Connected College

When Daria and Elena had first arrived at Connected College they had each been given one of the small handheld devices similar to smartphones, but with different abilities. They had become known as Ests and were made by the Green Family Corporation in Vancouver, http://www.GreenFamilyCorporation.com/. The devices had come a long way since first being introduced five years earlier and would now run apps intended for other devices, but were quite different in other respects. They included a neural network on a chip and data mining software to make use of it. They were truly an interface to the school or college.

Drake Phillips had been adamant that his students all use the devices, which meant that the college would have to use a version of the software used at Social Tech High. Drake had planned to do that anyway, and his wife didn’t object. But that was the software. She didn’t like sharing the hardware.

Sally Aston was principal of Social Tech High and had opposed the creation of the college for several years, not wanting her students to choose it instead of a good university. Now she tolerated the college and even approved of Drake’s desire to use the school software, which meshed nicely with all the other social tech software being used by the Tech Fantasies organization these days. It was her husband’s planned use of the Ests that she didn’t like.

Not just handheld computers and communications devices for individuals, these Ests had been in some ways the eyes and ears of the school. Now they would be the eyes and ears of the college, too. That would tie school and college together in ways Sally hadn’t wanted.

Though developed by Beth Green, the Ests had not been in use at Green University, which was not organized along compatibility lines, like the school and college. Daria had never seen one before. Like many other students, she sat and discussed them in the first three sessions of a class which was held weekly from the first week at the college.

Daria Sinshah and her lover, Nisanir Ebanti, were in class together when the Est was explained to them.

“You don’t need this class”, Dr. Tanner said. “The devices have a built in help system which will enable you to make full use of them. But an overview may be useful. ‘Est’ is a pronunciation of the letters ‘S’ and ‘T’, ‘ST’, short for Social Technology. They came into use because the Ests were first developed for use in the Social Tech High school. The school has about 4200 students using them, and when the college is filled up, we will have about 800, so altogether about 5000 students here in New York will have one. Counting faculty and staff members, almost 6000 people here will use them. There are many others in the city and in other places which have some of them, too. People tied in to the school and college, mostly. They are for use by people who are tied together by compatibility and interact with one of these two institutions.”

Daria asked dryly, “And why? What makes them different from the ordinary phones other people carry around with them? The college label on the front?”

“They don’t have to be different. You can turn off all of the extra functionality. You can pick just some of it to turn off, turn some of it of at predictable times, or in special occasions.”

“Turn what off, dammit?” Daria had spent too much time making love with Nisanir and not enough time sleeping, so she was tired and a bit grouchy.

“Well, it notices where you are and who you talk too, pictures you take, queries you make, apps you use, what you do with them. In other words, it is very nosey. But it doesn’t communicate any of this to the school or college software. It is nosey, a snoop, but not a tattletale. Instead it keeps an internal profile of you, entirely on your own device, for you to use, yourself. There are various way you can use it. One basic way is to feed it to the built in neural network which can digest and learn from it. Another basic way is to maintain a private dialogue with a friend or the institution’s system.”

“I do not understand what you mean by private dialogue, in this context”, Nisanir said.

“The machine can send out information you want it to send out, ask for information you want to receive, all without your direct attention. For example, you can tell it to send a friend’s machine information about where you are and request notification if you are near enough for a face-to-face meeting. You can tell it to do that for all of your Level 5 and above friends, or anyone compatible with your at that level, or at some slightly lower level.”

Another student in the class asked, “Can information be passed directly, from your device to your friend’s, without the college system receiving it?”

“Yes. That is essential. Cryptography is used for privacy and security.”

“How can we be sure that works?”

“Some of our major donors have contracts with security firms which check out our systems by trying to break into them. Some students and parents with money have done the same thing.”

There was more discussion in this class, then the same one met a week later to review their experiences with the devices. The same class would continue to meet once a week, but would focus less on the devices and more on the rest of the college experience.

Most of the students decided to use the default settings when using their Ests. For example, GPS tracking was turned on, and so was reception of building status information, so that when a couple in a sexual relationship was in their own room, in the evening or at night, with the lights out, then phone ringing or vibrating would be turned off. It was easy to override that, but unless specifically requested to, the devices would not interrupt lovers when they were seeking privacy.

All the faculty and students and both Social Tech High and Connected College had the devices, which tended to draw high school and college together in ways which Sally Aston didn’t like. Too many college students were already connected to younger people still at the school. Now these connections would continue to get stronger, dragging her students towards the college, which would start to seem a desirable alternative to the real university Sally so badly wanted them to attend.

How serious would this problem be? Neither Drake nor Sally could answer that question, but it was much discussed at the dinner table. Sally would not be at all comfortable with its use until she saw how many Social Tech High graduates chose the college over a local university instead.

Connected College changed a lot over its first year. In part this was due to the input of the new vice-president Dan Burchell. He was an exceptionally valuable person because he had good qualifications for the job and was very compatible with college president Drake Phillips.

Had there been no such person available, Drake might have had to find one person to be his vice-president and another to be his friend.

It was pure good luck that a man meeting both conditions had been found. There had not been a large enough pool candidates to guarantee finding one. Barely considered at all was Dan’s marital status. Had he been married or otherwise committed to someone insufficiently compatible, that relationship would have been ignored and another male friend sought for him. That would have been to ensure that he was connected into the college by at least two links.

Though not at all celibate, Dan had no strong relationship to get in the way and had arrived in New York without sexual entanglements. Once he was settled in and had become comfortable with his role as Drake’s friend, the two discussed this issue.

“I do know a few people in the city, Drake, even a few women, but none of them are for me. Being an unattached man in New York might be fun, but hardly suits my position. Ideally I should be connected to someone else in the college.”

