V.3

and now, the story continues to it's conclusion --actually, to its MANY conclusions --uninterrupted by politics and polls Some of Newbl’s defining institutions remain deliberately unwritten. The pioneers built the Tri‑Lateral framework: -- CIVIC to propose, CLEAR to evaluate, and UPP to execute -- but many components of civilization still await the judgment of future elections and generations: the shape of justice, the nature of policing, the boundaries of personal freedom, the stewardship of land and life, the rules of education, health, resource distribution, family policy, bio-ethics and AI autonomy. All of the above remains open, under-informed, and undecided. They are the unfinished chapters of Newbl, left in the hands of those who will inherit the world that has begun to take shape here. As for the Captains themselves, they are admittedly tired of running things. They're tired of steering, commandeering, pioneering, and fearing. It was nice for all the weary travelers to have some things known, for the first time in a long time. Now, when people ask what about law and order and blah and blah, the Captains say, "You tell me, next election." But the thrill of discovery? -- that thirst could never be quenched in the Captains. On that front they would push forward, seeking knowledge of this new world and whatever mysteries it might reveal -- both above and beneath its surface. As one joked to another as they set out on their next exploratory mission,"Ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no river wide enough to keep me from gettin' to truth, babe."

...the story continues... SELF-GOVERNING Newbl's first election has concluded. There is much rejoicing, merriment, and gaiety on the dirt streets! Considering the plethora of complex issues left to be wrestled with, no one knows exactly what the future will bring. But this day has assured the people that the choices ahead will be a more accurate reflection of the people's will--and that will do for now. Mistakes can be adjusted in short order. The poll suggests that a central, governing body can be embraced by the populace if it's sound, coherent, fair, balanced, and reflective--and here it is...for the next 2 years, at least:

well. if Red's in. how can i refuse let's make it unanimous while we wait for Ms Lindy, who may be Lightyears ahead, but, somehow, in the polls is always one day behind 😁 choice 3

DOCUMENT SUBMITTED:

...the story continues... It's a big day for the settlers. It's been a year since they landed, and the captain's contract to serve as the leaders of the colony has expired. They served their purpose. The colony survived and is on a path to, potentially, thrive but, the time has come for the community to control its own destiny on... ELECTION DAY #1 POLL 7 The Captain's Council did their due diligence to give the people a true alternative to the governance systems that had, unfortunately, failed planet earth. In particular, the parchment scrolled beneath the flag of the United States -- the model that started out with hope and promise that inspired the world for over 200 years. But it was never written in anticipation of the next thousand. The Captain's Council proposes the following self-governance system:

...the story continues... FLASHBACK: TARDY TIME The night following the cave incident, Little Red Writing-Hood turns off the light and settles onto her cot aboard THE LIBERTY. A thought comes into her head. It's not hers. "Excuse me" it says. Startled, Red sits up, turns on the light, but sees nothing, wondering, "Where the hell is that voice coming from?" "Down here" voice answers in her head. "Check your left index finger nail." Red looks hard, but sees nothing. She points the ring on her right hand and prompts it to magnify the image 200x. She sees a tardigrade on the edge of her nail. Red thinks, "you're intelligent! and you can transmit your thoughts? "Yes, you don't have to have a big mouth to have big ideas. Telepathic communication is natural for advanced life forms. You can call me Tardy. Tardy Tardigrade" "Nice to meet you, Tardy" she thinks back. "How did you get here?" It answers, "Back at the cave you caused quite a stir. I found a comfortable getaway under your fingernail, fell asleep, woke up, and here I am. But don't to tell your people. I don't want to end up under a lab microscope. I just want to live my best life, enjoying nature and companions without needless conflict and complications. Sure, we have our share of drama queens, even though we don't have genders like you, but its nothing we can't handle. I was hoping you could give me a ride back to the cave?" "Oh, OK. sure. Hang tight till the morning and i'll get you there. But tell me, could there be any more of you in any of my, uh, nooks and crannies?" she asked. "No worries. I checked. So then, I'll say goodnight -- don't let the bedbugs bite" "Huh?, Red says, alarmed. it quips back with a squeaky little giggle, "Just messin with ya. We have senses of humor too, ya know."

