CHARLES TAKAMATSU AND THE BIRTH OF MECHANICAL INTELLIGENCE (1).
How did the man who ruined the world come to be?
Takamatsu showing off Primus to select UN delegates after the public unveiling.
(If alarm sounds evacuate the building immediately)
The development of Mechanical Intelligences required a specific blend of technological breakthrough and personal interactions. Without any one of these, the creation of general, strong Artificial Intelligence would never have happened.
To better understand these machines—how they work and what they want—it helps to understand Charles Takamatsu, their designer. Below I’ve created an abridged version of his Wikipedia entry, laying out the pertinent parts of his life and Cortex’s development).
Charles Takamatsu answering questions after unveiling Primus, the first Mechanical Intelligence, on January 1st, 2044, New York City.
2001: Charles Takamatsu was born at the guesthouse of his father’s Hamptons complex in New York. It was a difficult pregnancy, with his mother, Jillian Morrison, accused of repeated drugs and alcohol abuses during this time. Takamatsu’s father, real-estate billionaire Frederick Takamatsu, sued, and failed, to keep Morrison under house supervision for the last nine weeks of gestation. Morrison subsequently alleged that Frederick Takamatsu hired a private security firm to kidnap her, and states she was forcibly kept at Takamatsu’s house for this final period of pregnancy.
While that is unsubstantiated, Morrison’s death eight months later due to a fatal drug overdose instigated an NYPD investigation and subsequent wiretapping of Frederick Takamatsu’s communication devices.
2002: The NYPD charged Frederick Takamatsu with the murder of Morrison. The case alleged he hired a third party (Piere McNulty, ex-Navy SEAL and Sicilian enforcer) to stage the murder to look like a suicide.
2003: Frederick Takamatsu was found not guilty after a media-obsessed court case. During the twelve months leading up to the trial, two key witnesses changed their testimony. Both experienced significant lifestyle improvements afterward, suggestive of financial inducements.
No further investigations were opened into Morrison’s death due to the high media attention and legal costs incurred during the first trial.
2003–18: Charles Takamatsu was homeschooled at his family’s Hamptons estate. While many rumors persist about the nature of his schooling, the only provable fact is that during these formative years his interaction with the outside world was limited. His recorded appearances at various New York events number less than ten for the eighteen years he lived in that secluded compound. All private tutors and family employees remain under extensive nondisclosure agreements (aggressively backed up by the family’s legal teams). What is known is that he took the entrance exam for Cambridge University, scoring the highest-ever-recorded results in both physics and mathematics.
The Takamatsu's Hamptons compound, NY, USA.
Homeschooled, Takamatsu grew up in traditional luxury.
2018: Takamatsu moved to 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 the lower deck for the duration. The ship’s crew were extensively debriefed by his father’s security team upon arrival in the UK, but none remember him other than being a polite and quiet guest.
2019: Takamatsu proves to be a disastrous student at Cambridge, rarely attending classes and finishing bottom in all elected subjects. Only a sizable donation from his father enabled him to reenter for his second year. (citation needed—see informant “16” appendix 2).
The only known image of Takamatsu at Cambridge (third right, upper, rear)
Still to be discovered:
What happened after Cambridge?
What happened to his father?
How did he make the leap from poor student to world's richest man?
And, most importantly, how did he chance upon the idea of Mechanical Intelligence, and turn that into reality?
That—and more—will be revealed on the next page ...