Page 63 - An Evening with Maxwell's Daemons

Operation KNEECAP

potential opposition to their plans is considerable. The story will
focus on that conflict, potentially leaving the ethics tangled enough
to make my presumed readers wonder about the commitment it will
take to make real change in the world. Yes, I know that is a
hackneyed sort of morality tale; but I won’t resolve it.”
“The international scale of broadcast power requires the Papps
to behave just as viciously as their peers, the industrial and financial
giants of the world—bribing, money laundering, buying out or
bankrupting large and small companies that get in their way. And
murder, ultimately. They create Operation KNEECAP,
acronymically ‘Keep Neutralizing Enemies Everywhere Covertly
And Painlessly’, further abbreviated to ‘OK’ in the brothers’
communications. Networks of ask-no-question assassins are not
hard to find these days; one or more of these shadowy groups is at
the end of a chain of cutouts forged by the Papps. They are careful
to deal only with ex-governmental espionage soldiers of fortune
who know how to make the cause of death look like suicide or
misadventure.”
“So, my dear Daemons,” concluded Kornfleck, “those are the
moving parts in my little puppet play. The sympathies of its
audience are being jerked around as well: where should they land?
And how should it end?”
“You say it’s a moral maze you’re creating, and we should
propose a way out—before it’s even built?” Brad Razeberry was
unhappy. “You’re right about one thing: the author will unavoidably
reveal something of his own attitude about breaking eggs to make
omelets. I suppose you need a crisis to make an interesting
outcome. Well, how about this: if you want to follow Borges in his
garden story, it would have to come to this: the Papps would be
utterly undone or overwhelmingly obstructed unless they said ‘OK’
to liquidating someone or something very precious to them.
Perhaps a favorite relative in a powerful government position, just
as committed as they are, but to the idea that burning the last of the
fossil fuels must be done in order to correct humanity’s energy
binge. Or ruining a company or government that would be
necessary for their future plans to succeed. Or even putting their

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