“Well, you could just go for the best person, ignoring the college. You’d likely find someone more compatible without the additional constraint. But yes, if she is part of the college, that’s better. You could aim for both. Find the best person you can, and we’ll see if there is some way to hire her. Try searching without constraints, first.”

“I agree. Let’s just see who pops up. Let’s suppose I put no constraints on at all, not even location.”

Dan did just that. The list of suggestions included people from various professions and three different countries. “These are of nearly equal quality, Drake. Should I go for a faculty member?”

“Only if you want to. Don’t worry about it.”

“But you are a believer, Drake. If it was up to you, wouldn’t you want someone in the college?”

“Of course.”

“Who do you have in administration? I’m supposedly compatible with this woman here, who manages a large office in Brooklyn. Very artistic, vital, humorous, and so on. Could be my type.”

“Oh, you mean non-teaching staff. Someone you might work closely with, in fact. No, our administrative staff is not well organized at all. We have been getting them the same way we get faculty and students, since we want them tied into the college with tight links. It’s hard to find people that way. If adding you to the mix had the accidental advantage of bringing us someone suitable, I’d consider it lucky.”

“I’ll try getting in contact with her.”

Sue Ann Blair was from the south, and always went by Sue Ann, not just Sue. She was artistic and musical, but liked to organize things and loved managing an office. An unusual combination.

Drake would keep looking for staff while Dan got to know Sue Ann. When their relationship became intimate and was likely to become permanent, Drake offered her a job.

“We are not going to have the kind of hierarchical organization you might expect, Ms. Blair, as I am sure Dan’s told you. A core person will probably emerge, but he or she will not necessarily be any kind of boss.”

“I’m not sure that’s workable.”

“We’ll see. Your connection with Dan will probably mean you will work with him a lot. That will give you a key role, but it will mean spending time with Dan in the workplace, Miss Blair. If you break up, it might be difficult for you.”

“Oh, call me Sue Ann, silly. Dan and I aren’t going to break up. I’ll never let him get away from me.”

“Dan says he has no intention of letting you go, either.”

“Well, he hasn’t tried to marry me, either, has he?”

“Shall I give him a shove in the ribs for you?”

“Don’t you worry about it. I’ve got the situation under control. Besides, he is Canadian. Don’t all you Canadians try to do the right thing?”

“I suppose. That’s what got me Sally. Best thing I ever did.”

“Then it’s a done deal, I’m sure of it. So if you want me to take the job, I’ll do it. Other than having to work with Dan, are there any other strings attached?”

“Well, yes, that is what we do, we string together people. It would be good if you could get a woman friend in the college. If you have a really close best friend we might get her into the college, somehow, or we could get you another one.”

“How arrogant you are, Drake Phillips. To manipulate people this way. I do have a best friend, would she do?”

“Two questions. Might she fit into the college? And do you suppose I could ask you to run you two through the software? To see how compatible you are.”

“Maybe.”

No, it turned out that Sue Ann’s existing best friend was not the right person.

“Nothing is going to change the way Sela and I get along, but I’d be willing to take on another friend as well. If I have to.”

Dan asked her to try, and Sue Ann was receptive to him in many ways. Yes, she’d try to find someone. Drake and Dan both offered her help, but none was needed.

Sue Ann found a new friend who had just received her doctorate and was looking for work. She would be willing to teach at the college, though she’d never heard of it. Again there would be connectivity issues, but everyone could live with them for now.

There would be no end to this process of building the college as a collection of chains and trees because people would graduate and some of those would leave, but for a couple months at the end of this first year the college was fully connected up, staff included. When that day arrived, Dan and Sue Ann celebrated the occasion by going to an expensive restaurant for an unusually fine dinner. There he proposed marriage to her.

“Well. It’s about time. You’re a good man, Dan Burchell. I never doubted that you’d come through eventually.”

She also said yes, then took pleasure organizing a wedding for the last week in June, just after the college handed out its first set of diplomas.

Though he was happy at this development, the prospect of losing both his vice-president and such and important administrator when they went on their honeymoon did not thrill a panicky Drake Phillips.

Connected College had as yet no accreditation and there was no guarantee that courses offered by the college would be acceptable to other institutions. So the student body had been made up from believers, people willing take a risk. Usually they were willing to take that risk because of the good reputation of Social Tech High and because of the promises Drake had made to them.

His senior class, all transfers from other colleges, had been promised a chance to stay on, becoming juniors in a four-year college. After only one year of operation as a two-year college it would become a four-year one. A lot of new connections would have to be made. This meant filling the school to the brim as soon as possible. A new freshman class would arrive, and he would also have to accept transfers to fill up the 800 available spaces at about 200 students a year. In theory the software would do most of the work, but in practice a lot of human intervention was required.

Drake got help from Daria and other students with useful talents. He pressed faculty members into helping more than their contracts required. That was easy. Almost all the faculty and staff agreed to help. They would work hard over the summer, some not taking their vacation time.

The college that opened in the fall was not just a bigger one, it was also going to run differently. As well as the usual classes in which a member of the faculty interacted with eight students, there would be some lectures. On the continental model, lectures would not be attached to any specific course, but would be on the lecturers own research interests. To discuss these lectures, small classes would be made available, run by students in the upper levels.

Having students sharing some of the burden of teaching had been tried in may places, with some success. Here at Connected College it would be different. Two or sometimes three students from a higher year would run tutorials and seminars for the lower level students. These teaching assistants would not handle classes by themselves because the college wanted good coverage of the material and felt that a well matched, low error-covariance team would be better than any individual student teacher.

The new four year college would again be filled mostly with believers, willing to take a risk that their courses might not be acceptable other places. Indeed, there would be a senior class, a fourth year college class which would expect bachelor’s degrees the following June. They would be taking a big risk, because those degrees might very well be unacceptable elsewhere.