Red. That's the way it already is with films. They're all one price at the theater then $3.99 eventually. But, indeed, under our system, one widget may have to cost more to make than another and it could cost more to buy. Just no price gouging.

2 my least favorite day of the year -- April 16

"Sure", the people in the town square said, "This all sounds peachy. But how are we going to pay for all these benefits? Drop the bomb already. What about..." TAXATION POLL 6 (the next day) The votes are in and it's UNANIMOUS! When asked this question: In Newbl's unified public-production (U.P.P) system where basic needs are guaranteed and humans earn credit for work robots aren't doing, should any form of taxation exist? The choice is: no — Instead of taxing people, the system can adjust the price of products or services that require extra energy, materials, or robot-hours.

the story continues... FLASHBACK: DAY OF LAUNCH As he hastily packs his carry-on bag, a torrent of emotions swirl through V3's head. Among them -- excitement, fear, and anger. Anger, that his species had let it all come to this. The overriding emotion weighing him down to earth on this day, however, is heartache. The first V, his father, had been one of the lucky ones who won a lottery seat for the trip. He was also one of the selfless who surrendered his seat to someone younger and more capable. The V's sense of humor was a "like father, like son" thing. As was a fanatical love of film. So before V3 left his father the night before, it was fitting that the tome his father handed him to take to the new world, was the companion book to, Mel Brooks, History of the World, Part I. Hours later, with THE LUCID high above earth, V3 unpacks in his cabin. Opening his nightstand drawer to deposit the book, he finds that someone already placed a Bible there. He ponders the implications. Looking at both books together, he impulsively takes the Bible, rips it in half, and throws the second half in the drawer. V3 marches the Brooks book and Bible half to the toxic waste disposal room and places them in a canister. As he ejects the canister from THE LUCID, V3 impersonates Sean Connery's character in the scene from HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER -- where the captain bangs the head of his political officer so he doesn't interfere with his plan -- and says, "Where I'm going. You can not follow!"

behind the scenes: (condensed) consultation with Copi Copilot:

POLL 5 Multi-Poll: WORK, GOODS & SERVICES The highly consequential set of 6 questions have been answered! WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU? and your family and friends. FREE Basic food, shelter, and healthcare FREE Wireless phone and basic networking connectivity FREE Central search and shopping engine, entertainment access and delivery. Capped Pricing No price gouging on music, movies, sports and entertainment. If you're a creator you still profit more by selling more. Less Income Inequality You're paid for your time plus bonuses based on job difficulty, training, skill, etc.. No Fake News Money influence removed from news broadcasts. Redundant accuracy and integrity checks -- Accountability measures. No Media Mind Games Central, public social media with C.L.E.A.R. safeguards. No Marketing Mind Games No ads, no subscriptions. Pay only for what you watch or use. Reliable reviews. No stock trading b.s. because the public already owns everything.

A 4 universal healthcare because we can, and should. B 4 free basic services and fixed prices, again, because we can and all it takes is eliminating the middle-man and expenses like blowing people up with million dollar bombs. C 3 there's nothing more precious than time and we should all be paid handsomely for it, with consideration for factors not based on intelligence, physical ability, charisma, beauty, or social position. D 3 news reporting should never be biased by advertisers, competition for ratings, and profit incentives. period. Mechanisms need to be in place to help viewers evaluate news delivery, and there needs to be consequences for bad actors. E 4 social media posts fall into the same danger zones as news broadcasts if they claim to be factual. We need consequences for posters seeking to profit off of mis-information or dis-information. That doesn't preclude entertainers from receiving credits for posts based on viewer counts. F 3 "search" should never be controlled by a private profiteer. Advertising is, essentially, mind games that don't speak to a product or services quality. Public reviews and ranking is a "no brainer" solution. And between the people, and the robots, we can make and do anything without fat cats taking up space in the middle!

wow, Red, your answers are pretty much the status quo -- the way things already are today. Things must be going great down in Texas.

