2001-2061 TIMELINE
One occasional comment I’ve from my books is that the events of the Alice Yu series couldn't happen by 2055—as if I hadn’t plotted it all out 😀 I understand as thirty years seems too short for AI and a Martian settlement. However. I think that’s because (even after COVID) people have a really hard time appreciating exponential change rates. This timeline takes into account where Space X now, and what it plans to do over a conventional thirty year time frame, then adds in machines that think 50,000 times faster than we do.
M.I. / Takamatsu events are black.
Martian events are red.
Alice Yu events are blue.
Enjoy!
“The following “Eyes Only” report contains information from many sources (specifically NYPD case file 77-8752-SS and FBI Case File TV-8204-11) and outlines the key factors that shaped Takamatsu, and led him to develop Machine 01 (AKA Primus). All of this, however, is entering the realms of the academic. The time for understanding has past; we live in a new reality and must accept it. One thing is increasingly clear—if drastic actions are not undertaken within the next six to twelve months our very way of life could buckle under the stresses being applied by the mass unemployment. We need to act, and fast.”
Department of Homeland Security and Employment, internal memo for President Rachael Harper, DC, USA 2053
2001: Charles Takamatsu is born in the guest house of his father’s Hampton’s complex after a difficult pregnancy. His mother, Gillian Morrison (NYPD case file 65-8395-A) was accused of repeated drugs and alcohol abuse during this time. Takamatsu’s father, real-estate billionaire Frederick Takamatsu, (NYPD case file 33-1950-D) sued, and failed, to have Morrison kept under house supervision for the final nine weeks of gestation. It is alleged (see informant “16” appendix for more [unverified] details) that Takamatsu hired a private security firm to ensure Morrison’s house arrest for this period. While that is unsubstantiated, Morrison’s death eight months later due to a fatal Penatolov Al-6 overdose instigated the FBI’s investigation and wiretapping of Takamatsu’s communication devices.
2002: The FBI charge Frederick Takamatsu with the murder of Gillian Morrison through a third party (AKA Doc McNutty, ex-SEAL and Sicilian enforcer).
2003: Frederick Takamatsu found not guilty after a media obsessed trial. Two key witnesses changed their testimony during the twelve months. Both experienced significant lifestyle changes post trial (increased incomes and purchasing power) in a manner suggestive of financial inducements. No further investigations are opened into Morrison’s death due to the high surveillance and legal costs incurred during the trial failure.
2003-2018: Charles Takamatsu is home schooled at the family Hampton’s estate. While many rumors persist about the nature of this schooling, the only provable fact is that during these formative years his interaction with the outside world was extremely limited,. His recorded appearances at various New York events (see alternate file #9449650 regarding the 2024 Opera incident) number less than ten for these thirteen years. All private tutors and family employees are under extensive NDA’s (backed up by the family legal team) and refused to co-operate with this review. What is known is that he took the entrance exam for Cambridge University (U.K.) scoring their highest ever recorded results in both physics and mathematics.
2028: Charles Takamatsu leaves NY for Cambridge, England, to study a Maths / Physics double degree. In a break from his previous routine he traveled by himself and took a commercial cruise liner for the journey. He stayed in an economy cabin on a lower deck. The ship crew were extensively debriefed by this team, but none remember him other than being polite and quiet.
2019:Takamatsu proves to be a disastrous student, rarely attending classes and finishing bottom in all elected subjects. Only a sizable donation enables him to enter his second year (citation needed—see informant “16” appendix 2).
2020: Takamatsu visits London’s science museum, where he sees Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine No.1. He becomes obsessed with the victorian inventor, believing the mechanical linkages in Babbage’s analytical engines could provide a way to leap-frog smart systems running on conventional technology. He drops out of Cambridge and sets up “Cortex Intelligent Machines,” a company dedicated to updating the Difference Engine design into what will become known as the ‘Babbage Circuit’ components of the final MI design.
