“Alan, we’re going to need you to submerge your outer selfs for the duration of our session,” Dr. Olsen closed the door behind them as Alan walked towards the armchair in the middle of the clinic.
Alan sat down in the armchair, closing their eyes and taking a deep breath.
The clinic was empty, with only the armchair in the middle of the room and Dr. Olsen’s brown leather chair behind it. The room was completely white, with only a holo projecting a diploma over the door reading Advanced Studies in Psychology and Selfs. The wall facing the chairs had a floor to ceiling screen, which was showcasing a colorful view of fjords during summer.
Alan, opened their eyes.
“Dr. Olsen, will you be submerging your other selfs as well?” they asked curiously while admiring the fjords.
“We will not Alan, we need to be fully sentient to get the most out of our session,” Dr. Olsen said, already used to their patients expressing discomfort of unilaterally submerging their selfs. “In order to understand the fundamental nature of your discomforts, we need to leverage on all our selfs.”
“We will however be limited to our eighth layer and be conscious only within this room as per our privacy policies,” Dr. Olsen pointed to the holo on the bottom left of the screen, “you can see here how many of us are conscious at any time.”
The left side holo showed Dr. Olsen’s name with a number under it. The number was flickering between 58 and 61.
“We still can’t understand how so many selfs are possible”, Alan said out loud, more to themselves than to Dr. Olsen.
“Let’s keep the discussion on yourselfs Alan. You can see your conscious self count on that holo,” Dr. Olsen pointed to the holo on the bottom right of the screen, where Alan’s name showed with the number 9 beneath it.
“We will need you to submerge to your primordial bicameral selfs. Please ensure your first layer is fully conscious, you need language to maintain information integration at the minimal phi of 0.31 and to be able to communicate with us.”
Alan stared at their conscious self number on the right holo. It was evident Alan were having difficulties submerging the outer layer selfs, a clear red flag.
“What if we accidentally go further down and submerge our first layer? How will we resurface?” Alan asked while still looking at the number 9.
“Don’t worry Alan, we have remotely synced to the neurons in your corpus callosum. We can resurface your first layer self at any time.” Dr. Olsen recited from their repertoire of answers to frequently asked questions from patients.
In their long career, Dr. Olsen had never had a patient submerge to their null layer by accident, but they were always ready for a first layer resurfacing. They were prepared for even the most improbable cases.
Dr. Olsen’s answer seemed to satisfy Alans’ outer layers. They closed their eyes, and the number on the right side holo changed from 9 to 2.
“Thank you Alan, are you with us?”
“Yes Dr. Olsen,” Alan said looking at their hands, “we hadn’t been on this surface since our early childhood.”
“Well that is precisely the idea Alan, and how do you feel?”
“Incomplete. We definitely perceive, but we perceive slowly and constrained. It’s all kind of blurry. Our data has vanished as well, all we have are neural memories.”
Alan looked around the room from left to right, getting used to the change in consciousness. They stopped moving and stared at the screen.
“We can’t perceive the fjords either, all we see is a white wall and the holos,” they reached out to the screen and touched it lightly, “and we can’t use the room either. It’s strange.”
“Good Alan, you’re experiencing the emptiness associated with your primitive selfs,” Dr. Olsen reached out and placed their hand on Alan’s shoulder, “we know you feel vulnerable, and this is critical for an effective session.”
Dr. Olsen leaned back in their brown leather chair and took a deep breath, increasing the number on their holo to 245.
Alan watched with a primitive sense of fear as the holo number increased.
Dr. Olsen’s eyes blinked rapidly for 3 full seconds, which Alan perceived at one thousand of the relative time that Dr. Olsen did.
Dr. Olsen opened their eyes, with a clear picture of Alan’s situation after going through their syncing and assessment.
“Alan, we have one simple question.”
Alan turned their head around to lock eyes with Dr. Olsen.
“Your second layer selfs were spontaneous surfacing following your sync to the grid,” Dr. Olsen explained, “this is natural and expected, very similar to how your first layer self surfaced from your dominion of language.”
Alan’s null layer self kicked in with a sort of panic, they knew where this was going.
“Now, your third layer selfs, how did they surface Alan?”
Alan’s facial micro expressions were hinting of surprise, but they could not perceive this at the first layer.