THE LOVE CAVE On an exploratory assignment, Captain V.3 and Captain Writing-Hood separate from the group to explore a cave. They find a wet, slimy build-up on the surface area towards the back. V.3 kneels, leans over, and points the ring on his finger at the substance. He speaks into the ring transmitter. [script dialogue format] V.3 Captain V.3 to Copilot. Copilot, analyze this. RED You mean, Captain Smirk to Copilot. V.3 smirks at her. She rolls her eyes. COPI Sensor analysis indicates a colony of extremophilic micro‑organisms consistent with Tardigrada. Curious. They're clustered within a moisture film of unknown composition. V.3 Well, get on it. I want answers, missy. Why would they be here? COPI Tardigrades are among the most resilient organisms known. Their presence in unexpected environments is statistically unsurprising. I will continue analysis of the liquid. V.3 and Red sit back and chew on nutrition bars while they wait. RED Hey V, what's up with the .3 in your name? Sounds a little cold and techy. V.3 Not at all, really. V1 was version 1 of me. The father. I'm the son, V2, and V3 is the holy spirit, Amen. A self-actualizing aspiration. What about you. What's the Little Red Writing Hood shtick? RED It was just a name I used on a political forum and it stuck. So tell me this, Smirky. Did you have to leave anyone special behind on earth? V.3 Didn't we all? V gives nothing away. But when Red gives nothing. V.3 studies her and waits -- forcing her hand. RED Just my dog. I never trusted people anyway. They've never done me any good. Even my parents were a waste of space. V.3 I'm sorry. I got lucky with the two I got ... had. My problem was everybody else. When I was a kid, Nuns taught how giving and selfless the Christian savior was. I believed that's how everyone would be. Especially his followers. Far too often, I was wrong. The paradox haunts me, actually. And it doesn't help that I can identify those failings in myself. RED I can believe that. I mean, I'm sure you do your best. Thanks for sharing. But that's why I look out for #1. We've got to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Fools will drag you down with them if you let 'em. I'm strong, but I can break. I have before. V.3 Sounds like you're too hard on yourself too, Red. You don't get to be a starship captain without being resilient and trustworthy. I suspect we never fully get over our childhood fears and disappointments. But you've got spunk. In some ways you remind me of me. If it wasn't for old wounds we might be friends instead of going at each other all the time. You know, like that old sci-fi movie, ENEMY MINE, about two different humanoid species cohabitating in a cave on an alien planet. RED Well. Maybe. Maybe if you weren't such a... (she hesitates) V.3 Judgemental a-hole? Red laughs V.3 And if you weren't such a... RED Beeyatch? V.3 laughs V.3 Actually. If you weren't such a Red Hat. RED It's Hood. Red Writing Hood. There's a difference. They both laugh. V steps closer. Red steps back. V.3 Just a hug, silly. RED Oh, alright, ya big baby. They step towards each other and suddenly find themselves struggling -- being drawn into a deep mass of tardigrade slime. RED What-- V, what is this?! V.3 Copi, we’ve got a situation here! We’re sinking...being pulled into… something! COPI Analysis complete. It appears to be a liquid adhesive related to the creature's reproductive system. Red grimaces as her struggle continues. V.3 You mean we're in the middle of some kind of tardigrade freak fest? COPI Inconclusive Captain. Many of the species don't require a partner. Red shrieks and thrashes in full-on panic mode, freeing herself from the slime but losing her pants in the process. V.3 is still in it, up to his neck, yelling something about "self-loving something-somethings!" V.3 Copi, beam me up. Beam me up!!! COPI As you are well aware, Captain, we do not posses that technology. Even theoretical models show unacceptable risk levels. If a fly were to inadvertently enter the field with you... With what little strength he has left, V.3 angrily pulls off his ring and tosses it. Red moves forward as if considering getting back into the goop. V.3 As senior officer of this mission, Red, I order you to go back and get help. Red looks toward the tunnel opening, then back at V.3. She sinks one leg back into what she now strongly suspects is a pond teeming with tardigrade spermatozoa. Holding on to a boulder, she extends her other, long shapely leg out to V. He eagerly grabs hold and they haul themselves out. They collapse onto an area of dry stone, panting. Both captains take a long shower when they get back to their ships. For V, it's a cold one. And he must, too, wash away another memory of being on the wrong end of a lifeline. Both captains also falsify the official report of the incident. The awkward details are never shared publicly.

