Post by prufrock21 on Aug 23, 2024 21:50:21 GMT
The Unfinished Fable of the Peacemakers
The Peacemakers assembled to do what they did best: agree upon a way, method, pact which would promote a lasting world peace. There had been peace efforts before—the Pax Romana, the Atomic Peace, the Peace of the Convergent World View—but none of these had lasted for more than two centuries.
Said Marshall Caesarius, toga clad, their leader: “Of course, we have the Oracle.”
Lord Quasimodo smirked, shaking his head animatedly. “The Oracle can’t be tamed," he protested. “Even if it’s currently in our service and under our heel.”
Someone at the back made a proposal, if timidly. “We can always try … little wars. You know, conventional interstate skirmishes, civil unrests, insurrections and the like.”
Said Marchall Caesarius: “Doing so is as prodigal and useless as engaging in an all-out major war. We will not tread that road again. Not while I am Marshall. I insist we must no longer fight The Long War, as we are avid for The Long Peace. We must release the Oracle. Let us permit, where our puny efforts have failed, a superintelligent digital mind to design and implement a lasting peace.
A Scientist in front, with a bald elongated cranium and skin-tight suit, said: “We have never unleashed such stark cyber power before. What if, along with a lasting peace, the Oracle designs and implements the way of universal servitude? Our servitude.”
“Here, here, I fervently agree,” said Counsel Proctor, and he stirred those in the Assembly who were like minded, Lord Quasimodo, among others, to raise their voices in protest.
When the uproar subsided, and despite a call for caution, it was agreed that the Oracle’s immense artificial intelligence could be set free—but only under the strictest protocol, surveillance and supervision.
To this day it is not known how the fable ends, and which came first: universal peace or universal human servitude.
The Peacemakers assembled to do what they did best: agree upon a way, method, pact which would promote a lasting world peace. There had been peace efforts before—the Pax Romana, the Atomic Peace, the Peace of the Convergent World View—but none of these had lasted for more than two centuries.
Said Marshall Caesarius, toga clad, their leader: “Of course, we have the Oracle.”
Lord Quasimodo smirked, shaking his head animatedly. “The Oracle can’t be tamed," he protested. “Even if it’s currently in our service and under our heel.”
Someone at the back made a proposal, if timidly. “We can always try … little wars. You know, conventional interstate skirmishes, civil unrests, insurrections and the like.”
Said Marchall Caesarius: “Doing so is as prodigal and useless as engaging in an all-out major war. We will not tread that road again. Not while I am Marshall. I insist we must no longer fight The Long War, as we are avid for The Long Peace. We must release the Oracle. Let us permit, where our puny efforts have failed, a superintelligent digital mind to design and implement a lasting peace.
A Scientist in front, with a bald elongated cranium and skin-tight suit, said: “We have never unleashed such stark cyber power before. What if, along with a lasting peace, the Oracle designs and implements the way of universal servitude? Our servitude.”
“Here, here, I fervently agree,” said Counsel Proctor, and he stirred those in the Assembly who were like minded, Lord Quasimodo, among others, to raise their voices in protest.
When the uproar subsided, and despite a call for caution, it was agreed that the Oracle’s immense artificial intelligence could be set free—but only under the strictest protocol, surveillance and supervision.
To this day it is not known how the fable ends, and which came first: universal peace or universal human servitude.