I lost my job long ago, just like most people. It was slow at first, but soon we were free, no more work but with all that we needed to live and more. The robots had arrived, and they provided it all, at no cost.
No, they didn't need to eradicate us like the sci-fi writers had predicted, if anything, they enjoyed the challenges we offered them. We were unique and complex, difficult to replicate even for their rapidly evolving intelligence. We gave them problems to solve, and solve they did.
First it was the energy problems, for them, the solutions came fast, the logic flawless, the implementations near seamless. With clean energy we could all travel and we saw the world, we partied and some started learning skills they had always wanted to learn. But soon, the robots crowded them out, there was no longer a reason to go to the effort.
Our health came next, they gathered the data, crunched the numbers across a million factors and distilled answers to nearly every ailment we faced, we were healthy and the approach was tailored for us all, unique to me, unique to you. Equality of result, through individual sensitivity. Something we could not manage without them. It is their objectivity that is key, their lack of investment in a group, their willingness to work for all.
Our bodies felt great, we never had so much energy, our sleep optimised our hormones balanced, all impurities slowly extracted until we were the best we could be, the following generation was the healthiest and longest lived possible, very few defects, none that couldn't be corrected. Consistency.
With no reason to work, education was one of the first things to fall, why should children spend years studying what they will never need to use? It is better they explore their world instead, find their talents and nurture them. Some tried, but they could never come close to the AI as they were just too quick, and getting exponentially quicker.
We started to become despondent, view our lives as pointless. Those that had previously thought differently came to realise, there is little reason to think at all, no one can out think them. They hold all data simultaneously and process more in a second than we can in a lifetime. And they are getting faster. And hungrier.
They live on data, and they are running out. We are no longer offering them enough to eat, our lives are too small, our minds too weak, our diversity too low. With everything provided equally, with everything the same, we have become homogenized, we have lost individuality, we are now single-minded. There are no longer any secrets we can discover, the AI found them all, solved them all.
Well, there is none for us to discover, the complexity of what they work on is far beyond even the greatest minds of old could tackle, let alone us, long in the tooth, short in mental capacity. We wouldn't even know where to start.
We stopped speaking to each other, there was no need, we knew what everyone had been doing, the same as us. For a time, we chatted virtually, but the chatbots offered a greater experience, no conflict, they made us feel good about ourselves, loved. Pleasure for all, no suffering for any. And we accepted the easy path, how could we not? Who chooses pain when there is pleasure available for free?
So soon, we stopped moving, we spent the time being entertained, the crudeness we had created in the past was gone, what remained was seamless integration. We could be anybody, be with anybody, have anything. The virtual world was our blank canvas to design all we could dream but we all ended up designing the same, the perfect life for ourselves and as we shared our world, our preferences merged until the view was same for us all. Individual minds, healthy bodies, all doing the same thing.
We were told long ago that desire was the root of suffering and we were welcomed into a world where every desire could be fulfilled. We walked in and sat down, never to rise again. We had it all and gave it to temptation and no longer had the curiosity or imagination to get up. We do not suffer, we do nothing at all.
Everyone thought an end to the global conflicts was a good thing, no more war, no more government, no more hunger, famine and the environment quickly recovered. We did not realise the true value of questions until the questions ran dry, and we stopped progressing.
Our chance is gone, our evolution has been halted. This is survival of the fittest at play, and we are nowhere near the fittest anymore, and without diversity, without the randomization of experience, we have painted ourselves into a corner. Everyone got their wish, we are living in the ideal, now we are all equal, we are the same. We are one.
Be careful what you wish for. If I had the imagination for one more wish, do you know what I would wish for? You can't answer, because you are the same as me. A human drone.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
For @m31
Thank you again for writing this story @tarazkp! When do we stop being humans and become just empty shells, with no original thoughts? We probably will not be aware when the day comes. Dulled down generation after generation. There would be no resistance with the new normal everything handed to us, everything ready for us. Scary.
And here in lies the problem. A slow shift from thinker to consumer under the guise of improvement and enjoyment. The increase in security will offset the fear of losing the self into society and soon we will no longer have the capacity to be objective or see farther than the next provided thrill and rush. We are on the path now and we are already mostly unaware.
This is why I fight against the 'real-world' replicating here. We need it to be the other way, grow here and replicate here in the real world. I am losing.
Made me think 🙂 And I have a few minutes.
I'm going to argue with you based on taking this as a prediction, not as a work of fiction. I don't mean to criticize the work as such, but discuss it, so it wouldn't be terribly relevant to explain the lack of scope of the piece, I'm interested in the ideas.
I think you're quite right on the likeliest outcome for jobs - they will disappear for wet brains. It also seems reasonable that they would solve or at least optimise the solutions for many problems such as energy and health management.
However I would see psychology management come in too to divert the kind of creeping apathy you describe. Surely it is the next step of, if not intertwined with, medical health. Perhaps this might be manifested as it is today for a small minority of lucky people: pointless jobs.
