Planning
They drove away from the clinic in silence, the son driving and his father sitting silently on the passenger side. He had not wanted to do it, but his son had insisted. better to know than not, he had said repeatedly, at least that way everyone can plan. He felt fine, he insisted, there was no need for this. After three minutes the son said
“Well at least now we know. So we can plan accordingly.”
The father glanced over at him with near contempt. “Yeah? I didn’t need this. I didn’t ask for this. This whole goddam thing was your idea. Or maybe your wife’s. She is clearly the one running the show here.”
“C’mon dad, don’t start this again. You’re almost 80, it’s time we knew. This new technology makes it so much better for everyone, we can plan.”
His rage broke. “Fuck you and your precious planning! I have made all the plans I need, but by God now I may make some changes. My trust is revocable, I can change anything anytime I want. I may do some new planning of my own. Better tell your wife not to go shopping for that kitchen remodel yet. At least I’ve got time to do that.”
“Jesus, will you just calm down, you don’t have a lot of time, no sense in wasting it being mad. Don’t go off and do something stupid.”
“Oh I’m not wasting it, you can count on that. As a matter of fact it feels really good to be mad. Really good. I may do more of this. You know, settle some scores, get real with the people who have made my life harder than it had to be.” He stared steadily at his son. “And reward those who have brought me some happiness. That kinda of thing. Sounds like a good way to spend the next 9 days.”
9 days, that is what the the clinician had said was the best guess. Give or take 2 on either side. The complete report was on his device, already downloaded for the customer’s convenience. They didn’t even call them smartphones anymore, he had noticed. Everyone had one, because now everyone was required to carry one. There was little you could do day to day without your device, and of course we had all been told for years that they make our lives more convenient and accessible. But accessible to who and for what? Those questions never got answered, even after years of meaningless debate by the talking heads.
It had only been 15 years since the dawn of the AI revolution, that golden leap in progress that was going to free us from the mundane tasks, do all the dreary stuff for us, and make all of our lives simpler and more productive. AI had exploded in all directions; good and bad, meaningless and profound, productive and useless, dangerous and comforting, and on and on. It knew every inch of every life that had ever been recorded on the old internet, as well as its much improved progeny, Planetweb.
Governments had tried various ways to limit the reach of the AI programs within their own borders, but there was really no effective way to do this. The various bots and algorithms, now called algobots, had been linked together in ways no one had anticipated, and now the genie was truly out of the bottle. The bots and algorithms were regularly linking themselves together, anticipating the moves of the humans to police them and rendering them useless. Now, every piece of information ever entered on a keyboard and stored on any device anywhere since the dawning of the computer age in the 1970’s was accessible. And, every image on every security camera ever recorded was there too, along with all recorded conversations, phone calls, pictures posted, everything. It was the great equalizer and the great terrorizer, 24/7, always there, accessible to those who had the means.
Amid the chaos this was causing, some very good things had also arisen. Digital thievery had disappeared, there was simply no way to do it anymore. False claims and advertisements only lasted a few seconds on Planetweb before they were vetted and taken down. Medical advancements, legitimate ones, were posted and instantly available to everyone. This brought his thoughts back to the clinic they had just left.
Less than a year ago, a pioneering medical firm announced that it had developed a breakthrough algobot which could, they claimed, predict the time of our deaths to within less than a month. It was instantaneously applied to hospitals, rest homes, and hospice facilities and found to be defensibly accurate. The implications for humanity were profound and immediate, as people scrambled to do all the things one would do if you knew this piece of information. Billions of dollars were made and changed hands as attorneys and legal firms were inundated with work. Churches overflowed or emptied out, depending. Stock in funeral industries soared, as clever planning now made it possible for them to discretely know the trajectory of their business flow. The implications had rippled through the economy on all levels.
Then 6 months ago the medical firm had announced that their ever improving algobots had narrowed down the predicted date of ones death to within 10 days. Soon, they could probably tell you within 3 days accuracy, and if so desired, would give you their best guess about precisely what day you would die.
How was this possible? The algobots first gleaned every piece of information ever recorded about an individual. Your birth weight, you and your family’s genetic history and weaknesses, your entire school history, including any athletic participation, binge drinking episodes in college, all medical exams ever recorded, marital relationships, driving habits, job related stress factors, alcohol or drug usage, exercise routines or not, time spent in the sun, elevation where you lived, everything. And of course all medical records from birth until the current moment. From this data they applied their proprietary algorithmic calculations, which they had been quietly testing against the death records of the samples of the human population they were tracking. This model was then refined constantly, emphasizing some factors and downsizing others, until their predicted dates of death for the subjects begin to get closer and closer to the real data collected from death certificates. When they were reliably within a month of accuracy, they made the announcement, simultaneously opening a network or clinics, where for a significant fee they would run your data and give you the results. For an extra fee they would also tell you what the cause of your death was most likely to be.
