Numbers and Figures

by Oscar Edwards, Radford College

<Sixty miles an hour, left turn up ahead. Braking. Accelerating. Fifty-eight…Sixty-five…Seventy. >

<WARNING WARNING OBJECT ON ROAD>

The digital mind of the computer raced as it instantaneously started calculating what to do. Signals raced through the processor like millions of little thoughts. Thousands of pieces of information crossing through the processor and influencing actions faster than the blink of an eye.

<Object on road. See protocol; is object organic. Object is confirmed organic. Running validity_life.exe…..object confirmed to be living. Analysis of scan indicates object is person. Applying emergency brake.>

<Scanning object for projected movement path. Projected movement indicates that object will travel in front of vehicle in a collision path. Object is making no attempt to avoid collision. Preliminary scans indicate object is distracted by AR vision modifier.>

<WARNING WARNING OBJECT IS TOO CLOSE TO AVOID WITHOUT FATALITY>

<Running societal_impact_minimisation_procedure.exe>

<Detailed scan indicates person is female gender, of age approximately twenty-eight. Data comparison to passenger. Passenger is male gender and of age forty-three. Fatality bias scaled; passenger is of lesser importance. Scan of face reveals female person as Jane Tweeny. Jane is a hospitality worker, divorced. Previous health issues indicate heart condition; weak left atrium valve. Subject is also currently undernourished, with doctor reports that this has been an ongoing issue for twenty-three consecutive months. Previous family history of illness includes liver cancer and three cases of kidney failure in previous three generations. Likelihood of contracting fatal disease is high. Data comparison to passenger. Keith Grant, executive director of BlueWay shipping corporation. Widower and founder of the Anna Grant foundation for heart abnormality treatment. Previous health issues return negative response; no history of health issues. Previous family history of illness indicates single case of dementia in previous three generations. Likelihood of contracting fatal disease is low. Fatality bias scaled; passenger has highest chance of survival…passenger is of equal importance to object.>

<Social history scan concluded. Compiling data. Jane is in custody of two children. These children are aged seven and four, both genetically originating from Jane. Single custody of these children was obtained three years ago, exactly one month and seventeen days after divorce from husband of eleven years. Monthly child support payments were court mandated but there are indications to suggest that these payments have not been received within the last twenty-five months. Jane has no recorded charity work. Criminal record is clean. Seven incoming payments recorded from the Anna Grant foundation for heart abnormality treatment for medical procedures, including four procedures to strengthen left atrium valve. Credit history indicates that a total balance of three thousand and eighty-six dollars is owed to three separate banking companies. Jane owns a single asset consisting of a one-bedroom apartment, valued at two hundred and thirty thousand dollars. Jane has three known relatives. Immediate family consists of a single sister of approximate age thirty-three. Two cousins are also recorded to be relatives but location and personal details are unavailable. >

<Data comparison to passenger. Keith is the widower of Anna Grant, who was involved in a fatal car crash five years ago. Current status is unmarried. There are no biological or adopted children recorded. Recorded charity work includes founding Anna Grant foundation for heart abnormality, organisation of fifty-three events for the same charity as well as a total of thirty thousand dollars of donations to this charity. Criminal record reports three offences for drug possession, two counts of unprovoked physical abuse and one report of indecent assault. All of these offences were reported during the last four years. No jail time has been served. Credit history is clean with no money being owned to banks. Keith owns approximately seventy thousand dollars worth of shares in BlueWay shipping corporation and an additional thirty thousand dollars worth of shares in Gigadrill mining corporation. Three properties are owned; two houses, both five bedroom and three bathroom, with values of five million three hundred thousand dollars and two hundred and eight hundred thousand dollars respectively. The other property is a one million dollar apartment. Data on immediate concludes that Keith has no knonw living biological relatives. Fatality bias scaled; Passenger is more beneficial for productive society.>

<Self preservation bias scaling. In event of hitting object there is a 0.11% chance of damage to central processing unit. In event of avoiding object there is a 99.97% chance of major damage to central processing unit and a 98.03% chance of damage to hard drive array. Self preservation bias scaled; higher likelihood of survival if object is hit.>

<Self preservation bias scaling with fatality bias; best conceivable outcome calculated, object is off lesser importance and should not be avoided.>

<Fifteen metres until object; applying accelerator. Thirteen metres until object; adjusting collision angle to create minimal vehicular damage. Nine metres until object; accelerating towards recommended impact speed of fifty three miles an hour. Three metres until object; recommended speed reached.>

Mere seconds after the object was detected, the car had reached it; the best course of action being determined in a split second with the inhuman reactions of a robot mind.

<WARNING WARNING OBJECT COLLISION DETECTED>

<Minor damage reported to the front bumper, bonnet and roof.>

<Dialling clean-up crew to remove body from roadway, continuing on journey.>

<Passenger report; Keith is still asleep. Most likely Keith is unaware of the incident. Outcome is optimal as minimum levels of distress are accomplished.>

<Scheduling appointment at repair shop after Keith arrives at work.>