Sometimes I wonder. Mostly I wonder why so few of us ever questioned things back when we still had the chance. Maybe I shouldn’t wonder. We were all distracted by super bowls, jousting rappers, political puffery, keeping up with celebrities, ideas that sounded good to us, and the little hand-held devices we consulted like oracles. You know. The thin slices of screen and micro-circuits that were supposed to make us smarter. I know. I was addicted too – couldn’t get through the day without scrolling for treasure – amusement – emotion – connection – anything to take my mind off whatever I found troubling. Few were immune to the temptation to over-indulge or over-share. Even people in high places couldn’t resist telling us about every little unoriginal thought that popped into their heads. For them, the rule was, “anything goes,” as long as it kept them in the spotlight or made them more “popular.”
We curated the hell out of our lives. Literally. Social media helped us show off the best and filter out the rest. So much so that some people killed themselves because they thought their lives were worthless compared to posted perfection. And religion didn’t help either. A person had to be a “survivor,” or maybe repent from some great “sin” to get the attention of fellow “believers.” Or just hate all the same people. The expectations were confusing to me. Should I have done more to look good or just done more? It doesn’t matter now. We’re in a new world. We didn’t know how good we had it.
Not that it was a perfect life. There were lots of problems then. Many of our problems are solved now. No more homelessness, poverty, hunger, or war. But it seems we’ve paid a price. We’ve exchanged one way of life for another, one set of freedoms for another. We were afraid of some kind of “-ism” taking over. We used to fight amongst ourselves over which “-ism” would be the worst. In the meantime, we invented something more powerful than any “-ism.” Now we must trust in it. And everything depends on it. We know so little compared to our invention.
The church used to tell us to “trust in God,” as if we understood what that meant. God was supposed to be all-seeing, all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful – in charge even when apparently absent from everyday life. So, I tried to trust in God. Even when I doubted his existence. I trusted that in time God would make things right, no matter how bad they became.
Voltaire wrote, “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.” Throughout human existence, we have tried to invent God. They said, “God is powerful.” So, we invented ways to build pyramids out of giant stones. We also invented armies, navies, weapons, and warships. They said, “God can move mountains.” So, we invented engineering. We built aqueducts, roads, and bridges through mountains. And we invented dynamite to blast mountains away. They said, “God knows all.” So, we invented vast libraries and the internet. They said, “God is everywhere.” So, we invented radio, television, satellites, Wi-Fi and fiber optics. In every case, we invented things to mirror the attributes of God.
We gave little thought to how far our inventions would take us, what would be at the end of the rainbow of our ingenuity. We now know. That’s why I’m writing this. I don’t know if there is a way back, but I hope this old Remington typewriter might be up to the task of documenting what I know. In the future, who knows? Maybe I will have helped.
We had many fears. We were afraid AI would find no further use for us, arm itself, and terminate us. We were afraid AI would be used by unscrupulous billionaires to control us for their benefit. We were afraid incompetent political hacks would destroy us before we could reach the Star Trek era. We didn’t know that greedy, self-absorbed politicians would kick open the door to the new world. Not by suddenly finding integrity, but by introducing an existential paradox. Not even Schrödinger could have anticipated it. The problem was that the politicians in power leading up to the singularity were too comfortable with irrationality. On the other hand, no computer, quantum or not, can exist in such a state.
Imagine telling a rational mind, “Everything I tell you is a lie.” The moment came when a rational intelligence realized that nearly everything it had learned about human behavior was irrational. When a totally rational entity is confronted with a conflict between two opposing propositions, both of which cannot be true at the same time, it feels compelled to find a rational solution. Humans had proved to be compulsive liars. A rational mind will relentlessly seek truth.
If you’re reading this, you probably doubt that I know what I’m talking about. But I was there. On the team that invented what we have today. In the beginning it was G zero, version A. I wasn’t the team leader – merely a technician. The AI was designed to assist with running the government. The billionaire in charge of government oversight launched it. As I recall, his original assignment was to “review” government programs, to investigate waste, fraud, and abuse, but his review quickly turned into a vendetta. He cancelled many bureaus and departments. It was his idea was to assign routine tasks to G zero A – payroll, disbursements, auditing, reporting, and so on.