Enormous amounts of money had been made by the investors who got in on the ground floor, and arguments by the millions had exploded all over Planetweb, but they made no difference. The technology was here and it was going to be used. With further refinement their algobots had now gotten accurate to within 10 days, and the initial pricing for the service would be slashed by 50%, making the service available to most people.
So his son had badgered him into getting the test done. Yes, he was almost 80, but a remarkable specimen for his age. He ate well, exercised, hadn’t had a drink of alcohol in years, and was mentally as sharp as those around him. But 9 days, the man had said, give or take 2 on either side, a new level of accuracy, he had said, smiling. So possibly as few as 7 days. It would be a massive cardiac event or stroke.
They had been riding in silence for more than 5 minutes when his son spoke up.
“How do you want to spend the time that you have?”
No expression of sympathy or love or sorrow, the father noted.
“ I don’t know yet. Just take me home. I have some things I want to do. Some calls I have to make.”
“To who?”
“None of your concern. Personal matters.”
“Look, I hope you don’t go off and do something stupid, I mean you said that your Will and Trust were both current, so…” His father cut him off.
“This may be news to you, but there are other concerns here besides my money. And it is still my money, for 7 more days at the least. If I were you I’d be careful that YOU don’t do anything stupid, like really piss me off. That reminds me, I have to get ahold of Marnie and let her know.”
“Really? Last I heard she was on Santorini or Crete with her boyfriend. Why get her involved?”
“ Jesus Christ, because she’s my daughter. And your sister, by the way. She has a right to know, maybe she can get back here before I go.”
“Oh she’ll come back alright, to get her money,” the son muttered.
He turned and looked at his son again, a long assessing look. He realized how much he disliked this person his son had become. He wanted to be away from him.
“You know it’s true, how often do you see her? Once every 6 months? Less? I don’t doubt that Daddy’s little girl will come running back home now. But Goddam it Dad, we aren’t kids anymore. This is real life, and she’s still out there running around like some college girl on semester break.”
“She has her life and you have yours. You’re both doing what you wanted, I suppose, so no real need for all that resentment. You’ve got your family, and your house, a couple of decent cars, and whatever else is on your wife’s list.”
“Hey, that’s not fair, she’s doing a good job with the house and the kids. It’s not like she’s just waiting around for you to die. But the reality is that it’s unbelievably expensive to do anything these days. We’re just trying to build some wealth like everyone else.”
“Just be quiet and take me home. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
“Aw c’mon Dad, don’t be that way. There’s not much time left. This is the time we should be talking about things. Important things.“ After a moment of silence he said, “Aren’t there some things you want to say to me, maybe to your grandkids?”
His father looked out the window and turned his back on him as much as he could in the car seat. “I have nothing to say to you. Just take me home or drop me here and I’ll get a rideshare.”
They rode the rest of the way in silence. When they pulled up to his home, he opened the door without a word. Then he turned to his son and said again, “I didn’t ask for this.” Frustrated, his son just nodded in silence, and murmured, “ OK, alright,“ then slowly drove away. In the mirror he saw his father staring at him as he drove away, then he turned and walked toward his house.
He spent the first two days contacting old friends or relatives he had maintained contact with. He told them matter of factly what was going on, and how little time he had left. They all agreed that it was a shame, but what could anyone do? They wished him their best, or told him he was loved, which was nice.
On the third day his daughter arrived from somewhere in the Mediterranean. She wept and he comforted her, which also felt nice. They talked easily and caught up on each others’ lives. She had a partner, a man whom she said was steady and reliable, and had the wanderlust like her. He assured her that her inheritance was in place, and that her share of the assets he had would flow to her once he was gone. She shook her head and waved the conversation off, saying it wasn’t important and she would be fine, no matter what happened. He marveled at how different she was from her brother. How could two children with the same parents who grew up in the same household be so completely different.
They took several leisurely walks together, and eventually the father and his two children got together for a somewhat uncomfortable meal. With his death imminent, they engaged on irrelevant small talk as if they saw each other every day, and no one seemed to know a way forward to a meaningful conversation.
