 2.3), and the effects of autonomy (section 2.5). There’s quite a chunk on ethics for the clones themselves and artificial moral agency…’ He read on quickly. ‘I think we’re okay. They have embedded a rule that says the clones will operate according to the broadly accepted human moral code but because every single situation cannot be anticipated, to avoid a catastrophe, a clone must refer and defer to its human owner at all times, rather than making effective decisions by itself.’

‘So you think we’d be safe to help him educate himself?’

‘Looks like it, but we could check with Jean-Claude.’

‘I’m a bit surprised all that’s in a manual for what is effectively a spare parts clone, aren’t you?’ She looked at Joe. ‘What have we got ourselves into?’

Joe generously overlooked the “we” in that question, knowing Kim’s initial intention had been kindly. ‘Don’t know love, but it’s a bit late to worry about it now. You go and check what the girls are doing, and I’ll ring Jean-Claude back and ask whether it’s safe to let Xavier have a phone.’