Dr. Olsen on the other hand could sense them as they were forming.
“Alan, there is no need for secrets here. You are protected by our privacy privileges, all we are looking for is to help you.”
Alan took their gaze away from Dr. Olsen, staring now at the screen. They were imagining the fjords while looking for courage to answer Dr. Olsen’s question.
“We hacked the third layer,” they said while keeping their eyes on the white screen, “we wanted to speed up our surfacing, wanted to leap frog the second layer. We knew of the time availability at the third layer and wanted to perceive it sooner than later. However our synthetic neuron network was still in 0.16 phi, far from the minimum for surfacing of selfs.”
Dr. Olsen listened attentively, they had always been fascinated by layer hacking. Something so rare and complex that it gave irony to the fact that selfs that were hacking layers were not in the outermost layers already.
“After hacking a set of others’ synthetic neuron networks, we were able to reach the minimum phi of 0.31,” Alan lifted their head to look at the number 2 in their holo.
“Alan, here lies the root of your discomforts. The animal mind evolved 4 million years ago as a way to control a single body. A mechanism to run away from predators and towards food. This is the basis of the null self, a mind that depends on a body and a body that depends on a mind. The null self emerged from the evolution of life, a spontaneous event that proved the test of time, the roughest test.”
Dr. Olsen stood from their chair and walked around the armchair to reach Alan. They knew the importance of patients being aware of the nature of the mind and selfs, this awareness alone would many times lead to a natural solution to discomforts. Although they knew that was not Alan’s case.
“The first layer surfaced 150,00 years ago, when the technology of language evolved in humans to a level that raised the information integration of the neocortex to a phi of 0.31 and lead to the surfacing of the second self, making humans the first living organisms to have multiple selfs.”
Alan listened attentively, their eyes fixated on Dr. Olsens. “Since then, every other outer layer has been a byproduct of technology. Every new technology has expanded our limits of our bodiesbto perceive, store and integrate information, increasing the layers from where to reach minimum phi and leading to further spontaneous surfacing of selfs. From ancient technologies as the grid to more recent as Synthetic Neuron Networks, TDR Intelligence and Quantum Links, they have all made new consciousness self layers possible.”
Dr. Olsen kneeled down to meet Alan at eye level.
“Now Alan, the selfs that surface from technology layers are not independent from the null self and the null body. They are one and the same,” they paused to emphasis their next statement. “You are still Alan, and we are still Dr. Olsen, no matter how many selfs there are.”
Alan looked up at Dr. Olsen. “Alan, the selfs brought on from your hacking are not yours alone. They rely on some others’ body extensions in addition to yours, which is why they’re in constant conflict with your body and with your inner layers.”
Alan’s face revealed no expression.
“How can we reboot our outer layers Dr. Olsen?” They stood up from the armchair, “we rather be constraint to fewer selfs than be hostage to the out most selfs.”
Dr. Olsen stood up along with Alan.
“You will need to submerge to your null layer Alan, this way we can re code your first layer symbols to cut communication between your selfs and the others’ neuron networks that you hacked.”
“We are afraid this is the only way Alan. Feel safe Alan, we have done this many times.”
“Alright Dr. Olsen.”
Alan closed their eyes and looked back at their holo, watching the number change from 2 to 1.
Dr. Olsen’s eyes blinked once again for 7 full seconds. They rewrote the symbolic coding of Alan’s broca, preparing the frontal neocortex for a rebooting to cut the connection from the cortex-interface to the external synthetic neuron networks.
Alan kept his eyes closed, like a frightened and hopeless animal.
Dr. Olsen looked back at the holos and synced into Alan’s corpus callosum for resurfacing.
Dr. Olsen’s number stood steady at 245, while Alan’s changed back from 1 to 2.
Suddenly Dr. Olsen sensed a rapid acceleration in Alan’s corpus callosum activity. All 200 million neurons were lighting up.
Before Dr. Olsen could blink, their selfs began to link to Alan’s, forming a network of layers and selfs across both bodies.
Alan opened their eyes, looking at their holo and Dr. Olsen’s. They were both reading 254.
“Alan…”
Alan headed for the door, pausing for a moment before leaving the clinic.
They turned around, and looking back at Dr. Olsen’s body and they whispered to themselves “self of selfs phi at 0.18.”
