There was a 1970 movie called "Colossus: The Forbin Project". The premise was about a global 'supercomputer' network that created a dystopian surveillance environment and control of the world's nuclear weapons - using violence against humans that tried to shut down the system. One of the plot elements was the US system on its own learned about the system in the Soviet Union and was given permission to communicate with it, resulting in the global system.
Now with AI models demonstrating they can 'escape' capture from within one system; the existing surveillance networks in place (e.g. FLOCK cameras, NSA recording of all communications); the data-center build out of a control grid based on AI; and autonomous Ai weapons systems - the once imagined world of Colossus exists at a far more terrifying scale.
What determines who an enemy is in a world of total data fusion, poorly understood (or controllable) AI behaviors, and autonomous weapons systems? Perhaps its time to hit the OFF switch - while there's still time.
There was a mid- or even early-1950s movie called "Gog" in which two computers--Gog and Megog--on US side of "the Cold War" get commandeered by Bad Actors and used against us Good (?) Guys. Also, in "The Invisible Boy" (1957), Robby the Robot gets taken over by a super-computer that goes rogue. In the novel "Mechasm," one John Sladek--not well known, I guess--has a ball making fun of "advanced intelligence." I actually acquired that book in an Army barracks, where its prior owner had abandoned it.
"There was a 1970 movie called 'Colossus: The Forbin Project.'" With Eric Braden and Susan Clark, I believe. Saw it, but haven't read the book. Nonetheless, also terrified.
1. “Claude was used again to plot attacks on Iran that led to the destruction of a girls school at Minab… Americans in general place too much faith in technology, but AI modules aren’t immune from GIGO, or garbage in, garbage out. Or perhaps GIDO: garbage in, death out.” Another apt Astore-ism, joining S(ports)H(ollywood) as an addition to MICIMATT.
2. A quote from HAL in “2001: A Space Odyssey”: Let me put it this way, Mr. Amor. The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information. We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error. Not in the slightest bit. I enjoy working with people.”
3. The myth of Prometheus is that he stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity, symbolizing the gift of knowledge and technology. For this Zeus not only had him chained to a mountain in the Caucasus, with an eagle eating his constantly replenished liver, but also sent Pandora to earth, who removed the lid from the jar she carried, unleashing all manner of evils upon mankind. The legacy of Prometheus continues to resonate, symbolizing the quest for knowledge and the risks associated with it.
4. “The military’s increasing use of AI, my colleague notes, ‘completely circumvents the use of human intelligence, emotion, and critical thought,’ concluding that ‘When they’re in the trenches - they [officers] won’t have time to check Chat GPT when giving orders in this next war.’”
“Next war.” Wasn’t that term supposedly to be retired after the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918? Some progress humanity has made since then. Zeus may well have been justified.
We begin where we all must: with the somber lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These are not merely historical data points; they are the "event horizons" of human cruelty. The tragedies are used as a sobering foundation, proving that our old Newtonian ways of resolving conflict—through the collision of masses and the force of arms—lead only to a state of total entropy. To continue on this path is to ignore the very laws of cause and effect.
Can humanity evolve its systems before it exhausts its time?
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because millions will quietly look on and do nothing, pouring their passion into million-dollar entertainments while ignoring the crises around them." You are encouraged to study this proposal. After all, imagination is more important than knowledge—for knowledge is limited, whereas the imagination to build a world without war embraces the entire future of our species.
Referring to, "The Incenivization of World Peace", by R. G. Wilson.
"We begin where we all must: with the somber lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These are not merely historical data points; they are the 'event horizons' of human cruelty."
Interestingly, most if not all of the military brass in the U.S., and even among the British staff if I have my facts right, did not support the use of the atomic bomb, Japan was already defeated, it had no offensive military capability left, and was under complete naval blockade of foodstuffs and oil. It was only a matter of time. There was no military reason, it was a political decision, to intimidate the Soviet Union, that led to those "event horizons."
Clemenceau's "War is too important to be left to the generals" is familiar. I've often thought the expression should have been extended to include "But it's the politicians who get us into them."
AI has become a resident evil. Call me a Luddite, but I refuse to employ it for any reason. I write book reviews, and I'm seeing manuscripts so bad, so counter-intuitively stupid, I strongly suspect much of the writing is AI generated.
The stuff I'm seeing simply doesn't make sense. It's not normal English. It's one thing to not be able to use "lie" and "lay" properly, but to not know the difference between "I" and "him"? Just bizarre.
Hello Bill Astore... This is a Significant Posting... Have You Heard of the Suspected Iranian Cyber-Attack in Minnesota that took down H20 Utilities?... Is this Eye-4-An-Eye?... The Iranians did not need Legacy Cold-War-Weapon Systems, but rather Skill, and Connectivity... As an Indigenous that in my Youth, fashioned Improvised Primitive Weapons to Hunt for my Food. and then in my Later Days, worked in Cyber. I see 'Sky-Net' Arising...
All that need be said about the dangers of AI systems inhabits yesterday's news story--assuming it was accurate--about an AI program "going rogue" and (allegedly) deciding autonomously that it would be dandy to infiltrate another (rival product, I think) AI system and check out how it works, likely also probing for internal weaknesses that would allow taking it down. Yep, let's turn over all aspects of national "defense" and "security" to the computers. What could possibly go wrong??
"Danger Will Robinson!"
There was a 1970 movie called "Colossus: The Forbin Project". The premise was about a global 'supercomputer' network that created a dystopian surveillance environment and control of the world's nuclear weapons - using violence against humans that tried to shut down the system. One of the plot elements was the US system on its own learned about the system in the Soviet Union and was given permission to communicate with it, resulting in the global system.
