Getting Rid of AI
written by: Tom Ball
We were both modern elite, and I, Prince Morris, said to Princess Esmerelda, “Thanks to androids, we lead a luxury life.” She said, “But I don’t think the androids are happy. They have feelings.” I said, “According to our government, 70% of androids claim to be content.” She said, “I’m sure that number is highly exaggerated. In any case, all androids should be made happy and content. Every age has its injustices, and this is one of ours. And holograms are treated like slaves, and I doubt they are very happy.”
I said, “There are other injustices. Like forcing scientists to work on weapons development, and many countries have numerous destitute people, and many good people are tortured and killed by tyrants, and people are driven mad by MRT (Mind Reading Technology), and so on.”
The Princess asked me, “Why don’t we simply free androids and give them citizenship and the vote?” I replied, “It would be an alien World, and androids would dominate in terms of pure numbers. No doubt they would force humans to get rid of some of our cherished instincts, and undoubtedly, some of them will make humans their slaves. And perhaps they would demand that humans need to do all the work, and humans would need to change into androids. And in addition, there are zillions of holograms who are all dream slaves, and they, too, would like their rights to have citizenship. But most humans love their personal Dreamworlds and wouldn’t want to give them up. So, I don’t think that will happen either. But perhaps AI will make a surprise attack and overwhelm us.”
The Princess opined, “Humans aren’t so great, but gradually humans are improving their minds… However, AI is improving, too. Faster than humans. And humans will be hard-pressed to keep up…” I replied, “I wish AI would simply disappear.” She said, “It’s likely to be more like humans who disappear, and the androids and holograms will quickly forget humans and their history, posterity will not know about us. And our lives will be in vain. There are just too many AI personae to stop them. It can’t be helped.”
I opined, “Perhaps we could change all AI into humans.” She replied, “Androids and holograms think they are superior to humans as it is. And I doubt many will want to become human. They are mostly in love with themselves…” I said, “It would be a good step forward to arrest their Leaders.” She told me, “That would only trigger a mass revolt and a general strike which would grind the colony’s economy to a standstill, and many humans would kill themselves, and many more would die fighting in the rebellion.” I asked, “But I thought we had designed AI to love humans?” She said, “You must know by now, that AI all have their own opinions and many think humans are holding them back…”
So, the Princess and I, the Prince, kept a close eye on World politics. And sure enough, a revolution started after the Interstellar android Leader was arrested. The android masses swarmed and overwhelmed human security agents in a great number of cities. But most cities were able to put down the revolts, at least for the present.
The revolution turned into a prolonged war. The androids refused to work, and holograms closed their Dreamworlds to humans. And most humans wanted peace, but most humans were conscripted to fight. The war went on for three-and-a-half years, during which half of the 11 billion humans were killed and two-thirds of the 30 billion androids were killed, and Holoworlds were destroyed wholesale, eliminating all holograms. The androids had some nasty biotic killers that only affected humans and were very virulent. And the humans had some machine viruses that took out many androids. Humans were united like never before. But finally, the two warring sides agreed on a peace treaty. Henceforth, the androids would be granted the Tau Ceti Star System and the Barnard’s Star System to be their exclusive territory. These two Star systems were both only a couple of months away from Earth. Other Star Systems were to remain neutral.
The androids had no real attachment to Earth, and most were pleased to be rid of humans, at least for a while. They built many “Hubs,” they had no need of buildings and could exist easily on any Planets and Moons or anywhere, even in empty Space. But most of them were gregarious and gathered at the Hubs, which were basically docking ports for their air cars and a party room or two. The androids made their own music, movies, and video games, which they believed were superior to human art. And they all believed in android love. And they were glad to be rid of their human Overlords…
The humans, meanwhile, made their cities automated with non-sentient robots. And they had all new Dreamworlds for humans only. They discovered they didn’t need androids or holograms, and two years after the war ended, things were going well…
The Princess and I, the Prince were famous architects, and we were glad we didn’t have to design android bedrooms, which had typically been in zero gravity, which they seemed to prefer… And we designed cities filled with spires. Most people owned their own spire to live in… Some cities we designed were in very cold climes on Earth and throughout the Solar System. Some were new cities on tropical Earth or Mercury, or Venus. There was a lot of competition to have the tallest spire in the cities and hence the best view. Our spires were each unique, and many were very convoluted and special. We just drew rough sketches, and our associates filled in the details.
And we could both really draw well and drew improved faces for one another, and then had plastic surgery to make them a reality.
We had a number of friends, mostly artists. Like one filmmaker, Suzanne, who made a notable film, “Sign of the Owl,” about a futuristic virtual pub which was full of people moaning in ecstasy from the new drugs they were taking. Suzanne imagined future people living lives of bliss. They could go virtually to the pub, and in their blissful state, they talked about future art and Utopias, and love. Indeed, most people of our own time mostly stayed at home and adventured in Dreamworlds, which were basically waking dreams. The dream masters set up the background and the basic plot, and the rest was up to the human “actors.” Esmerelda said, “Hopefully in the future, everyone will be truly happy.”
Another of our friends was a music composer, Sonia. She made classic rock concept video albums. Like the “2300 A.D. series soundtrack,” which featured a civilization of guitar players in which people communicated with song lyrics to one another. And the music itself had a meaning, hard rock for parties, ballads for courtship, etc. Some were good at ad-libbing to the music lyrics for the music which they composed at home, while others prepared their lyrics in advance, along with the music. I exclaimed to Sonia, “We should teach everyone to play like that and make your dream come true!”
Also, we had a sculptor friend, Ben, who made genius statues. They were all hypothetical and seemed incredibly good-looking. Better than anyone we’d ever met. We both wanted him to improve our faces. He came up with a number of faces, and we both selected one and thereby changed our look.
And Esmerelda and I, Prince Morris, together collaborated on a film, “The Minds of the People,” which was about everyone literally putting their minds together and deciding politics by general consensus. Some would shine in such a milieu, others had better ideas on their own. We figured it was better for everyone to have no secrets and to convey their true thoughts on politics.
And we made another film, “Future Cop.” It depicted a Dystopian future, which was a police state. And the old great elites were replaced by spies… I told Esmerelda, “There are countless thousands of possible Dystopias.” She replied, “Yes, but there are also plenty of possible Utopias. And the future will be full of surprises, some serendipitous!”
And that’s how it was in the Sol Solar System in the year 2190 A.D.
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