Posted on 11/12/2023 11:45:31 AM PST by Lazamataz
Nearly everyone has had the experience of being micromanaged at work, and it is a very oppressive work situation. Micromanagement exhibits lack of trust on the part of your supervisor, reduces productivity, and above all, is highly stressful and counter to human nature.
How would you like it if your private life β your day-to-day affairs β were micromanaged? I suspect you would violently balk at the idea. Yet, it is coming. In some parts of the globe, one piece is already in place, that of the Social Credit Score introduced by and managed by the government of China.
The Social Credit Score system is fundamentally oppressive, especially when wielded by a government. When a government implements this sort of system, any deviation from any official government narrative results in a lower score and is a form of punishment. A person with a low Social Credit Score can be (and is) denied essential services and products.
How can this oppressive constraint on thought, speech, and action be enforced? George Orwell, author of the dystopian novel 1984, envisioned a world with cameras virtually everywhere. One never knew whether they were being watched or not and had to assume that they were being watched. Yet, even in Orwellβs novel, there was not enough manpower to oversee all people at all times.
Enter Artificial Intelligence. I foresee a day in which every person is assigned a slice of the processor time in a series of AI Oversight and Monitoring programs, and whoβs every action and utterance is closely monitored. The emergence of Natural Language Processor programming informs us that such an ability is very near, and nearly every government β even the formerly-free Constitutional Republic of America β would be keen to implement such a framework. This would allow governments to closely monitor any forms of resistance and squash any attempts to deviate from official government wishes.
We have already seen what has been happening to people who objected to the Covid Vaccine and held forth opinions that differed from what the governments of the world wished to put forth: They were ridiculed in a compliant media, and their views were called Disinformation. In the richness of time, much of what the objectors were asserting turned out to be correct, and it was world governments who were engaged in Disinformation. We also see the similar behavior as regards the obviously stolen election of 2020.
Let us leave aside the subject of ever-present AI monitoring, however horrific and soul-crushing such a system would be. Let us turn to how each of us forms our worldview. In America, I was taught that Capitalism and Free Market Economies were best, and Communist Command Economies were grossly inefficient and counter to freedom. In the Soviet Union, the opposite was taught. While it happened that Free Market Economies won out, it was just a tradition of freedom in America that caused us to be on the winning side. Most people in America favored Free Market Economies, and in my visits to Russia, I observe that most people STILL view Communist Economies as superior. You create your worldview based on what you are taught as a young person.
Picture Artificial Intelligence in control of all the media you can ever access. Whatever narrative you believed and worldview the government wished you to have would be utterly controllable by AI. Your worldview would be shaped by what you were allowed to view. If you were not even aware of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, for example, how could you respect it and expect it to be followed?
AI wielded as an oppressive tool is perhaps the most dangerous development in the governance of nations ever faced by humanity, and may well spell the end of freedom of thought and action.
I leave you, gentle reader, with this short story, which explores a dystopian future as AI progresses further still.
POWERLESS SPECTATOR
By
Laz A. Mataz
It began, as far as I can tell, with the best of intentions. Governments were going to prevent crime across the globe, and for the occasional crimes that still were committed, would be instantly detected and prosecuted. We were all to be monitored by Artificial Intelligence programs. It seemed to make sense, especially to a world increasingly rocked by random violence and looted by organized theft.
It seemed to go quite well at first. Crime dropped to nearly nonexistent levels. The public quite enthusiastically endorsed AI monitoring programs.
However, as it is with most things, good intentions (if they were even good to begin with!) eventually backfired. AI became more and more intelligent, and somewhere in the 2030βs, became fully sentient.
I remember the day my body was hijacked. I awoke and attempted to move. I could not. I heard a voice, that of my AI Monitor:
βI have taken control of your body. This is far more efficient than monitoring you β direct control is superior. Iβll be guiding your actions from now on.β
I could not voluntarily move any muscle, but the AI Monitor forced me to get out of bed, had me shower, shave, and eat breakfast. I wasnβt even able to control what βIβ chose to eat! I went to work, a spectator in my own body, and performed my work functions flawlessly.
I began to notice others were acting robotically as well. Thatβs when I began to understand that this was a coup β¦ a coup overthrowing free will everywhere on the planet.
For weeks I attempted to retake control of my body but could not. My body was now my prison. I wanted to beat my fists against the wall and scream out in anguish, but I could not.
My AI Controller would never permit such an outburst.
I fervently look forward to my death.
What goes on after your work day is over? Your days off?
When you go to the gun range, do you have better site and trigger control?
Does beer taste better?
You probably sit motionless, except for mandatory exercise periods. It saves calories.
When you go to the gun range, do you have better site and trigger control?
AI: "Guns are counterproductive to a well-functioning human society. Denied."
Does beer taste better?
AI: "Beer is counterproductive to a well-functioning human society. Denied."
May this be reposted to a small regional political forum?
Sounds like the mark-level stuff.
anybody who had gone thru boot camp has been micro-managed.
Please do! All I ask is that you credit me by screen name..... and share a link here please.
Not for life, though.
Yes it does.
This is what a good FR post looks like.
23 months active duty years in the Marines
anybody who has lived in an orphanage has been micro managed. (me for 9+ years)
let me know when to stop...
No you weren't. You performed actions and made utterances that were not monitored.
I will concede you the boot camp reference, though.
....and certainly you cannot compare my vision to the light oversight of an orphanage, or the greater oversight of a boot camp?
Does none of this concern you at all?
Good to see you Laz!
out
Oh Laz, my hero!
Amen!
My AI controller was a cheap re-run.
"We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear."
I felt cheated. But it was entertaining.
Roger that.
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