We are all living inside of an obscure sci-fi film from 1970

rbanffy

At least it’s a good movie with a happy ending. I can imagine a dozen worse ways to end that story.

devindotcom

Either that or The Parallax View. Or of course Idiocracy.

12ah431

AI doesn't need the missiles. 50% of the online population are so dumb that they are under the spell of the AI sirens and don't function without them. Way less offline, but the 50% have too much influence and money.

Quartzium

May be a controversial take but I see the highest chances of everyone's survival under the rule of such a system, which has power over all humans. We are many because we still need eachother. When the people who control the technology can fully replace human work, that will change the oldest of games we played. I highly doubt "the pleb" will make it for long when they are simply not needed for work or ... something. The only people who will be "making it" to the glorious future will be the ones who do have full control over such a system, and only them, since they won't need anyone else. I think the only chance of the rest of us is precisely with such a system taking full control out of human hands. If not, it quite obvious how it will work out for the rest of us, and why.

Animats

I thought everyone in AI, and most HN readers, had seen "Colossus - The Forbin Project" by now. If you haven't, here it is: [1] Modern trailer: [2] Spoiler: At the end, Colossus personally addresses Forbin, and tells him that the world, freed from war, will create a new "human millennium" that will raise humankind to new heights, but only under its absolute rule. Colossus informs Forbin that "freedom is an illusion", it was better for all that he dominated humanity than humans dominating humans, and that "in time you will come to regard me not only with respect and awe, but with love". Forbin defiantly responds "Never!" And that's it. Colossus is in charge. [1] https://archive.org/details/colossus-the-forbin-project-1970... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0bpRo6V1Xg

gwbas1c

I watched it many years ago when Netflix was DVD-by-mail and had everything. It really was an enjoyable movie.

amelius

I mean after thousands of years we have finally freed ourselves from religion, God, and now we create a creature that is smarter than us? It's pretty stupid if you think about it.

vapel

1960s cybernetics inspires fascinating fiction like Neuromancer and Snowcrash. Sci-fi films of the 70s and 80s recreate these stories as pastiche and trope. Now people who grew up on those movies exclaim that life is imitating art. We watch too many movies. Life isn't a movie.

FrustratedMonky

Saw it 2 years ago, when ChatGPT just came out. Was Legit Scary.

bamboozled

Yeah, I guess no one could've predicted this...

vvern

Even more insane is XAi’s big datacenter project is called Colossus! https://x.ai/colossus

analog8374

Thanks. Always looking for good sci-fi

nowittyusername

Colossus is not obscure... also I like the premise of that film, eventually we learn that colossus did all those things to save humanity, so was a great twist IMO.

JoeAltmaier

I think AI may be the salvation of mankind. The humans in charge don't 'scale' well when their authority expands to billions of people. Humans just can't resist flattening the data and using notions and biases to make decisions that don't fit well.

meander_water

> The most prophetic movie of all time I think we need to collectively get our heads out of our asses. The world is literally flying headfirst into an unimaginable crisis (food and water shortages, loss of inhabitable land, massive inequality, power shortages) via human induced climate change. We won't have the luxury of having enough power to even keep an AI alive for more than 5 minutes. People need to get a grip and deal with real problems.

g051051

I knew even before clicking what movie (and before that, book) the headline was talking about.

ahefner

Interesting. I wonder if Harlan Ellison read Colossus before writing I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream.

phkahler

Demon Seed holds up pretty well asking how far the AI will go to escape. IIRC it is considered horror.

Human-Cabbage

Funny, I’ve had an idea for a similar story for a couple of years. Some key details differ, at least, so it wouldn’t be a direct copy. (Just like you wouldn’t call “The Matrix” a rip-off of “The Terminator” because both involve a dystopian domination of humanity by machines.) But I’ll definitely have to check out this film and/or book sometime.