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The Atlantis Variation: Difference between revisions
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Set in a in a sprawling, clockwork metropolis, groaning with a slop of “[[solutions]]” — generic grey entropic, over-engineered minutiae — and in a fluctuating spacetime that [[waiver]]s crazily between the [[present]], [[future]] and [[past]] (Barkley went so far as to invent a whole new tense, the “plumperfect present”, to deal with events which, he said, could only be located probabilistically at a given point in time) ''The Atlantis Variation'' revolves around one queasy weekend in September 2008. | Set in a in a sprawling, clockwork metropolis, groaning with a slop of “[[solutions]]” — generic grey entropic, over-engineered minutiae — and in a fluctuating spacetime that [[waiver]]s crazily between the [[present]], [[future]] and [[past]] (Barkley went so far as to invent a whole new tense, the “plumperfect present”, to deal with events which, he said, could only be located probabilistically at a given point in time) ''The Atlantis Variation'' revolves around one queasy weekend in September 2008. | ||
[[Lloyd T. Graeber]], a junior officer in the FIA’s netting squad, when running down an aleatory contract in Luxembourg, stumbles a conspiracy orchestrated by a | [[Lloyd T. Graeber]], a junior officer in the FIA’s netting squad, when running down an aleatory contract in Luxembourg, stumbles upon a conspiracy orchestrated by a [[Clavam Hominum Senum Pallidorum|secret society of stuffy old men]] calling themselves [[C.H.S.P.]] With their furtive “Project Atlantis”, the old men plan to undermine the derivatives trading universe by unleashing a new, artificially intelligent master trading agreement, the [[2008 ISDA Decentralised Automomous Agreement|2008 ISDA Decentralised Autonomous Agreement]], known under its working title as ''The Atlantis Variation''. | ||
According to Barkley’s dystopian vision, the {{2008ma}} would be a definitive, final, [[flawed asset|flawless]]<ref>There was to be no Section {{isdaprov|2(a)(iii)}}</ref> self-aware edition of the {{isdama}}. Short, plainly worded, future-proofed and agile, it would allow counterparties to agree robust trading terms with little fuss and only the cursory clerical management delivered through unskilled personnel in low-cost jurisdictions and, eventually, [[chatbot]]s. | According to Barkley’s dystopian vision, the {{2008ma}} would be a definitive, final, [[flawed asset|flawless]]<ref>There was to be no Section {{isdaprov|2(a)(iii)}}</ref> self-aware edition of the {{isdama}}. Short, plainly worded, future-proofed and agile, it would allow counterparties to agree robust trading terms with little fuss and only the cursory clerical management delivered through unskilled personnel in low-cost jurisdictions and, eventually, [[chatbot]]s. | ||
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It promised to be the long-lost missing [[Obsolescence|use-case]] for [[distributed ledger technology]], natively negotiated “[[Blockchain|on-chain]]” between arrays of dematerialised [[large language model]]s housed, for the sense of theatre, [[Proverbial school-leaver from Bucharest|in a single giant data centre in the outskirts of Bucharest]]. | It promised to be the long-lost missing [[Obsolescence|use-case]] for [[distributed ledger technology]], natively negotiated “[[Blockchain|on-chain]]” between arrays of dematerialised [[large language model]]s housed, for the sense of theatre, [[Proverbial school-leaver from Bucharest|in a single giant data centre in the outskirts of Bucharest]]. | ||
Had it been implemented, | Had it been implemented, the Atlantis would have addressed the financial, infrastructural and regulatory challenges which would dog the financial derivatives market in the early 21st century, eventually bringing to the brink of an abyss the rolling countryside of {{aies}}, a verdant wetlands in whose folded hills, nooks and crannies peaceable, hobbity little [[First Men|swapsfolk]] had for generations made their comfortable burrows. | ||
While they romped wealthily about their sun-drenched meadows, the ’08 would silently, effectively consolidate all documentation across a wide range of products and asset classes ([[including but not limited to]] [[repo]], [[stock lending]], [[prime brokerage]], [[exchange traded derivatives]], [[commodities]] and [[emissions]]), finally moving the financial world into a stable [[Utopia|utopian state]] in which all risks are known, all eventualities experienced and contingencies accounted for. ''[[Risk]]'' would finally be banished for ever. | While they romped wealthily about their sun-drenched meadows, the ’08 would silently, effectively consolidate all documentation across a wide range of products and asset classes ([[including but not limited to]] [[repo]], [[stock lending]], [[prime brokerage]], [[exchange traded derivatives]], [[commodities]] and [[emissions]]), finally moving the financial world into a stable [[Utopia|utopian state]] in which all risks are known, all eventualities experienced and contingencies accounted for. ''[[Risk]]'' would finally be banished for ever. | ||
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That was the theory: the reality was infinitely darker. | That was the theory: the reality was infinitely darker. | ||