However, Drake promised them that he would not only provide them an excellent education but arrange for grad school for those who wanted to carry on. To be sure he could make this guarantee, Drake Phillips took his vice-president, Dan Burchell, and had a long talk with Peter Henderson, the young and vigorous president of NYU.

“Let’s be frank, Dr. Henderson. We want your help in setting up what we hope will someday be a competing university.”

“Social Tech University, perhaps? I hear rumours that your wife would never hear of such a thing, Dr. Phillips.”

“Ouch. Yes. She doesn’t want her students to have any excuse not to go to an better university. Trusting, isn’t she?”

“From what I hear, she actively discourages her students from going to your college. What would happen if there was a Social Tech University?”

“Well, that’s the thing. We imagine something so good that it could compete head-on with NYU, while being so small that it wouldn’t threaten your school.”

“OK. So what do you want from me?”

“We want to be able to put together a graduate institute, which would do most of the work towards the education of grad students, who would also be enrolled as NYU grad students. Then once thoroughly examined by your faculty, they’d get their degrees from NYU.”

“What do you mean by ‘most of the work’?”

“Well, we have a good faculty, who could give graduate level courses. We’d like you to give further examinations to the students who take those courses, then accept them as if they were your own. Then our faculty would supervise masters theses and doctoral dissertations. You would give comprehensives, oral exams, and participate fully when theses and dissertations are defended. So you could with good conscience give out your degrees to our students. The only real difference would be that our faculty would handle most of the teaching and supervision.”

“And in return for this?”

“We’ll pay you, a lot, and we’ll let you use our faculty members when and if you want them.”

“Well, we might be able to work something out. It wouldn’t be cheap. We might have to hire additional faculty to handle the work.”

“We’ll cover that. We have major donors prepared to pay you well for your services.”

“Alright. Let’s say that I agree in principle, but we will have to work out the details. Will you be making this offer to any other university?”

“Maybe. We’ve thought about. What would be your preference? Would you rather be the only participant.”

“I think so, yes. If you are going to pay somebody to hire new faculty members, who might be useful to us besides what they do for you, then I’d rather we got them.”

“So, subject to detailed negotiations, you’ll go for it?”

“Subject to negotiation. Yes.”

They talked around the issue for a while, but the general conclusion was that a Connected College graduate institute could work with New York University faculty members, so that people wanting the highly linked environment of the college could still get good advanced degrees.

This agreement formed the basis of the promise Drake made to his newly recruited junior and senior classes. Someone entering the college as a freshman could do all of his or her undergraduate and graduate education in the highly desirable social and educational environment of the college.

The first year of the new four year college passed quickly. By the time it ended, a new building for the graduate institute had been obtained. The graduation ceremony in June was the college’s second. They handed out both two year diplomas and now for the first time bachelors degrees. Drake hoped they would have some value.

Whether or not the degrees would be accepted at face value, Drake was happy with the education his students had received. They did very well on standardized tests like the graduate school admission test, the law school admission test and the medical school admission test. He didn’t know how many students would actually get advanced education, but many had taken the tests and they had done well. A good sign.

Drake and Sally continued dinner table discussions of what was going on at the school and college. Often joining in these discussions was Sally’s daughter, Kelly Phillips. Kelly had been nine the year the college began and ten at its first graduation, when a panicky Drake had turned the college into a four year institution. She had turned eleven the this June, when the first bachelors degrees were handed out.

Over the summer Kelly worked hard with a large corps of volunteers from Tech Fantasies and Social Tech High who were helping to furnish the recently converted building which would house the Graduate Institute building. Kelly could hardly avoid noticing just how stressed her father was that summer.

“Is it so very hard, Daddy?”

“Hardest thing I have ever had to do. I need to find at least a few students at all levels, and tie them into the college, somehow.”

“Why, Daddy?”

“I don’t know if I should tell you, Kelly. It is a bit of a secret.”

“Oh, Daddy. Please?”

“Well, I don’t want your mother to know. I am hoping for full accreditation soon. Then it will not be long before we can become a university. Your mother hates that idea. She doesn’t want there to be a university, ever.”

“Why not?”

“Well, you see, I want it to be Social Tech University. She thinks the name alone would tempt students from the high school to make the lazy choice of going to the university, which she’s sure will not be good enough. She wants her students to go to the very best universities.”

“It’s simple, Daddy. Just make sure your Social Tech University is one of the very best. Easy.”

“Oh, yes. Easy. Well, I’ll try.”

Daria and Elena had been sharing a hotel room in Manhattan while getting settled. For them, getting settled had meant getting men.

After the nice hotel room in which Daria had been staying the smaller and rather shabby one in the Connected College building was something of a letdown. However, it did contain a bed, and that bed regularly contained her lover, Nisanir Ebanti. The two were so compatible that being together seemed a dream.

When Elena Antoniev obtained her own man, Chen Wen Lang, from China, she had two reasons to be happy. She was no longer under the thumb of Daria and she now had someone to love, a man of her one. No longer would she have to wait most of a month until Ken Green again had time for her.

A nursery and daycare had quickly been set up for children, and would take care for Ken’s infants by these two mothers during the day, when they were at classes. At other times the young women would have to care for their own babies themselves, but their lovers had been selected with great care. Each would be content to share in the raising of another man’s child.

Neither of the young women appreciated just how difficult it had been to find their new lovers, because most of the work had been done by software. Getting the software to handle this sort of problem had been hard, but Drake Phillips had been up to it. Of course he had plenty of help since programming abilities were not in short supply in the Tech Fantasies community.

Finding students with fewer constraints had been easier. Whereas Daria and Elena needed men to share not only their beds but the raising of their children, finding them best friends of their own genders was relatively easy. Daria was matched with a girl named Bira, from the Kashmir, while Elena had been matched with a girl named Anita from Mexico city.

The tall blonde Elena and the short Anita with her Mediterranean complexion were both shy by nature, but together their confidence and ability to put themselves forward in public grew strong.

In the social context of her lover Nasanir and best friend Bira, Daria seemed to better channel her natural aggressiveness into more productive roles. She quickly became less demanding and more cooperative, or at least made demands on behalf of other students instead of herself.

The college was new and growing fast. It needed someone like Daria to take on an advocacy role for those less confident or more confused students arriving from distant places. Though she laid too many problems in his lap, Drake was glad to have someone like her helping out.

“Dr. Phillips. The students need more income. You are hiring staff from outside when you should be paying students to work in the college.”

“Dr. Phillips. As long as we have more rooms than we need, please move us around so that the rooms we are in can be cleaned up and painted.”

“Dr. Phillips. We are changing class composition so fast that many of the others can’t keep up. I do not have that problem myself, of course, but look at poor Elena and Anita. They thought things would have settled down by now.”

Well things would not settle down for a long time yet, Drake was sorry to tell her. This first year was going to be a bit chaotic, but everyone would learn more because of it. The charter students, as they were called, would not only be the first, but the best.

The building that Drake had selected from those nominated by Sarah Rivers had been divided into an old hotel and what had been office space. Residences and classrooms were held at first in hotel rooms needing little renovation, while the office space in the building was converted for the same uses.

Before the winter holidays came, all the students from afar who lived in residences were moved into newly converted rooms, which were comfortable and attractive. Not all of the offices had washrooms in them, so they had been added. All that plumbing had taken a lot of time, but was worth it. Daria was almost satisfied.

Class compositions would continue to vary as new students arrived, but classes would now take place in attractive rooms, each with a built in video wall opposite the students’ desks.

Upgrading the old hotel section of the building would take a while and not be cheap, but Ken Green had promised to pay for it. Its cost would be insignificant to a man of his extreme wealth. Because of Ken’s use of professional personnel for these tasks, there was less need of volunteer work, but volunteers did help moving in faculty, staff and students, as well as unpacking and setting up laboratory equipment.

Kelly Phillips was only nine the year the college began. She eagerly accompanied her father to his college building on weekends, doing whatever she could to help out. Kelly enjoyed working beside others in the building. It gave her a good feeling and helped her find friends. Too young for the only school based on compatibility, her mother’s Social Tech High, she did not have many friends at school. Naturally gregarious, she wanted and sought out the company of others. Volunteer work helped a lot.

There were recent graduates of Social Tech High in the new Connected College, but under the agreed upon rules, all such students had to demonstrate acceptance by another school in the city and plead their individual cases before being permitted to enrol in the college. Drake’s wife, Sally Aston, principal of Social Tech High, was doing everything she could to push her graduates towards other colleges and universities. She actively opposed their admission to Connected College, but some did get in. Their experiences at Social Tech High made them familiar with the general idea behind both institutions, so they could be a big help in getting the college organized.

“How big do you want this college of yours to be?”, Sally had asked suspiciously when she had first seen the selected building.

“Isn’t there a natural limit to these things?” Drake asked. “Why did the school settle down to about 4200 students?”

“You know the answer to that as well as I do. We filled the building.”

“More than one building. The main one full of classrooms, plus various residences scattered around on various floors of nearby buildings, in whatever space you could find. Well, we don’t want things split up like that. Everything will go in our one building: residences, cafeterias, daycare facilities and of course classrooms.”

“You must have an estimate, Drakie. Out with it.”

“Yes. We won’t be boarding out our international students much at all, because most will be in couples. Also they will have best friends who probably live in the building. Most students will probably want to be near their friends, even if they could live elsewhere. So, pretending that every student is part of a couple occupying a single room, and knowing that our class size is eight, we have estimated that we will need four times as many residential rooms as classrooms. That is a lot. In our twelve story building we won’t end up with 500 rooms, but let’s pretend we did. That would be 100 classrooms, 400 residential rooms. At 8 students per class, that is only 800 students.”

“Yeah, we get a lot more in our classroom building by having all our residences elsewhere and by boarding out a lot of students. OK, I don’t feel as threatened by 800 students as I did by the idea of more. There will still be some of mine lured away from good universities by your college, but if there is not room for too many of them, all the better for me.”

“You are an impossible woman, Sally Aston.”

“I try.”

The hardest students to get were those of a senior class. It would be a two year college at first, then would give out diplomas to those who had arrived as seniors. At that point it would become a four year college, with most of those two-year graduates staying on for a third year. In most cases the upper levels would be transfer students with some college or university behind them. Persuading them to transfer was not easy.

The only thing that the college had in its favour, the only thing that made it attract transfer students was its relationship to the now famous Social Tech High, but Sally insisted that the relationship be downplayed so that few of her students would be tempted by it.  Therefore most of the recruitment was active rather than passive. There was little advertisement, none locally in New York, and students were not encouraged to apply. Instead students were invited. The various Social Technology databases were combed for students who might fit into the college, then they were invited.

These invitations were usually like those brought about because Daria and Elena had entered the college. Each young woman needed a man of her own and a best friend, so together they had generated four invitations to the college. The presence of Daria had led to the presence of Nisanir and Bira. Nasanir was now expected to find a highly compatible male friend. He had a month to do this himself, or one would be found for him. Bira had been selected in part because she would not bring with her the baggage of a marginally compatible man. She could have either been attached to a sufficiently compatible one, or free to choose one of her own. In fact she was unattached and would find someone after arriving in New York.

“Bira, you must seek a man soon”, Daria told her, “you are running out of time. If you don’t find yourself one soon, the college will act like an overaggressive dating service and push you towards various young men, until the pressure makes you pick one. You would not want a man in your bed who was not invited there at your own initiative. Let me help you.”

“Daria, you are almost an overly aggressive dating service yourself. I will do what I want. But what I want does happen do be a man. But I am from a country which will not accept sex outside of marriage. I must have a husband or no man at all.”

“Get a husband, then. Ask the system for one. Let me help you.”

“You are my best friend, Daria, and I love you dearly. But go away, please. I’ll do what I want.”

She left it almost to the last minute, but before the time came when the college would start becoming a nuisance, Bira announced her engagement to a young man she had never met. Happily they had been able to use video, so they were not strangers. Bira had to fly back to India for the wedding, which was to another person from the subcontinent, marginally acceptable to her parents. That was all she had hoped for, acceptance of the young man into the family, not enthusiasm for him. They married there, then flew back to New York, where he would become a Connected College student.

The creation of these chains would not be enough, but cross-linking became more and more frequent as the college grew. Sometimes Drake cheated. Where it was not possible to link two chains together, he sometimes found a person in another institution who could fill the gap. So some students from New York University, for example, had two friends at Connected College, and served to bind them together.

While struggling with the creation of this two-year college, Drake was working very hard to turn it into a four-year one. This was his plan all along, but could he really achieve it?

Sally and her colleague Ann Kelly placed small bets on it. Sally voted against her husband, though desperately hoping she was wrong.

One way Drake had made the two-year college attractive was with a large faculty to student ratio. Major donors to the Social Technology Education organization had given enough money to hire all the faculty members needed for the full four-year college right away, as soon as it opened.

“The faculty will all stay on”, Drake told his wife the day the college opened, “and I guess maybe 2/3 of the diploma class will stay on for a third year, so I’ll have to dig up just enough transfer students to fill the four-year college as soon as the higher levels open.”

“A year from now.”

“Yes.”

“While keeping up the compatibility requirements.”

“Yes.”

“I see. And a year from now you will have 200 students per level.”

“Right.”

“You’re dreaming.”

“Wasn’t Social Tech High just a dream when you started out?”

“Yes, but I had your help setting up my school. Now I am too busy to help you set up your college. Which reminds me. You need to get yourself a male friend.”

“I don’t get along with men. But oh, I see what you mean. I can hardly place that requirement on my faculty and students if I don’t meet it myself.”

“Yes, idiot. But more than that, you need someone to help you. Recruit a guy, a best friend, someone who can help you put together the college. I have Ellen Smith and Alma Renwick. I’m lucky. Two friends willing to help with everything. Too willing sometimes, but good people. Get yourself at least one. Whether you get along with men or not. Do it.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

After this little discussion fired them up, the loving couple found the need to couple even more passionately than usual. As they were resting afterwards, Sally told Drake how much she hoped he’d succeed and promised to help in any way she could. She didn’t mention betting Ann that he’d fail.

The next day, reluctantly and sceptically, Drake used his own profile data to seek a compatible person to be vice-president of the college. He went through the contact procedure and eventually reached a man named Dan Burchell.

“Let me be clear about this, Dr. Phillips. You want me to abandon my commitments to Green University to work at an unknown college in New York.”

“I know Ken Green quite well. I am sure there will be no problems with you leaving there. He is also the single largest donor to the college and he has expressed his great interest in us.”

“Well, that would make me feel better about backing out of commitments made. Tell me again why I should.”

“I need a competent vice-president. That person will have to be someone I can work with. Ideally that means someone meeting our college’s compatibility requirements. Whether we ever become friends is beside the point. We need to be able to work together. The system we use to select people recommended you.”

“I don’t think being vice-president of an unknown college compares favourable with been dean of a faculty at a first rate university.”

“It will certainly be more of a challenge. We will pay you more money. And New York City itself is itself an attraction. We shall not be an unknown college long. We have a large budget and will hire the best faculty from all over the world.”

“Good points, but still, it would be a big step to take. I’d need a better reason.”

“Do you know about Social Tech High.”

“Of course I do. I run the faculty of education here, so I know what goes on. Social Tech High is world famous.”

“Well then, let me tell you this. In everything but name we are an upward extension of Social Tech High. My wife is the principal of that school.”

“Sally Aston? She’s your wife? Interesting. Why not a Social Tech University, then?”

“Shh! Don’t even whisper that name. Sally would kill me. She hates the idea of any institution which would tempt some of her students away from existing first-class universities. But I’ll let you into a little secret. There is a website of that name, http://www.SocialTechUniversity.org/ which contains interesting hints about a possible future institution.”

“I’m interested. But I think I should talk it over with Mary Charles, the president of Green U.”

“May I make a suggestion? I assume she is independent, but open to suggestions, particularly from Ken Green. Let me talk to Ken first, then see what happens.”

“Alright. Get back to me then.”

Drake called Ken Green and explained the situation to him.

“So. You want our Dan Burchell, do you. Well, that should be possible. His job is highly sought after, Mary could fill it in microseconds. Suppose I persuaded her to hold it open for Dan until the very last minute. She could let him go to work with you for a while, perhaps. Let me see what I can arrange. She has the final decision, but I have the power of the purse.”

Soon Dr. Mary Charles phoned from Green U. “You want Dan? Are you insane? Do you really think we’d let him get away from us?”

“Well, I’d hoped so, yes.”

“Well, Ken talked me into lending him to you for a year, if he is willing to go. I won’t tell you what deeply personal favour Ken promised me in return. Dan can go. His associate-dean will be acting Dean of Education for one year, on the understanding that Dan is definitely coming back. If the fool prefers to stay at your piddling college, then so be it.”

This settled, a rather surprised Dan Burchell found himself arriving in New York, where he was met by Drake himself.

“We’ve set you up in a hotel for the moment, Dr. Burchell. We can talk about more permanent things later. Our college building was an old hotel. It had four large and luxurious penthouse suites, which have been completely renovated, though we had no clear purpose for them. I’ll offer you one, rent free, but you don’t have to take it. It would just be convenient. Maybe too convenient. You might prefer to live further away from your work.”

“I am not the least bit concerned about that right now. I’ll find something. Meanwhile, I have work to do, at least I hope I do. I’d like to get busy right away.”

“OK, we have an office set up for you in the building. You can change it later if you don’t like it.”

As it turned out, the computer was right again. Drake and Dan were able to work well together. What’s more, they wanted to. Drake had never felt comfortable around men and never had a close male friend in his life. Dan would be the first.

Eventually the fall did pass, room conversion went through, and the college settled down with a full set of faculty and two years worth of students, about 490 people in all. Ann pressed Sally to collect on their bet, but the latter pointed to the letter of law, the details of their agreement, and would not pay up for another year.

Even by cheating, Drake did not get everyone in the college linked up before spring break. To do it at all he had to bring in even more students than anticipated. He ended up with 570 students, for two years of what was to be an 800 student four-year college. But finally they were indeed all connected up. Connected College was at last fully connected.

This meant something. Information flows across connections between highly compatible people at enormous rates and they also have an error-correcting ability, as compatible people exhibit little error-covariance – the tend not to make the same kinds of mistakes. So once fully connected up, the college had powerful communications and information processing abilities.

It has been said that a single bright individual can always do better than a committee. In part this is so because of squabbling amongst members of the committee, and in part it is because of poor communication between them. These problems did not exist at either Social Tech High or Connected College. There, groups of people could function efficiently together. Most often these groups were organized as classes, which were nothing at all like classes at ordinary schools or colleges. Connected College classes were different someways from their counterparts in the high school, but worked just as well.

When Drake opened the door he saw two young women with babies standing there.

“Are you Dr. Phillips? I am Daria Sinshah. Ken Green sent us. I have a letter from him.”

Damn. Time to pay the piper!

“Please come in. Kelly? Could you make these people comfortable, please.”

Drake opened the letter. “Here is my son, Nicolai, with his mother, Elena, and my daughter, Amara, with her mother, Daria. I hope you will do me the favour of taking Elena and Daria into your college. I’d like them given residential accommodation and daycare as well. I will of course cover all costs, but suggest you use some of the space in your building for residences and daycare. Good friends, I don’t think Elena and Daria are especially compatible, but I trust you will be able to find suitable connections. I have arranged hotel rooms and nannies for the time being but hope you can get them settled in the college soon.”

While her father was reading the letter, nine year old Kelly Phillips was getting everyone comfortably seated. Not as fascinated by babies as most girls, she still found these two adorable. Her three year old sister Katie was the fascinated one. She loved babies.

Going into the family room, trying not to looked disturbed by their arrival, Drake greeted the newcomers.

“Ladies, what lovely little babies you have. I am so happy to meet you.”  He guessed the tall blonde one might be Russian. “Elena? And you must be Daria? I understand you have nannies for your children.”

“Yes, they are waiting in the car. Ken provided us with a car and driver, for now”, Daria replied. “We have a hotel and need sleep, but I thought you might like to see our excellent babies first.”

“Yes, I’m glad you brought them along. I hope you’re comfortable sitting there. Have you eaten? We’ll get you whatever you want. Could you phone down to your nannies and get them to come up?”

“They are on call. I believe we just send them home now. Then all we will need is to get back to our hotel, until tomorrow. I’ll call, if you don’t mind.”

Daria seemed to be in charge, or just had that kind of personality. Soon enough the girls were breast feeding their babies, then they had a snack, while talking with Drake and Sally. Kelly sat and listened, while Katie cooed over the little ones.

“We are working on proper residential accommodation and daycare space, but it will take a little while”, Drake said. “We do have something temporary, though.”

“That’s alright. We have nice hotel rooms, nannies to take care of the children when we are out, and money for entertainment. Ken says there is no shortage of that in New York.”

As soon has he could get free without seeming impolite, Drake went to his room and called Ken Green.

“Dr. Phillips – Drake. A pleasure. Perhaps you are calling about my two children and their mothers. Fine little ones, if I may be allowed to boast.”

“Yes, they certainly are. I am a little more concerned about their mothers, however. I don’t quite know how to put this, but the college is aimed at adults, and we have been encouraging sexual relationships, rather than trying to suppress them. For most students they will actually be a requirement. Do you fully understand what this means? Do your young friends?”

“The sex lives of my intimate friends are personal. But speaking in general, I can say that few are satisfied with the little time I can spend with them, and want men of their own. I am always sad when they leave and jealous of the men they find, but always get them help to find someone truly compatible. That would be true whether they joined your college or not. I believe Daria and Elena understand the implications of being in your college. It is what they said they wanted.”

“Oh, I see. So, when connected in, they will have compatible men linked to them, in sexual relationships.”

“Ouch, but yes. Much as it pains me to think of my darlings in the hands of other men, it must be so. They are hoping for marriage, of course, but willing to accept what comes.”

“I think there will be a lot of marriages. When you are with someone that compatible, why not get married? The college will tie people into healthy social environments, various compatible friends and friends of friends. People will want to preserve those sets of happy relationships, and marriage is a good way of solidifying them.”

“Yes, well, men have always exaggerated their enthusiasm for the bonds of matrimony, either to get what they can’t get or keep on getting what they can”, Ken pointed out. “But marriage can be a fine institution, I suppose. I am less than happy about losing my daughters to it, though.”

“You have such fine ones. And so many, it seems.”

“Well, one a month for the past twenty years or so, plus a few extra from some generous women who have been kind enough to give me more than one child. It is the children I want of course, not the associated pleasures. I engender not quite as many boys as girls, which is unusual. Of whatever variety, I have been gifted with at least two fine children a month, ever since Beth arrived. My first and still my favourite, though I love all of them equally as a matter of principle.”

“That’s wise. Well, the ones who have just arrived here with their mothers certainly are cute. So are their mothers, actually, so I suspect they have good genes. All of your children are so wonderful, you must have excellent genes yourself.”

“If you had met my parents, you would not be surprised. Too late for that, I am sorry to say. But you did not call to hear about my family, I’m sure. You really wanted to know if I understood how your college intended to connect people. I do, and so does Daria and Elena. It is what they want.”

Soon this long-distance video call ended, then Drake talked with Daria, while Elena listened. “I spoke to Ken, who wishes you the best. He wants to talk with with you when you have time. You can use our video wall, which gives you a real feeling of being in the room with him.”

“But not what we have felt, so I’m sure it will be hard to see him at a distance like this. Never mind. We’ll do what you said.”

“Ken told me that you both understand that our college is built upon compatibility, including sexual compatibility. We want all of our students to have sexual relationships with someone, preferably someone in the college itself. They will bind us together. I hope you can accept this.”

“It is what we want. Men of our own, to keep, one man apiece, no more waiting for a night with a very busy man. What we really want, we want husbands, but for now, just men, good compatible men. What everyone calls Level Five or better matches.”

“Well, that can be arranged, I’m sure. Many people have applied to our college. We can select men for you. But we also want our students to have other relationships, basic friendships. Is Elena your best friend, may I ask? I mean, are you truly compatible?”

“Yes, she is, no, we are not. We became friends while we were with Ken, after he made us pregnant. A long time to spend in a building with more than two dozen other women. Elena and I spent time together and I grew to like her. I think she likes me. But we want other friends.”

Drake glanced at Elena. She nodded.

“Good. Actually we will make sure you have the men you want, not just because you do want them, but because it is a requirement for our college students, with very few exceptions. We have the social technology to find all kinds of relationships very easily. You can use it yourself, or we’ll help you with it. But all students have just one month to find the relationships they need.”

“Yes, that is good. I do not understand, but I don’t need to understand. Not yet.”

“You will see how it works. Pick a man and a woman friend, then they each will have one month to pick another one themselves. If they don’t, then you will have to select someone else, who will.”

“I see. Yes, I approve. So, your college will consist of long chains of students?”

“We’re going to try to do cross-linking to produce a fully connected structure. You will learn all about it in our introductory social technology class, or if you don’t want to wait for that, I have written some material you could read.”

“Please.”

Connected College had been established by the Social Technology Education organization, a subsidiary of the large non-profit Technological Fantasies organization. Tech Fantasies also ran the Social Tech High School, but the only way Drake Phillips could get his college approved by the powers that be, his wife and one former lover, was if it was operated independently, had a conspicuously different name and was located far away from the school.

He had proposed those restrictions himself, to meet the objections of his wife, Sally Aston, principle of Social Tech High. Sally did not want any of her students to go to the college instead of a real unversity.

“No College”, she had said over and over again, until he made his carefully thought out proposal. Sally had added one more limitation. “No student shall be admitted unless they can show that they have been accepted by an accredited university in the city. That is to make sure they do apply somewhere else and know they have a real alternative which does not require leaving town.”

Grumbling, Drake had agreed. Once that was settled, the couple approached their old friend, Ann Kelly, now happily married but a woman who had a history with them. Drake and Sally were on the board of directors of Tech Fantasies, Ann was its president.

Bringing the creation of Social Technology Education and Connected College before the Tech Fantasies board of directors also brought them before major donors.

Sarah Rivers had immediately agreed to donate something herself and act as a representative of Ken Green, to get them his larger donation. All she asked was that the she be allowed to nominate a building to be used by the college. The choice of building would be Drake’s, but it must be one of the ones she nominated. She promised him a sufficient number of good choices.

“Here is my first nomination, Drake”, she said a few days later. I recommend this one, in what used to be a good part of mid-Manhatten. It is available immediately, that it is to say it can be delivered vacant, which is a plus. It is an attractive building in an attractive setting, but location is everything, and this is no longer a good location. I bet it will be, once your college is up and running.”

“Say, that is a nice building. Not modern enough to be boring or offensive. What is it?”

“It’s been an office building and a hotel, now it’s a bit of both. Owned by the hotel, which is trying to go out of business, if they can get sell the building at a decent price.”

“How much is that?”

“You don’t need to know. Just come and see it. If you like it, it’s yours.”

Drake met Sarah and saw at once that a bit of cleaning and restoration would make the exterior lovely. The insides would take a lot more work. “It will take a lot to renovate and convert it to our needs, but I love it.”

“Ken and I will arrange and pay for all of that, if you give us your input and let us have some say in how it is done.”

“Sounds like a good deal. What’s the catch?”

“That’s it. You let me nominate the building. That was a big item for us, as you will see later. Letting us handle the renovation is part of the catch, but you can give us as much input as you want. We’ll do whatever you specify.”

“OK, how soon can we get going?”

“I’ll can handle all the paperwork, as soon as you tell me to go ahead. We can get the architectural work done within a month of getting your specs, and start doing the actual renovations themselves soon after that. I don’t know how long it will take to finish them, because I don’t know what you want. But here’s the neat part. Once I get the purchase done, you can start using the hotel part of the building right away, and it is pretty good. Hotel rooms can be used for either residences or classes. We will just need to do something about furniture. Again, we will be covering the costs, as a donation to the Social Tech Education organization. But we may profit at bit if your college raises the value of nearby property.”

“Which it will. That’s why you wanted to nominate a site, isn’t it? So you could buy nearby buildings as an investment.”

“Yup.”

While Drake and Sarah were working to get the eventual college building set up, Sarah provided a temporary site for the college itself, the faculty and students. There were few of them, so it did not have to be large. It turned out to be in the same building as Intelligent Nannies, a company owned by Ken Green, which provided both nurses and nannies for babies, toddlers and older children. It included a daycare. Very convenient.

When Daria arrived with Amara, bringing Elena and her Nicolai along, or so it seemed, there were therefore good facilities available for childcare, with a reliable staff. Just to be sure, the Social Tech Education organization got people to keep an eye on the young women, helping them get used to New York. That was being done with other young people who also came to the city to go to Connected College.

Because of generous scholarships for students from all over the world and various kinds of advertising, the college had millions of applications. New faculty and students had used the social technology which processes these applications to find acceptable links within days of their arrival, then the newcomers did the same.

As soon as she was settled in the college’s temporary residences, near the Intelligent Nannies daycare, Daria asked, “Now please, what about our companions to be?”

“We can go ahead. It will involve you in some work. Do you have profiles on Beth’s system?”

“Of course we do.”

“OK, you’ll have to update them. I am going to download them into our Tech Fantasies system, then add a set of new questions, based on the fact that you will be students here. Come, let’s get you started.”

Drake gave the girls laptop computers with wi-fi connections and brought up a version of the software used at Social Tech High. He almost expected the dominant Daria to tell Elena how to update her profile, but the shy girl did it herself.

After the data was ready, the matching software temporarily locked the top ten candidates in each girl’s list of men who had applied to the college. Daria quickly decided which man she wanted to contact, then leaned over to advise Elena.

“Daria. You are very different young women, I think you should leave Elena to make up her own mind.”

Daria looked annoyed, but Elena gave Drake a grateful glance.

“Alright, girls, these choices should be available, unless the men have been negligent in updating their profiles. We warned them that they should do so if they wanted to get into the college. I will now initiate contact officially, saying that a possible match has been identified and asking each man if he is still interested in joining the college.”

Drake did so, using a program designed for the purpose, which handled most of the interaction down to the point where the young men and women would have to engage in some sort of dialogue. Drake suggested e-mail first, then text chat, then use of pictures or video. Daria jumped right in and requested a video link with the man she had chosen. While her call went through, Elena sent out an e-mail message.

Daria got through to the cellphone of a young man who spoke with her using the cellphone as a video link. Elena had to wait for her e-mail to be answered, and did not get into video contact with her chosen partner right for hours, but it did happen. Drake expected Daria might be picky and not want the first man she spoke to, but perhaps the girl was as desperate as she was usually insistent. Elena seemed uncertain most of the way along, but once in video contact with an actual man she could not stop and change her mind. She wanted him, hoped he would want her.

Daria had found her man first. “Now, what do we do?”, she asked.

“You two have to meet. If people are on scholarship, we can make the arrangements, but I see that in your case you have chosen a man who can pay for his own education.”

“Yes. I have promises from Ken, for the sake of my Amara, but I could not have a poor man. He must pay his own way and come to me. You will get him a student visa?”

“Of course.”

Daria had selected a man from East Africa, Nisanir Ebanti. Son of a wealthy rancher, the young man apparently had money and determination. Perhaps enough to cope with Daria. When he appeared at the door of the former hotel two days later, a Daria who would never admit to being nervous was shaking with fear. Drake welcomed the man, introduced her to Daria, then directed them both to chairs in the lobby.

Still being Daria, despite her fears, she would not sit meekly beside the man. She grabbed at him, got his hand, and drew him to her. When they were a foot apart, Daria said, “I am glad you came, Nisanir. I hope you like me. You may hug me if you wish.” Apparently he did wish. Daria had trouble keeping her usual demeanour intact. Wilting a little, she let him hold her, then when he was about to release her, just held on, for several minutes, before finally pushing him away.

“Good. I like you Nisanir. I have told you of my past. You agreed to come here anyway. I thank you. You may have sex with me now if you wish.”

“Nothing would make me happier, Daria, but let us postpone that happiness a little. I want to learn more about you and you are the kind of woman who would want to know more about me. Let us not let lust throw us together too soon.”

“You reject me?”

“No, Daria. I am here. I don’t think I will leave. I think I will fall in love with you. I hope you will fall in love with me. As soon as these things happen, we can go to bed.”

“But I am in need!”

“Ah. In that case I shall admit my own needs and stop being the gentleman.”

Elena was happy to meet her own future partner, a 21 year old young man from Beijing in China. Chen Wen Lang was a tall man, which was good, because Elena was also tall.

What Daria had obtained immediately, Elena was too shy to seek, and did not feel right responding too quickly to Chen’s timid advances. It took the two of them three days to get into bed together, then another two before they were able to relax enough for her to find the satisfaction which had come so naturally in her rare encounters with Ken Green.

While Daria and Elena were forging strong bonds with their new lovers, they also acquired female friends, who would become best friends. They also started as first year students at the new Connected College. That would prove to be even more significant than the introduction of such important new people into their lives.

This blog is devoted to a work of fiction by the owner of this website, Douglas Pardoe Wilson,  titled Social Tech High, an intentionally ambiguous title, suggesting both an almost manic enthusiasm for social technology and a highschool based on it.  © Copyright 2010, Douglas Pardoe Wilson. This document may be copied by individuals for their own non-commercial use provided this copyright notice is included in each copy. All other rights reserved. Note:  This novel, a sequel to Social Tech High, an e-book available at http://SocialTechNovel.SocialTechnology.ca, is being written rather quickly because it uses characters from novels previously appearing in books by the author, listed or made available as e-books on http://www.SocialTechnology.ca/oldpages/books.html, but all the content in this novel is new – though more or less consistent with material in the other books.