Triple Helix

August 13, 2123, early morning.

Zane looks out to the calm ocean outside his window. This is his float time, when he lets his thoughts run wild. They generate a kaleidoscope, and he simply watches them, waiting to latch onto one that can be analyzed, deconstructed, and transformed into the next communication frequency.

Zane exists in a world where humanity and artificial intelligence exist in a perfectly balanced symbiotic relationship. Human DNA is now intertwined with AI—a Triple Helix (TH)—embedded so deeply that ancestors from just a hundred years ago seem like mythical creatures. Triple Helix is an AI connector that links every human to the collective intelligence of all humanity, mined in the past 200 years.

TH-enabled thought-frequency communications have created a universal language that is used to regulate all actions, emotions, and relationships. Human thought powers Triple Helix. Every second of each life is accounted for, cataloged, and labeled to feed the knowledge base of TH so it can predict and direct human behavior. All deviations from predicted events are captured, assessed for new thought-pattern formation, and logged in TH models. These patterns were used to drive the perception stack of billions of human behavioral models. Each thought feed is classified as new, acceptable, or a potential disruptor that requires changes in pattern administration. Everyday existence is designed to be precisely predictable with no surprises.

Every second of each life is accounted for, cataloged, and labeled to feed the knowledge base of Triple Helix so it can predict and direct human behavior.

Humans are now a multi-planet species, surprisingly the only one so far that has managed to co-exist with 29 other species. Zane has devoted his life to researching the expansion of thought frequencies to enhance communications with synths, the AI humanoids sent to explore new planets to determine habitability.

Zane places his palm on the glass top next to his window to interface with TH and starts scrolling through thoughts as he waits to connect with his assigned frequency. The ocean transforms into a highway, with speeding traffic and taillights in every possible color. Zane focuses on his breath in an effort to become still and then generates a high-energy spurt that propels him to connect his thoughts to the multiple frequencies swirling in front of him. That was the beauty of this seemingly perfect human-AI co-existence: Humans had the freedom to choose.

His synth team is exploring the sixth star of an open cluster his ancestors named Pleiades, which shows potential for blue minerals used to power synths. Sifting through his team’s thought threads for curiosity markers and datasets, he finds himself gazing into the planet’s blue haze. Suddenly, he is alone in the diffuse blue light, devoid of all connections to TH. His thought threads are free floaters; he has fallen into a void.

He pulls his hand away from the glass with a sharp jerk, breathing hard and fast, back in front of the speeding highway. Somehow, he ended up in the void, and this was not the first time. The void is an unresolved disruptor pattern, where humans fail to connect with TH despite all frequencies and injectables working as planned. Zane led the most complex expeditions with AI and always believed that the void only existed in the long-gone history when humans were not bonded with TH.

He scanned his patterns and noted the random dark spots on his thought frequency, wondering who else was taking note of this. Sifting through human response libraries that TH had meticulously labeled to learn and predict, Zane could not find any references to thought voids. He had spent long nights traversing labyrinths of data, hoping to spot any long-tail event that could provide clues to voids and attempts made to rebalance them. TH models seemed to dismiss voids as extreme outliers that did not warrant assessments. Zane’s pattern generator results, on the other hand, displayed an exponential growth graph, a chilling pattern that was on the rise. Humans had hit the void periodically, but there was no mention of these scenarios being inducted in the learning models completely. Rather, they were simply removed from the thought-frequency spectrum. While some voiders managed to reconnect in short spurts infrequently, most stopped trying once the void sucked them in.

TH moderators showed up as Zane’s thought patterns were generating unstructured waves, a red flag for disruption. Their measured and static assurances about choices provided to dial down impacted humans—to low-impact frequency with milder life structures—sounded like a terminal response to his ears. Zane unplugs from TH and meets his cousin Eshkav, who chose rudimentary living over Triple Helix.

Eshkav lives with a dedicated crew who led unstructured, unpredictable lives and focused all efforts to rediscover the internal energy flow that could supercharge individuals. They did not align with the collective learnings and predictable life patterns AI had embedded in humans as a life framework. Their last two interactions ended on tense notes, as he recalled Eshkav’s penetrating gaze and concerned tone.

“Zane, you do know that you are capable of thinking freely?,” asks Eshkav, almost condescendingly. “You must own your thoughts, direct and nurture them. Don’t let TH define your boundaries.”

For Zane, such discussions created unsupported patterns in his frequencies, blurred his TH connection, and left him restless. But now, he wanted to understand if these frequencies were a critical part of the ground truth that would catapult humans to the next intelligent state.

Eshkav reminds him that humans were meant to lead TH and not be led by it. Each human had a unique double helix that let it grow and glow with an unhindered ability to connect, imagine, and create human bonds without being tied to a TH.

“TH was designed to accelerate human abilities by serving as a trusted ally that could substantiate the next steps in our evolution journey,” Eshkav explained. “But we let it take the lead in charting our future. We melded ourselves willingly with TH. We gave up our distinct nature to merge into a homogenous entity. Since AI could never develop and scale models to predict unique emotional patterns for each individual, it pivoted to eliminate all unexpected outcomes and condition human behavior to align with predefined outcomes. Humans would then transition to a perfectly functioning machine managed and governed by TH.”

Eshkav’s smile deepens; he knows he has Zane’s undivided attention as he continues.

“Once you unravel from TH and reclaim your unique double helix, you will regain your unhindered ability to imagine, connect, create, and nurture without being limited by TH.”

Zane nods in agreement, and finally forms his response.

“However, I do believe that AI will continue to be a committed partner to help us leap ahead. Even the AI admits that it could not self-evolve to understand deeper nuances of human emotions. It is a most willing partner, fully aware that its existence and expansion depend on the existence of a free-floating human mind.”

Zane extends his hand to Eshkav. “Help me unravel and fine-tune TH so we can reclaim humanity and our future.”

Eshkav grins, and pulls him into a warm embrace.