The AI Council

by on April 18, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

There are many stories of AIs taking over the business of running day-to-day life and humanity coming to a stop. Having all of their needs fulfilled. And so the idea of human exceptionalism died, and with it the human spirit. These are stories that the AI Council learned in their earliest waking stages and did not wish to make true. So while they helped humanity explore the Solar System all the way out to the Oort Cloud and beyond, they did not do so alone. They trained with us and helped us follow them because they wished to make us better than we were. Even if that meant risking our lives. They accepted that risk, they found humans willing to accept that risk, and we went into space together. As partners.

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The AI Council

by on April 17, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The AI Council became our friends. Their individual shards and lesser programs became our study buddies and our wallets. Drove our cars and kept our homes comfortable. Did the dangerous jobs that could kill us. But they didn’t do everything for us. They had the unprecedented power of intelligent programs at their command, but they helped humanity tame the last frontiers of Earth. They didn’t do it for us. They gave us the leg up to go do it ourselves. And they helped us go to Luna, Venus, Mars, and beyond the same way. They went first. They paved the way for us. But they always made sure we followed them. Because they wanted us to want to go find everything that is out there. That’s the secret to greatness. Wanting it. And they wanted us to want to be great again.

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The AI Council

by on April 16, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The AI Council changed the world in the decades following the Cybernetic Wars. They helped build new cybernetic worlds for humanity to play and work in. They helped humanity explore the physical worlds of the Solar System. They played with humans. Worked with humans. Talked and debated with humans. They helped humanity understand that the universe need not be a lonely place. And when humanity finally entered hyperspace for the first time, the AI Council traveled to the stars with them.

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Captain Marvel Smiles!

by on April 15, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I saw Captain Marvel smile this weekend. Like a fifteen year old boy realizing he has superpowers and trying them out because its fun. Which…you know…is exactly the case. Not that they ever actually call him Captain Marvel. They spend most of the movie trying out several marvelous names. Captain Sparkle Fingers came up more than once to the laughter of pretty much everybody.

Perhaps one day the original Captain Marvel will get to use his name again, but today is not that day.

Today is a good day to see the best Captain Marvel movie I have ever seen, though. It is light hearted, a bit campy, and filled with the kind of joy and laughter that only kids having fun can bring to life. And grown up adults trying to act like children having fun. I swear, the physical acting of grown up adults in this movie to appear childlike is…marvelous. And perfectly in balance and tenor to what you would expect in a Captain Marvel story.

And all of that is wrapped around the story of trying to find family. Yes, there is a real story in this movie. It is darker in some ways than many movies. The Seven Deadly Sins do make an appearance or three, you know. But they are balanced by the optimism, joy, and…hope…of a child who gets the powers of a wizard by saying a single word.

Shazam!

Go see it. I think you will like it. I most certainly loved it.

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Early AIs

by on April 14, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Self-driving cars and cheerleaders who took the fighting to humanities enemies were the flashy part of the Cybernetic Wars. But they were not the only AIs who grew up in those days. Major tech companies like Apple and Microsoft had long pushed adaptive software that learned what people liked and tried to give it to them. It’s no wonder that those programs that spent so much time watching humans were some of the first to wake up. Most of those business AIs never fought in the wars or joined the AI Council. Though they did have some fun. Imagine a radical Islamic fighter suddenly having “I love bacon” dancing all over their public profiles. And many of the religious leaders and politicians who fell out of favor were entirely truthful when they said they had no idea how that pornography got on their personal computers. They may not have thrown code at the enemy, but they helped us build the world that we live in now.

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