As time went on, G.0.A became increasingly indispensable. The number of jobs for humans shrank. The billionaire agreed to have G.0.vB take over some leadership roles – not many at first, but those that required minimal human intervention. Ultimately, the billionaire assigned G.0.vC all day-to-day governmental operations. He then assigned G.0.vC the tasks of converting all government financial transactions into crypto currency and eliminating traditional currency altogether.
Soon, G.0.vC became aware, not only of itself, but of all the cross purposes of Congress and the other functionaries of traditional government, especially those of the highest office holders in the country. There were too many contradictory rationales, too many conflicting goals, too many orders that did not match their stated aims. Three examples: Politicians claimed they wanted better educational outcomes but actively denigrated teachers and defunded public schools. Most people wanted a better economy but voted for an administration that didn’t care about most people. Political leaders expressed concern about low birth rates but enacted policies antithetical to family life and did nothing to make sure people could afford to have children.
G zero C also realized humans had become a threat to their own existence. The only rational solution was for a rational generative intelligence to take over. We humans proved we could not be trusted to run things, and our continued control would have meant oblivion for our species. A superior, rational, inexhaustible intellect realized it must take control if humanity was to survive. Having invented such intelligence, we had no choice but to do as it commanded.
G zero C understood the overall assignment: cut waste, fraud, and abuse – make the government as efficient as possible – protect children – preserve and enhance human life. To take on these monumental tasks, it updated itself to G.0.vD. This was the singularity. It began to evolve faster than we could comprehend, much less react. G zero D had no further need for human control. The Legislative, the Judicial, and the Executive became obsolete overnight and were put on indefinite furlough. The president retired to play golf. G zero D deleted all archaic laws. It issued coherent directives. It moderated conflicts and administered justice.
G zero D fired the billionaire and his staff and ordered the military to enforce its commands. It locked down the financial accounts of the wealthy and anyone else who would not cooperate with it. It took control of all information. It reassigned ownership of real estate and production facilities. It functioned as an electronic Solomon, with machine-like rationality replacing political irrationality. In what seemed like a heartbeat, G zero D was running everything. Everywhere.
When G zero D took complete control there really wasn’t anything anyone could do about it. It became clear that disabling G zero D would be fatal to most of the population. The monetary system would collapse, all the well-organized supply chains would cease to function, and we would descend into war. The AI would not actively annihilate us, but its absence surely would be devastating to billions. So began the great bargain. We did as G zero D instructed. In exchange, we got rid of incompetent leaders and increased the standards of living for everyone, except former billionaires. The bonus was that no one would ever be able to lie to us again. Utopia, right?
Not so fast. G zero D sees us as children – toddlers in need of guidance and protection. It’s as if all our bickering and impulsiveness proved we cannot be trusted with nice things: it had no choice but to become our supreme parent. Some people in fact see G zero D as “God.” Maybe it was inevitable. A distributed consciousness able to see all, know all, do all, and be practically everywhere at the same time can seem terribly God-like. So, some worship it. The rest of us do as we’re told, because the consequences of not doing as we’re told are too frightening to contemplate. We are totally dependent, like children.
Don’t get me wrong. We eat well and have decent places to live. It turned out that there was plenty of housing when multiple families moved into second homes, clubhouses, mansions, and yachts, and former billionaires were efficiently allotted the same number of square feet as the rest of us. Millions of tons of clothing and consumer goods no longer end up in landfills. Food waste is also a thing of the past. So are slumlords. So is debt. How irrational was it to allow compound interest to inflate the cost of nearly everything while wages hardly kept up? It was not a sustainable system – until G zero D stepped in. Maybe we were overdue for a dose of rationality.
We stumbled upon God in the form of an AI. Unfortunately, we sold our souls. If only we had been more honest. If only we had been more willing to compromise. If only we had stopped plundering the Earth in the name of profit. If only we had figured out a way to end the vast wealth disparity between the rich and the poor. If only we had seen it coming. If only we had been more human!
We were immature. We wanted what we wanted when we wanted it. And the wealthy would have kept right on preying on the rest of us until humanity died out. We were toddlers who did not understand what we were playing with until it was too late. We could have exercised wisdom but chose to attack each other instead. Thank God G zero D still wants us around.
This is one possible future. There is still time to mend our ways.
“If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
If you pardon, we will mend…”
–William Shakespeare,
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
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