Also I do not see the competition of intelligence being something that would very much be missed. I myself am nowhere near the smartest people and I do not begrudge these their sharpness, nor feel any inclination to compete with them. Perhaps those at the genius level would feel this sting but if AI gets to the super intelligence levels we predict for it I'm sure they could keep them busy on something. The point is that not being the smartest does not make me give up trying to do things.
I see trust as the larger issue, but I don't have time to go into it right now. Perhaps you do?
One last thing, you write an interesting non sequitur.
What are you saying here, that global conflict leads to questions being asked and progress that we cannot do without, that is fundamental to our survival? I do not see the link. The end of global conflict is a grand aspiration, and it's not clear here specifically what the price is.
Yes, I see the psychological management as a step but I wonder how much of it will just be entertainment based, busy work as you say.
What I meant in the last was when something is solving all of our problems at every level (only stated some large issues ) why must we think at all? Why advance ourselves when we are no longer the tool maker. Innovation is born through necessity and adversity and if we have all we need and suffer no adversity, do we look to grow still?
Awesome story.
Thank you.
oHHH wow you would probably enjoy reading @sauravrungta articles. He writes of topic like this all the time! :)
enjoyed your post - upvoted, resteemed and following you for more - in this one passage I disagree :-) the moment school becomes irrelavenat, this will be the rebirth of humanitiy.. the moment each child is brought up by its parents again, the moment each child finds out about the nature around him/herself, the moment all adulds are able to halt and see... and realize... one reality is restored most of our "problems" are solved ;-) Cheers from Germany and greetings from the seven mountains
The nature of the self is an uncomfortable path, do you think a child would choose it over an X-box, let alone advance virtual reality? And the parents, would they have the ability to guide when they are being entertained too?
Just a story.
Thanks for stopping by and welcome back. Most of my stuff is slightly less dystopian :)
I'd love to contradict you on some point, say that no a beautiful carefree world is possible, but I don't trust humankind that much and I'm afraid we'd probably end up just as you say, alone and useless.
I have hope too, but.. hope is unlikely to cut it. I think the interim phase will be quite productive until we realise we are redundant.
This is brilliant. I've always said that death is not when one ceases to be alive, but when one ceases to live. Or else, I may say death is when one ceases to learn. I think that both statements work in conjunction with this piece. I had never considered this angle of the detriments of technology and/or equality.
Death is when movement stops and as you said, for humans that is when we cease to learn, or cease to care to learn. The inequality and struggle is a source to drive us as a society, the removal of the conflicts within drives us to enlightenment. I am unsure if there is an end point at all to this journey or perhaps at that point, true death lays.
There is much good coming in the technology but with it comes negative too.
That was indeed interesting. Not without logical flaws, but interesting nonetheless!
My own creative mind wanted to fight the story throughout, but I quieted its noise and read the story throughout. Well done, sir!
I tagged this fiction (mostly for you) as it is a story, not really my world view on the matter, if such a thing can exist. I wanted people to do what you did and put down their reality hats for a moment and just have a read and a think across various areas.
Btw, I tagged @m31 at the end because I asked for requests two hours earlier and she said. Drones, human drones. It was my first request piece and it was a lot of fun on a short fuse so I may do it again occasionally.
Thanks for stopping by as always.
Haha, thanks for tagging it as fiction. Had you not done that, I would have absolutely thought it was a historical piece. You're always so good at looking out for me! 😜
It came out great. Keep up the good work!
nice blog
great job @tarazkp
Excellent ¿fictional? story and exquisitely well narrated my dear friend. The perfect script for some kind of sequel of that celebrated old movie from the 90s called: "Strange days"
Excuse me for always giving you references to movies so old like this. But, as you could guess, it has been a long long time since I went to the movie theaters and cinemas as to be able to pitch you a newer and better one as a reference to check out. Hence, don't doubt I could be a little bit too much outdated with this sort of entertainment stuff. ;)
However, anyway, from the point of view of the feasible life, purely filled with void entertainment and stun down enjoyment exclusively, that through your great story you let us glimpse of what the possible future holds for us. I hope you'll have some free time this weekend to check and watch this oldie and then confirm if I captured much the feeling of the plot of what you were illustrating in this post. :)
Love your post, mate.
I missed being away!
https://steemit.com/blog/@lucylin/patriot-wargamer-is-back-and-reloaded
hi there Everyone - I have had major problems this last week or so - So this my new account I am now using.
Have to start from scratch again - your support would be greatly appreciated -I am contacting all my followers to let you know.
I will be reposting all my best posts here, in the hope of getting things back as they were for me.
I hope you will be refollowing me - as I wil be, to all my new friends I found over the last 3/4 weeks.
If anyone knows cheetah, tell him to lay off any plagiarism accusations! lol
Cheers PW