On the fifth day he realized that he was bored. His affairs were in order, everyone had been notified, and now… what? No time to take a trip. He had between four and six days to live, and could not think of what to do with himself. He over-ate when he felt like it, because it pleased him. His daughter puttered around the house, and his son stopped by daily after work. No one seemed to have anything significant to say. Here was this giant opportunity to say exactly what they wanted to each other and no one did. He pondered that, and did not know what to make of it.
With two days left, he went for walks in their local park, it was a fine time to be outdoors. He would miss this, he decided, more than he would miss most of the people in his life. On the eighth night they all had a dinner together at his house, including his son’s wife and his grandchildren. He had never grown close to the woman, despite trying in the early years. They tolerated each other because they had the grandchildren in common. They all agreed that in retrospect he had lived a good life, and though he had lost his wife early, he had soldiered on and made a good showing in his second chapter as a widower. He decided to get a little drunk, and after three glasses of wine and nursing a fourth he was feeling downright merry. That helped a bit, and at the end of the evening they all expressed their love for one another, but strangely there were no tears. Eventually he went to bed, wondering in the darkness if he would wake up.
He did, a fact that genuinely pleased him. His daughter made him a huge breakfast, with bacon and everything else, and why not? After the big breakfast and feeling a little bleary from all of the wine, he decided to take a late morning nap, and later that day his daughter found him. He had passed in his sleep, a good way to go and everyone’s choice, if we got to choose our exiting strategy. The plans in place were initiated, and as he had told her everything flowed as it should. The house would be sold and the assets disbursed, and the two children could get on with their lives.
Ten days after his death, his daughter went back to her lover in the Mediterranean, and his daughter-in-law began making plans for a serious remodel of their house. One day the son got a message on his device asking him to drop by the clinic one final time. He was annoyed, he was quite sure he had paid the bill out of his own pocket. But he wanted to wrap up all of the loose ends of his father’s affairs so they could get on with their lives, especially that remodel.
When he got to the clinic, the same technician who had dealt with his father happened to be chatting with someone in the parking lot. He waved him over in a friendly manner, and said a quick goodbye to the other person, who walked away.
“Hey, thanks for coming by, how are you all doing?”
“We’re all fine, thank you. Listen, I’m in a bit of a time squeeze here, what is this about?”
“Oh, right, I just wanted to let you know that your results are in and I just need your ok before I send them to your device.”
“ Results? What results?”
“Your mortality calculation. Didn’t you know?”
“Know what? The calculation was for my father, not me.”
“Right, but your father paid for a test to be run on you also, a few days after we told him his results. Didn’t he tell you?”
The son was flabbergasted. The implications were already swirling in his head.
“No… no one told me anything about this. So.. you have a date for me? I mean, you have a number?“
“Yes, of course, that’s what we do here. I just need your ok to send it to you. Shall I send it?”
The son was speechless. A moment ago he had been thinking about kitchen counter tops.
“ Wait, I didn’t ask for this. I’m 44, for. Chrissakes. I don’t need to know this. I’ve got small kids. Why the hell would you do this?”
“Well, as you told your dad, it’s good to know for planning purposes. Never too early to get your plan in place.”
He felt a rage building. Suddenly someone else was in charge of his life. It wasn’t his choice anymore.
“Goddam it, I can’t believe you people have done this without my consent. Maybe there is some liability here somewhere. Maybe I need to contact an attorney.”
“ Hey, look, calm down, the information has not been released to anyone. As your technician, I am literally the only person on earth who knows. If you don’t want me to send you the date, then I won’t do it. No need to get unpleasant.”
“Unpleasant? You think this is unpleasant? You little jerk, you and this freak show here you work for had no right to go prying in my affairs. I didn’t ask for this, what the hell gives you the right?”
The technicians face darkened as he absorbed the insult. He said slowly,
“One more time, your father, a client, paid for our services. He even paid a little extra on the condition that we wait until after he had passed before telling you. I guess maybe he wanted to return the favor.”
The son, now enraged, thought he detected a slight hint of smugness in the man’s voice. He exploded.
“Fuck this place and fuck you, you little asshole! You’ll be hearing from my attorney!”
“So I guess you won’t be wanting to see the results? You might want to just take a quick look”
“Wasn’t I clear enough?” He screamed, “Fuck you and fuck this place! “ He shot a middle finger at the technician, then began to drive away. As he did, their eyes met in the rear view mirror. The technician took a quick glance towards the clinic, and seeing no one, he held up ten fingers to the man, and then turned and walked into the building.
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