A Visitor to the Future - 54 - Thoughts and Thermite
"There's also another benefit to isolation training that I didn't mention before, in addition to maintenance," said Chisom.
"Oh, I see where you're going with this," said Gatecrash, "Isolating ourselves is about the closest us CIs get to sleep. Sometimes we want to just relax for a while without being bothered by our own thoughts. We don't have the luxury of just going unconscious - going offline for us isn't like letting our brain take over for a while, it's quite literally turning us off. So that leaves us with two alternatives - distract ourselves or isolate for a while. I personally isolate about once a week, and more often if I've got a lot on my mind."
Dela stood up, did a lazy circle around Gatecrash's legs, sniffed the air and began to wander off, content for the moment.
"I can't imagine life without sleep," I said, "I guess that means you don't experience dreams either."
"No, no dreams of electric sheep for us," said Gatecrash. I smiled at the Blade Runner reference, one of the first I'd understood in my time in the Consortium. Gatecrash smiled back. "The closest thing we have to those are neural link virtual reality simulations made by humans to simulate the experience of dreaming."
"They're not quite right," said Chisom, "You know that you're in a simulation - so the whole surreal element of dreaming is lost. It's just like being in a weird virtual reality experience, or a character's dream sequence in a projection."
"Honestly, I don't think you're missing out," I said, "All of my dreams are nonsense."
"Well, if you'd ever like to try things our way with some isolation practice please let me know - I'd be happy to teach you. At the very least I can make dated science fiction references and have someone understand them!" added Gatecrash with a note of finality, "Now I must away - it's thermite day tomorrow and I'm still working on my preparations!" The CI gave us an excited two-handed wave and went on their way, Dela suddenly appearing from around a corner to jog after them.
I turned to Chisom, "Thermite day?"
Chisom chuckled again, "Gatecrash mostly teaches Chemistry and Engineering. If there is one universal truth, it is that children learn much better when the subject of the lesson - in this case thermite - explodes."
I thought of asking whether or not that was safe for children - but the phrase one-hundred and forty years of teaching experience drifted into my mind. If Chisom was comfortable with it, it was probably safe. Probably. Besides, this being the Consortium there would be all sorts of safety protocols in place.
We resumed our walk around the town. "Chisom," I asked, "Are there any more ground-breaking changes in education that I should know about? Besides the teacher-student ratio in the Consortium and the fact that children are pretty much learning meditation these days?"
"Oh, lots," said Chisom, "Far too many to name today. I can think of one you might find interesting though. On the interpersonal level we teach the children about healthy relationships and interpersonal skills. We also teach them to recognise signs of potential abuse. That might sound simple but it really isn't - as humans we're remarkably apt at ignoring problems or trying to blame ourselves for the faults of others."
"I thought that the Consortium would step in in the event of abuse - do an intervention?" I said.
"The Consortium's remit for interventions is rarely beyond that of physical abuse - which is just one kind. The children also need to be taught about emotional abuse. It is very rare to see these days but we'd much rather they be prepared for it. By teaching the children about abuse early in their lives, we also ensure that they don't fall into the pattern of bullying other children - that's not the sort of behaviour we want to leave unaddressed."
"You make it sound so simple - do the children really learn it so easily?"
"No," said Chisom frankly, "There are almost always mis-steps along the way. Like any skill - maths, or languages - it requires practice over time. One of our key teaching principles is not to assume that children will just pick the most fundamental concepts up on their own. If you don't actual teach the children the concept, how can you be sure that they understand it?"
I stopped walking, everything that Chisom had told me starting to click together, like cogs in a finely crafted grandfather clock, "And because you're not limited by time, or by preparing the children for work, you can spend a lot more on the fundamentals, which the children can build on later in their own studies - like personal skills, or wellness, or rationality. You can leave them to apply those skills later?"
"Yes, I think you're starting to get it. If there is one thing we have plenty of in the Consortium, it is time. Build strong foundations, and the rest will follow when the individual is ready."
We went back to our study room, and Chisom's lesson, though at first I found myself distracted by thoughts about what it must be like to grow up within the Consortium's education system. All the benchmarks by which I'd measured my own growth - primary school, middle school, high school - even things like exams and school years - they were all irrelevant in the Consortium. They truly measured their education successes in a very different way. When I looked at the system as a whole, I realised that their focus was not necessarily on teaching their children knowledge in the traditional sense - like memorising times tables, or doing book reports. They were instead teaching them the skills that they would need to acquire knowledge themselves, and live in contentment together as they did so.
Suddenly, even in comparison to the children of the Consortium, I felt very underqualified to be here. That brief feeling quickly subsided though, and I relaxed, concentrating on our Human lesson again. Chisom was right - I now had plenty of time to learn.