2021: After six months of research and design Takamatsu borrows $10m from his father and works to manufacture his updated Analytical Engine. The money is burned through in 6 months, with no tangible progress. His father—wanting his son to return to New York and assume control of the family’s real estate empire—refuses to provide additional funding. Takamatsu applies to various venture capital firms. Despite his family’s name no VC will invest without assuming all intellectual property rights. Takamatsu refuses.
2022: Frederick Takamatsu dies unexpectedly while on holiday in Florida with his extended family. Miami homicide detectives Beeder and Filla (MFPD case file 65-8395-A). Frederick had a wide list of enemies from bad business deals and failed political aspirations. Their investigation narrows to Charles, who becomes their main suspect after the initial rounds of interviews and alibi verification. The motive is obvious—Charles needs money to fund his research and is the sole inheritor of the Takamatsu estate ($51.5 billion in adjusted dollars. See appendix #.28H for full financial breakdowns). Investigation closed after six months due to lack of evidence.
2022: [$2B spent] Takamatsu establishes a New York HQ for Cortex, and moves his design team there full time. Cortex’s Cambridge (UK) office specializes in the printing technology required to miniaturize the Analytical Engine’s componentry.
2024: [$6B spent] Takamatsu gives his first ever interview (see appendix #B2). In it he discusses ‘Babbage Circuits’ for the first time. These are a development of the Analytical Engine based in part upon the human cerebrum. He states a sentient mechanical computer is “a matter of months away.”
2025: [$11B spent] The Cambridge (UK) Cortex office succeeds in manufacturing miniaturized rod-logic gates and cog-arm assemblies. However they are unable to manufacture these in the quantities required (trillions per MI) due to the prodigious energy and time requirements to assemble their atomic scale constructs.
2026: [$14B spent] The New York office finalizes the Generation 2 Babbage Circuit design using conventional components. Even with these, they produce a new computational network architecture an order of magnitude ahead of other systems. However the advanced processing speed does not create the sentience leap Takamatsu predicted.
2027: [$19B spent] Despite billions of dollars in pre-orders with the US Government and various private institutions Cortex (Takamatsu) decides not to release the Babbage Circuits for sale due to fear the deign would be copied, and someone else would make the “awareness breakthrough” he believes is close.
2028: 24th September Alice Yu born.
2030: 12th March Paulie Yu born.
2029: [$23B spent.] No synthetic intelligence progress.
2034: [$29B spent.] No synthetic intelligence progress.
2039: [$34B spent.] No synthetic intelligence progress.
2039: First Moon landing and establishment of permanent colony.
2040: [$35B spent.] Takamatsu meets the student Rachael Harper at Stamford University presentation. Impressed he offers her work. She drops out of college to join him. A series of scans of Harper’s brain lead to the development of the Cortex Pathway, a development of the Babbage Circuits, that recreates the human cerebrum.
2042: [$40B spent.] Inspired by the Cortex Pathway breakthrough, Cortex’s cash burn increases to a level where bankruptcy looms in 18 to 36 months. The first small scale commercial fusion reactor goes on sale in France. Cortex buys the entire first batch. These units provide the energy density (power per cubic foot) required to power the trillions of Babbage Circuits that make up Machine 1 (Primus).
2043: [$51.85B spent.] Takamatsu sells family houses and possessions for final few months of funding. Machine 1—now called Primis—the world’s first Turing compliant, sentient, strong AI It achieves consciousness on September 24th at 3.37am
2044: Primus is unveiled to the United Nations on January 1st in a bespoke Manhattan building designed to handle its power and cooling requirements.
2044: The first ‘Generation One Mechanical Intelligences,’ are sold to a series of large international companies (and the US military—those sales still remain confidential in scope and power). The term ‘MI’, an abbreviation of Mechanical Intelligence, becomes the term used to describe these machines.
2044: First Mars landing of Rocket X shuttle carrying 50 people. Second arrives 6 months later. Third explodes on Earth launch delaying further roll out. That re-starts 8 months later.
