Finding Nemo
22 Jan 2022Iridium Nova
Since my return to civilization, I've started working on some ship modifications I came up with while I had a lot of time to think. During the course of working on these, I made the acquaintance of a man named Zachariah Nemo. He's a bit of a celebrity in certain circles, both good and bad. Talking to him is like what I imagine talking to an Artificial General Intelligence is like. I've never actually talked to an AGI of course, as they're extremely illegal, not to mention severely taboo. Most criminals aren't even insane enough to dabble in that stuff, and most wouldn't know the first thing about how to even start. AGI is basically mad scientist supervillain stuff. The only people who have the brains to do it are probably on some kind of list and can't live normal lives because of it.A bit of background: AI stands for Artificial Intelligence. This is a broad term for any kind of program that is capable of processing information on at least animalistic level. It's a crude term, really, and that's why the lawbook on AI regulation is thick enough to knock out most computer science grad students. And I'm not taking about hitting them over the head with it, though that'd work pretty well too. Anyway, AI can be divided up into a number of types. Low level AI, such as that provided in our personal assistants, insights, COVAS, etc. are perfectly legal. But higher level stuff, like the analytics used in server farms and scientific systems, those have to be checked, double checked, and checked again. There are strict regulations about engineering AI that approaches human levels of cognition. Get too close to the equivalent of the average stupid idiot and you'll be lucky if there's anything left of your workshop when the authorities are done with it.
So where does AGI come in? Artificial General Intelligence is basically the next step above human-equivalent intelligence. This is the kind of stuff scientists say will end humanity. Supposedly, that's what destroyed the Guardians. And that's why it's outlawed. But here's a notion: what if someone made an AGI and disguised it as a human? A cyborg, perhaps.
I'm not saying Zachariah Nemo is an AGI, but if you're worried that one day we're all going to get enslaved by AGI, it might be a good idea to just join Nemo's commune now and get it over with. Maybe they'll go easier on you then.