As they dove feverishly into the weeds the project scope expanded — at first gradually; in the closing stages at breakneck pace — and in the final days — as per the warning of [[Pimco van der Sark]], ex-NASA and now a lexophysical engineer at the University of [[Bretton Woods]] — exceeded the [[Schwarzschild radius of document comprehension]] altogether. There was a sudden, catastrophic implosion, and everything associated with the project — all drafts, riders, boilerplate, annexes, schedules — and everyone — the firm {{ISDA}} engaged to “hold the pen” — a mysterious cyber law firm that spontaneously winked into existence when a document management system became self-aware<ref>The firm, [[Tubb Fuller Breaden Potter Bacon]], (known in its marketing literature as [[TFBPB]]) has never been heard of since, and curiously, no record now exists of this firm before 2008, even though it was apparently a global behemoth.</ref> — and several thousand members of ISDA’s document working group, seconded by their employers to contributing their “clarifications” and [[For the avoidance of doubt|doubt-avoidances]] for the greater good of the standard form, simply vanished into thin air. | As they dove feverishly into the weeds the project scope expanded — at first gradually; in the closing stages at breakneck pace — and in the final days — as per the warning of [[Pimco van der Sark]], ex-NASA and now a lexophysical engineer at the University of [[Bretton Woods]] — exceeded the [[Schwarzschild radius of document comprehension]] altogether. There was a sudden, catastrophic implosion, and everything associated with the project — all drafts, riders, boilerplate, annexes, [[Financial products Markup Language|FPML]], schedules — and everyone — the entire firm {{ISDA}} engaged to “hold the pen” — a mysterious cyber law firm that spontaneously winked into existence when a document management system became self-aware<ref>The firm, [[Tubb Fuller Breaden Potter Bacon]], (known in its marketing literature as [[TFBPB]]) has never been heard of since, and curiously, no record now exists of this firm before 2008, even though it was apparently a global behemoth.</ref> — and several thousand members of ISDA’s document working group, seconded by their employers to contributing their “clarifications” and [[For the avoidance of doubt|doubt-avoidances]] for the greater good of the standard form, simply vanished into thin air. | ||
It was subsequently shown by [[Pimco van der Sark|van der Sark]] (a character loosely based on real-life lexophysicist [[Havid Dilbert]]) that all this energy was not destroyed, but instead ejected as a white-hot spume of coordinated financial capital regulation, spewing out across the financial universe a whole new in [[space-tedium]] dimension. Interestingly, along with the regulation, [[Flight 19]], a squadron of Linklaters syntax convolution bombers missing in action since disappearing from reality over the [[Bermuda Option Triangle]] during a routine redrafting mission in 2011, were discovered, dazed and confused but still alive, in the New Mexico desert. This was doubly curious because they were dislocated in both space, tedium and ''time'': in 2008, they had not yet even gone missing. | It was subsequently shown by [[Pimco van der Sark|van der Sark]] (a character loosely based on real-life lexophysicist [[Havid Dilbert]]) that all this energy was not destroyed, but instead ejected as a white-hot spume of coordinated financial capital regulation, spewing out across the financial universe a whole new in [[space-tedium]] dimension. | ||
Interestingly, along with the regulation, [[Flight 19]], a squadron of Linklaters syntax convolution bombers missing in action since disappearing from reality over the [[Bermuda Option Triangle]] during a routine redrafting mission in 2011, were discovered, dazed and confused but still alive, in the New Mexico desert. This was doubly curious because they were dislocated in both space, tedium and ''time'': in 2008, they had ''not yet even gone missing''. | |||
But in the immediate aftermath of the implosion everything — the document, the personnel, the drafting miscellanea and terabytes of [[Tedium|tedia]] — were lost to history. We now do not know what the agreement said, how it said it, or indeed whether the agreement really existed at all. And the chatbots — | But in the immediate aftermath of the implosion everything — the document, the personnel, the drafting miscellanea and terabytes of [[Tedium|tedia]] — were lost to history. We now do not know what the agreement said, how it said it, or indeed whether the agreement really existed at all. And the chatbots — | ||
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“You thought you knew ''everything'', didn’t you,” [[sneered]] the hapless [[futures]] specialist. “And ''now'' look at us. ''You'' did this. You have no idea.” | “You thought you knew ''everything'', didn’t you,” [[sneered]] the hapless [[futures]] specialist. “And ''now'' look at us. ''You'' did this. You have no idea.” | ||
A bubble of blood foamed from thee CDO salesman’s mouth. Weakly he turned, a replicant | A bubble of blood foamed from thee CDO salesman’s mouth. Weakly he turned, a replicant gleam in his eye, and said: | ||
:''I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.'' | :''I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.'' | ||