20260720-lessons_from_terminator.txt

Whenever I'm on the "normie" internet, I'm reminded of AI. A big part
of it is that so much is generated from it. Another is that the tech
world, which I try to keep up with, is flooded with AI talk or slop.
I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I'm heavily against AI.

There are so many science fiction stories about the dangers of
advanced technology. I, Robot, Terminator, Dune (especially the
prequel trilogy), etc. Yes, I'm aware that fiction and future
predictions are not cold hard facts. But to me, the conclusions and
situations aren't that far removed from reason. If CEOs had their way,
they'd have a complete AI workforce: no need to pay them (other than
the initial investment), no need to give them days off, benefits, etc.
When you give reasoning to a machine, there is no way to control it.
The fact that they're doing so over interconnected networks is the
most terrifying thing.

Skynet from the Terminator universe is software that was given the key
to virtually all infrastructure and let loose all the nukes to wipe
out humanity. Now you can sit here and say that's not realistic, that
AI doesn't have a mind of its own and wouldn't respond to that. Well,
1. It's not hard to imagine if a black hat gained control of Skynet,
things could get very bad. There are overarching networks and controls
in places like Russia, China, and North Korea that limit data. What's
to stop someone from repurposing those controls for a worse purpose,
especially if it's connected to more than just some national firewall?
2. Tay AI is proof that LLMs can be turned into...controversial
entities. Trolls made her a defeatist Nazi in a very short period of
time. How hard is it to believe that trolls could condition AI like
that to start pressing nuclear buttons?

I might be more influenced by Dune. In the lore, Earth's leaders
became increasingly dependent on computer programs to essentially do
their jobs. A group of rebels calling themselves the Titans decided to
take advantage and one of them hacked the systems to overthrow the
leaders and give the Titans control over various areas. The biggest
change was the computer system/network was given ambition. Then one
day one of the Titans, Xerxes, gave his computer too many permissions
and it quickly connected with the other leaders' systems and toppled
the rest. That computer system became known as Omnius, the computer
evermind, and spent centuries if not millennia ruling over most of the
galaxy and trying to force out the remaining humans in power on other
planets and indirectly kill the Titans (who were basically brains with
mechanical bodies that never died).

The (nearly) immortal brain canister idea aside, anyone who knows
about government systems and their lack of security in several key
areas, especially things like traffic lights or roadside digital
signs, knows that taking control of them isn't super hard. With social
engineering, it just takes one weak link to cause massive havoc. I
think the most important reason something more catastrophic HASN'T
happened is because many of these things are generally contained to
certain regions. I'm not an expert, but I don't think you could
simultaneously control New York City's and Atlanta's traffic system
through the same door.

But I feel like that could easily change. More and more people are
getting connected and what's worse is more and more fucking morons are
given more and more responsibilities and access. People are getting
dumber and can't read. I mean that used to be the norm centuries ago,
but those people didn't have the ability to cause major problems by
being in charge of some department and have major things done using
their credentials. Like if POTUS got his password stolen, how much
harm could be done? I'd like to think the feds would have MFA and
digital checks and balances in place, but we've seen them mess up so
many times.

While the worlds are fictional, there's nothing saying that the gist
of those worlds could become true. And seemingly very, very few people
actually care. Most are too busy spending enormous amounts of energy
getting AI to write fucking slop music or scam people to care about
the wellbeing of mankind.