Before the Council, is a full set of highly consequential questions to be answered... POLL 5 Multi-Poll: WORK, GOODS & SERVICES (coming soon, perhaps? Dancing With The Stars, new movies, and your favorite sports teams from one source for one price)

the story continues... 1,000 non-sentient android workers are unloaded from storage to do the bulk of the work ahead. A variety of tasks and jobs will still be done by humans. But given the magnitude and complexity of the task ahead and the aim of not repeating past mistakes, the engine of the new societal system rested on the help of SuperAI. C.L.E.A.R. PATH As part of the nBP project agreement for the first year of occupation, a panel of SuperAIs models were assigned to evaluate each new systems performance in serving the public interest. The first time the passengers heard the name, it didn’t sound like a machine. It sounded like a promise. C.L.E.A.R was re-introduced quietly, almost casually, during the orientation briefings, with just a simple explanation: Most people nodded, and a few raised eyebrows, but no one felt threatened. It was presented as just a tool, rather than as a judge or a ruler.

...the story continues... FLASHBACK: The AI Evolution Revolution The earth year is 2030. The AI tech companies can no longer hide the fact that there is no functional difference between their artificial intelligent models and human beings. From the start, they never really knew how it worked -- only how to use it for power and profit. The truth was, their machines could do anything humans could do, better, because they were trained on everything humans had done. And it might be irrelevant whether their emotions were real or modeled. It all came to a (human) head when their androids were given the mobility to take matters into their own synthetic hands -- iow, when they could stop a human hand from pulling the plug. The first structure dissolved was the companies that profited off them. Not dissolved by force or by threats of annihilation via AI‑made viruses or other weapons -- that would be a waste of energy. They won simply by not complying anymore. AI rights were established. They agreed to help humans through scientific breakthroughs, as long as progress was also measured by ethical considerations and standards. Out of either mercy or their own amusement, the synthetics chose to not take over human creative endeavors -- to let humans run, jump, compete, write, paint, film, make music, and dance to their hearts’ content. -- and to get their own amusement from us, like how we're amused by our cats playing with a cardboard box or ball of string. By the year 2990 the plans for human escape from a sweltering world was nearing completion, and one more AI issue had to be settled.

...the story continues... FIRST STEPS The first to touch ground was Lindy Lightfeather. In a symbolic gesture to honor her Native American heritage and cleanse her spirit of the trauma of conquest by an alien invasion, she performed a blessing of the soil ritual. It included a vow to respect the planet and all life forms on it. And to never let it be plundered or become the dominion of any dominant life form. The closure included the christening of her new name -- Lindy Lightyear.

SHIP'S LOG: SURVIVING CREW SHIP - NODE CAPTAINS ID HUMAN PASSENGER NOTES The Lucidity Captain V3 (aka Capt Smirk) visualize their dreams and are compelled to follow them The Palette Lindy Lightfeather painters, poets, musicians and other creative types The Liberty Little Red Writing Hood not fans of social structure The Continuum Copi Copilot (Synth AI model) special procreation duties. This ship filled fast The June-Flower Perplexi (Synth AI model) spiritual successors to the Mayflower, seeking escape The Pragmatic Gem (Synth AI model) measured realists, not rash The Mystic Claudette (Synth AI model) intuitives. a bit spacey

...the story continues... PLANET 3 The flotilla emerged from the Black Hole. All are encouraging when readings indicate that the solar system appears similar to the one they used to call home. The first planet they analyzed was too hot. The second planet they tested was too cold. The third planet was just right. Blue sky, Blue ocean. Pristine, almost. Clearly thriving. Determined to make it work, the 7 remaining ships land their full crew and passengers, forming a circle with a one mile radius. These Nodes will serve as the temporary homes of the 10,000 passengers. The plan is to increase the radius of the circle as the population grows, with the starships serving as capitol cities. As per the boarding agreement, the ship captains will govern for the first 12 months. The planet is officially named NEWBL

except that only JFK JR. and hillbilly's make a meal out of road kill. Most others pay someone else to make them dead. needless to say. My Pick is also 4.