pain. Remember five or six years ago the phrase âgive it your allâ was banned?â
âI was reprimanded for using the phrase myself, actually,â Kunugi said. âI wasnât deliberately saying anything mean or anything.â
âThatâs what communication is. Itâs lopsided. Reciprocal comprehension is a delusion. Communication is the ability to overcome this onesided way of thought by embracing the possibility of misunderstanding each other in any situation. These days, fewer people know how to misconceive things. Thatâs all.â
Kunugi held his chin again.
âIn any case, contrary to expectation, this analysis of the information hasnât produced any one result. Pre-modern disciplines oriented toward understanding human behavior, such as psychology, have totally collapsed. In that sense, religion is a much more useful tool. Surveys, statisticsâtheyâre all useless. Weâve realized too late that humans cannot be understood. Thatâs why there are still people who sustain primitive beliefs in the effects of trauma on character or personality.â
âLike the police.â
âIâm sure. Thatâs the impression I got from the way your superior sounded off at the conference. This data is supposed to be used by the police to ascertain extreme charactersâto pick up dangerous persons. The police are the ones determining what makes someone unusual, so Iâm assuming theyâll look at home environments, proclivities, medical recordsâ¦â
Shizue wondered how dangerous any of these things were, or why they would have gone unnoticed.
Legislating this data mining is well within our vision, Ishida had made clear. Wasnât he just saying theyâd be applying this ridiculous criteria to organize and analyze every citizen?
Race, provenance, profession, class, genderâbecause these distinctions had lost importance, the police decided to discriminate by educational environments and habits.
Shizue got a little emotional as she explained this, and as expected, Kunugi just said that sounded like an exaggeration.
âThis investigation has been a really hard ride.â
âIt always is. But arrest rates have gone down, right? Plus, I hear that thereâs a program in development that will sequester people who are genetically prone to act against society.â
âIâve heard the same.â
âThis data becomes material for programs like that. Society didnât come before humanity. Deviants definitely need to be arrested in order to support the framework, but is it right to preemptively weed out what might be deviant behavior? Isnât that a kind of eugenics?â
âI understand what youâre saying.â The policeman straightened himself. âTruth be told, Iâm not comfortable with it either. But Iâm not as knowledgeable about this as you, so I donât know what exactly is wrong about it. Thatâs why Iâm asking so many questions.â
Then, âHey!â Kunugi pointed over Shizueâs shoulder.
She turned around exactly as the download completed. The drive made a short sound to signify that the job was finished and popped out a disc.
Shizue put the disc in a hard case and put a protective cover on it. Theyâd been working since morning and only gotten a third of the way through. Shizue brought out another disc to continue working, but Kunugi stopped her.
âThis is good for today.â
âWeâve got a lot of work left. If we have until five oâclock I can probably manage another two or three discs.â
âItâs not that. I have to deliver this disc to police headquarters by five. In that ugly government-issued solar car you see out there, driving from here to there will take exactly thirty-eight minutes. Add to that all the paperwork, and I have to leave here in twenty minutes. Thatâs not enough time to do another
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley