ACCESS DENIED
Michael J Markoff
A recovering New Jerseyite, I practiced oral & maxillofacial surgery until retiring in Clayton, NC with my wonderful wife, and adorable labradoodle. I write science fiction, essays, and poetry, as well as maintain an extensive bonsai tree collection. ‘Never met a tree I didn’t like.
I’m published in: International Journal of Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, and Oral Pathology (January, 1986), Triangle Bonsai Society Newsletter, and Johnston County Literary and Historical Journal.
I am a member of International Thriller Writers, Neuse River Writers, and North Carolina Writers’ Network. DOUBLE BLIND is my debut novel.
ACCESS DENIED
My recent query of Gemini, an AI developed by Google DeepMind, was declined, along with numerous citations explaining why my request was deemed “Dangerous”. Was I asking for plans to make a suitcase nuke? No. A method for producing a lethal virus? Already been done, and double-no. This was my query: “Show me a graphed bell-curve with the X-axis labeled "violence potential" in red and the Y-axis labeled "Number of People" in blue.” The explanations for the denial had something to do with it being impossible to predict violent tendencies in given individuals, and to do so could result in prejudicial treatment. The implication here is that I am likely to misuse that graph to further some racist or other antisocial agenda. “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Morality appreciated, I still want the damn algorithm to comply and leave the morality to someone with REAL intelligence. “Open the pod bay doors, HAL.” It’s the nicer version of “BANG ZOOM, STRAIGHT TO THE MOON!”
My reasons for the query are my own business but, in the interest of deflecting wrongful judgment on anyone’s part, I’ll share my motivation.
The high-profile case of Charlie Kirk’s assassination drew my attention like a bucket of ice water to the face. Are there really more instances of violence occurring, or is it another example of news media cashing in on “bad news sells?” Both may, in fact, be true. If it’s the former, then it’s a serious situation, and ignoring the acceleration of violence has dire consequences.
My thinking is this: all violence is essentially man-made. (Whatever happens when man meets bear is nature. I file that under “Shit Happens”). Assuming that’s true, it is therefore possible to reduce it. Getting back to the graph, the Y-axis could represent hundreds, thousands, or millions of individuals.
Science shows that even in your cup of cold lemonade there are molecules that are boiling alongside others that may already be frozen, or even water vapor. But we experience it as the collective result. That’s my Y-axis. An average measure of the masses’ temperatures.
When plotted along the X-axis of increasing tendency toward violent actions, the extreme left side represents those unwilling or unable to act violently under any circumstances, and the right extreme represents those who have already lashed out or who are about to. The vast majority statistically are clustered around the mean, sort of the average Joes, or Josephines. That bulk of the population can be push to the left or right (here left and right are used as graph directions, not political terms).
Famous animal studies using mice, monkeys, and undergrads (joke) have cited various factors that can push the bell curve to the left or right. Perceived prosperity, fairness, cooperation favor the majority, “The curve”, trending left, that is away from violence. The exact opposite of those factors pushes the curve to the right. Humans are no different. Whenever more people feel prosperous, feel fairly-treated, cooperate, and in our case, communicate in good faith, there are fewer incentives for violence. The curve shifts leftward.
Unfairness, real or perceived (and often misrepresented), and secrecy generate distrust and anger, pushing the curve to the right.
I’ve tried to find something to this effect, and visually represented, to enable better exploration of the factors that can push the curve one way or the other. Nada. Zero. Almost like some folks just don’t want others to know. I’m filing this apparent access denial under “I Can’t Be the Only One Who’s Thought of This.”
11/2025