2045: The first rollout of MI designed ‘true’ autonomous systems occurs. Digital systems disrupt rules based employment (law / medicine / architecture etc). Mechanical systems disrupt labour based employment (building industry, surgery, transport etc) and Analytical Engines disrupt creative employment (film, TV, Vurts etc) Projections suggest automation has the potential to replace 40% of the current work force within 18 - 24 months.
2046: The first huge rounds of job losses occur in both the US and worldwide creating huge public outcry (see the multi-million marches, specifically case file 67-2905-QM). The capital cities of every European, Asian and North American countries are hit by massive public strikes and mass protests over this and the MIs perceived lack of “human morals and external control.”
2046: The United Nations, in collaboration with the US government, outlaws the Generation 1 MIs. The situation is challenging politically and economically as enforcing such a ban world-wide is near impossible. Cortex is the only company able to manufacture the machines, but rival nation states may have the capabilities in secret.
The Generation 1 machines are destroyed (except Primus, who despite his desperate pleas, is turned off and installed in the UN’s New York HQ as a gilded sculpture.) However due to world-wide industrial competition—and political pressure—development of automation is allowed to continue.
2046: Generation 2 MI development is scrapped. Generation 3s are re-designed by Cortex to include ethics circuitry and protocols. Further development of the MI systems is taken over by these machines, cutting humans from the design loop.
2046: Alice (16) and Paulie (14) leave Foster Homes with no family, end up on the streets.
2046: Alice and Paulie join the gangs. She as a runner, he as an enforcer.
2047: Cortex announces the first commercially available full-body organic 3d printers. This are now possible due to the increased MI computational power and reduced fusion reactor footprints. Full body scanning follows six months later.
2048: Now 300 ‘moles’ on Mars.
2048: Cortex announces development of industrial scale architectural printers and begins construction of first ‘Blade Tower’ in NY. Made possible by new (MI designed) material technology and automated 24/7 construction equipment. Charles Takamatsu forms a developer arm named after his father’s bankrupted firm.
2049: Continued roll out of automation; in the last twelve months 57.33% of the USA’s work force lose their jobs. Under great societal pressure the US government announces a “general” extension of the Social Security system to cover the increased poverty and takes loans to cover budget shortfall. The increasing homelessness and unemployed give rise to a new breed of gang culture and organized crime.
2049: Jonathan Dyson, in collaboration with a custom MI, (refer to NYPD case file 22-7867-AU for details of alleged industrial espionage) unveils the solid state Dyson Ionic Engine. The ionic engine replaces the jet engine giving rise to a new generation of small, affordable, aerial transport called “Hoppers.”
2050: Paulie sets up a drug deal. Goes wrong and Paulie kills the dealer; Alice helps him dispose of the body. They get caught and arrested later.
2050: Paulie gets Death Row at Rikers Island, Alice gets option for that or enter the Marines as a “court ward” ie. court signs for her as she has no parents.
2050: Alice enlisted into Marines
2050: Alice spends year on Southern Border Wall
2050: 600 Moles. Mars is a multinational experiment, parliament and voting system established by UN.
2050: Nation states are following. China is ahead of the competition having had a ‘stealth’ program shadows (stealing?) Rocket X’s data and designs. USA close second.
2050: Unemployment hits 72%. Lack of tax income puts huge financial pressure upon political institutions.
2051: Alice is in Canada: Occupation ‘Help’
2051: China gets first organic body printer to Mars (and compact fusion reactor) and starts receiving upload scans.
2051: ‘Moles’ (original settlers) call UN for help due to inflow of printed people. UN orders China to stop. China refuses and UN instigates sanctions.
2051: USA sends up its own printing technology hidden on latest Rocket X shuttle. Is unpacked and American Beta prints start.
2051: UN accepts sanctions don’t work (can’t put them against US and china, not enough votes) so approves the transmittal of Betas to Mars as long as these people understand they are not allowed to return to Earth. Shares in Rocket X plummet.
2051: Moles rise up against UN / Earth control and kill the Betas. State Mars is an independent republic.
