“They use a different conceptual system,” Altantsetseg said. “The DIANIMA system is one of the best in the world, but it is fundamentally traditional. All the security units I operate have two basic modes: either I am operating them, in which case they are like classic but very sophisticated drones, or they are in their AI mode, carrying out their own operations based on their programming and what they are learning in the environment. So, there is either top-down control, or independence—independence, that is, of a sort. It’s not real ‘freedom’—just a set of routines and then some ability to innovate out of those routines, within parameters.”

The dragonfly had descended from its transport unit and landed on the damaged automonk. It was now using a scissor tool to cut away the torn saffron robes.

Altantsetseg continued: “The holon is an innovation of their own. And yes—as Evrim said, it has helped make them very rich. The term means a self-reliant unit with enough independence built into it to handle contingencies without asking a central control authority for instructions—but it is simultaneously subject to control from its higher authority. You can’t tell where your command ends and the response algorithm begins. It’s like an extension of the nervous system, but more than that: information in the system flows bi-directionally. It’s as if your limbs talked back—as if your limbs were little minds that innovate and improvise. They will continue sequences and even operate on their own, innovating new sequences until you bring them back under centralized control. They will carry out sequences you began, but they will do it in their own way, continuously feeding more information into the system, exploring new ways of accomplishing a task. It’s tricky for an operator: you aren’t strictly in control, like you are with the DIANIMA tech. The Tibetan operators aren’t ‘operators’ in the DIANIMA sense: they are a part of what is called a ‘we-ness.’ They exist somewhere between central control and a distributive, innovating system. They aren’t separate from the machine: they are an element within it.”

“How do you know this?”

“I studied with them for three years.”