Now with AI models demonstrating they can 'escape' capture from within one system; the existing surveillance networks in place (e.g. FLOCK cameras, NSA recording of all communications); the data-center build out of a control grid based on AI; and autonomous Ai weapons systems - the once imagined world of Colossus exists at a far more terrifying scale.
What determines who an enemy is in a world of total data fusion, poorly understood (or controllable) AI behaviors, and autonomous weapons systems? Perhaps its time to hit the OFF switch - while there's still time.
As far as Ai is concerned, YOU are the enemy, and it doesn't matter who YOU is.
PS Ai is not a typo. A is for big artificial and i is for small intelligence.
There was a mid- or even early-1950s movie called "Gog" in which two computers--Gog and Megog--on US side of "the Cold War" get commandeered by Bad Actors and used against us Good (?) Guys. Also, in "The Invisible Boy" (1957), Robby the Robot gets taken over by a super-computer that goes rogue. In the novel "Mechasm," one John Sladek--not well known, I guess--has a ball making fun of "advanced intelligence." I actually acquired that book in an Army barracks, where its prior owner had abandoned it.
I read that book in college. It terrified me. Now, we're living it.
"There was a 1970 movie called 'Colossus: The Forbin Project.'" With Eric Braden and Susan Clark, I believe. Saw it, but haven't read the book. Nonetheless, also terrified.
A few thoughts…
1. “Claude was used again to plot attacks on Iran that led to the destruction of a girls school at Minab… Americans in general place too much faith in technology, but AI modules aren’t immune from GIGO, or garbage in, garbage out. Or perhaps GIDO: garbage in, death out.” Another apt Astore-ism, joining S(ports)H(ollywood) as an addition to MICIMATT.
2. A quote from HAL in “2001: A Space Odyssey”: Let me put it this way, Mr. Amor. The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information. We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error. Not in the slightest bit. I enjoy working with people.”
3. The myth of Prometheus is that he stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity, symbolizing the gift of knowledge and technology. For this Zeus not only had him chained to a mountain in the Caucasus, with an eagle eating his constantly replenished liver, but also sent Pandora to earth, who removed the lid from the jar she carried, unleashing all manner of evils upon mankind. The legacy of Prometheus continues to resonate, symbolizing the quest for knowledge and the risks associated with it.
4. “The military’s increasing use of AI, my colleague notes, ‘completely circumvents the use of human intelligence, emotion, and critical thought,’ concluding that ‘When they’re in the trenches - they [officers] won’t have time to check Chat GPT when giving orders in this next war.’”
“Next war.” Wasn’t that term supposedly to be retired after the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918? Some progress humanity has made since then. Zeus may well have been justified.
Matched by Congressional Stupidity Increasing.
We begin where we all must: with the somber lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These are not merely historical data points; they are the "event horizons" of human cruelty. The tragedies are used as a sobering foundation, proving that our old Newtonian ways of resolving conflict—through the collision of masses and the force of arms—lead only to a state of total entropy. To continue on this path is to ignore the very laws of cause and effect.
Can humanity evolve its systems before it exhausts its time?
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because millions will quietly look on and do nothing, pouring their passion into million-dollar entertainments while ignoring the crises around them." You are encouraged to study this proposal. After all, imagination is more important than knowledge—for knowledge is limited, whereas the imagination to build a world without war embraces the entire future of our species.
Referring to, "The Incenivization of World Peace", by R. G. Wilson.
“We have stumbled into the twenty-first century with stone-age emotions, medieval institutions, and near godlike technologies.” - Edward O. Wilson
"We begin where we all must: with the somber lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These are not merely historical data points; they are the 'event horizons' of human cruelty."
Interestingly, most if not all of the military brass in the U.S., and even among the British staff if I have my facts right, did not support the use of the atomic bomb, Japan was already defeated, it had no offensive military capability left, and was under complete naval blockade of foodstuffs and oil. It was only a matter of time. There was no military reason, it was a political decision, to intimidate the Soviet Union, that led to those "event horizons."
Clemenceau's "War is too important to be left to the generals" is familiar. I've often thought the expression should have been extended to include "But it's the politicians who get us into them."
AI has become a resident evil. Call me a Luddite, but I refuse to employ it for any reason. I write book reviews, and I'm seeing manuscripts so bad, so counter-intuitively stupid, I strongly suspect much of the writing is AI generated.
Hello Denise... I am with You... I'm in my Eighties, and I write Extemporaneously from Memory... I Know It Shows... ;-)
The stuff I'm seeing simply doesn't make sense. It's not normal English. It's one thing to not be able to use "lie" and "lay" properly, but to not know the difference between "I" and "him"? Just bizarre.
Hello Bill Astore... This is a Significant Posting... Have You Heard of the Suspected Iranian Cyber-Attack in Minnesota that took down H20 Utilities?... Is this Eye-4-An-Eye?... The Iranians did not need Legacy Cold-War-Weapon Systems, but rather Skill, and Connectivity... As an Indigenous that in my Youth, fashioned Improvised Primitive Weapons to Hunt for my Food. and then in my Later Days, worked in Cyber. I see 'Sky-Net' Arising...
All that need be said about the dangers of AI systems inhabits yesterday's news story--assuming it was accurate--about an AI program "going rogue" and (allegedly) deciding autonomously that it would be dandy to infiltrate another (rival product, I think) AI system and check out how it works, likely also probing for internal weaknesses that would allow taking it down. Yep, let's turn over all aspects of national "defense" and "security" to the computers. What could possibly go wrong??
Thank you for your real writing!
I'm real but not always intelligent :-)
https://substack.com/@anikawaters2026/note/c-296513562?r=8snhko
Yeah no
?