2051: Unemployment reaches 81.23%. Universal minimum wage is blocked (US) by corporations and their 0.1% owners as they “don’t want to pay for people to sit around watching virtuals all day.” Social security and healthcare begins to collapse due to lack of funding caused by lost tax revenue.
2051: UN announces ‘Department Of Proliferation Control’ (D-PRO) and outlaws people reprinting multiple copies (or Betas) of themselves.
2051: UN announces ‘Department Of Synthetic Intelligence Supervision’ (D-SIS) to monitor and, if necessary, capture & destroy MIs that have broken their ethics protocols. Their second, less well known task, is to hunt down the few Gen.1 MIs that weren’t found in the clean sweeps after they were outlawed. The location and deployment of these ‘Ghost Machines’ is seen as one of the biggest threats to continued human existence.
2052: UN creates ‘Colonial’ Marines and sends two purchased Rocket X ships to Mars at fastest possible speed due to Mars proximity. Run into far more resistance and bloodshed than expected (first two parliament runs fail). UN takes control of the Jupiter Mission ship, repurposing it as the Fuck You Looking At? The Fucker is sent to Mars as third ship to put down the rebellion. Officer Alice Yu and the MI ‘Niner’ are on board.
2052: Moles defeated, Martian Parliament ransacked. UN flag put in place, new leader appointed under Earth control.
2052: Mass unemployment reaches 87% and the US government officially closes the welfare, social security, and medicaid programs. If you can’t pay for it, you dont get it. Huge societal unrest and homelessness ensues.
2052: New York’s first seven Blade Towers open to huge acclaim from architectural critics who own apartment inside. Another twelve towers are due for completion by years end / first quarter of next year. All the towers are interconnected above 2000 feet by new autonomous aerial lanes for Dyson cars. These cars become the default city transport for the employed as they transition from ground level to life in the towers.
2053: New York bridge and tunnels are privatized in a series of “law free” research zones in an effort by the Mayor to attract new high-tech weapon start ups to base themselves in the city. Another seven Blade Towers are constructed in record time due to automated construction techniques.
2053: Alice recovers in VA hospital on Earth (has bad reprinted skin on Mars, the suffers entire ride back) to complete her terms of service. Is not invited back as military looking to churn through soldiers to keep perceived unemployment rate down.
2054: Alice joins NYPD an completes the six weeks basic training in the NYPD academy. (This is way down from current 6 months hence the high mortality rate of 27% per rookie year)
2054: Twelve more Blade Towers open, another sixteen under construction, being ‘leisure models’ with oceans, forests etc. Total separation of 1% from street level. Societal breakdown at ground level only held in check by aggressive use of Military and Police forces.
2054: Charles Takamatsu buys Central Park from the City Of New York and erects a twenty foot tall concrete wall around its perimeter. He plasticizes the park and begins construction of his new HQ building in the middle of what was the Onassis Reservoir.
2054: Mass unemployment reaches 96.27%
2054: Rachael Harper elected US president on a “Back To Work” platform.
2056: - “The Paradise Factory” - Alice Yu fired by NYPD after Bridge debacle, rehired by Toko Morris’ undercover team, starts investigation of Julia Rothmore / Five Points.
2057: Five Points, led by their new CEO, Julia Rothmore, wins their gang war with the big New York Five Families and takes control of NY and NJ ports. In little over eighteen months Five points had transformed from a small time outfit into New York’s most powerful and dangerous gang (see Organized Crime Divisions reports #43-4721-45 though #78-9234-45).
2058: Alice works undercover in Five Points. After a year her cover is blown, and she is tortured / left to die. Fired by NYPD upon recovery.
2058: Alice is re-hired by NYPD to help with Julia Rothmore’s murder investigation.
2058: “This Automatic Eden” US Government’s answer to the unemployment problem is revealed in Arizona.
2058: US Government, and United States (union), falls.
2059: “The Genesis Engine” Barlow attacked New York while a growing threat builds in the solar system...