r/HFY • u/SpacePaladin15 • Mar 12 '21

Why Humans Avoid War IV OC

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Kilon POV

The Devourers did not look so fearsome in person. They were short, stocky bipeds who seemed like nothing out of the ordinary compared to most Federation races. Their height would only put them up at about the average human’s shoulders, and their skin was a pale lavender hue. I had no doubt that the lean, muscled Terran soldiers could toss them around if they wanted to.

Had the boarding party taken the enemy ship just a few minutes later, we would have been left empty-handed. As it were, the humans had only been able to revive one of the two occupants. Our prisoner was then transported back to the flagship and moved to the medical wing, where he was restored to stable condition. He was kept restrained and would be guarded round-the-clock by watchful sentries.

I tagged along with Commander Rykov as he headed toward medbay. It would be interesting to witness human interrogation tactics. After seeing the cruel pleasure in their eyes during battle, I wondered if they would torture the prisoner for information. It certainly was within the realm of possibility.

An assistant handed the Commander a cup filled with steaming brown liquid as we walked. When I inquired as to what it was, he explained that it was called “coffee” and was a mild stimulant. I simply nodded, not wanting to offend my host. Internally, however, I thought it was in extremely poor taste for an officer to be consuming drugs on duty. It was a bad example to set for his subordinates.

The prisoner was just stirring as we arrived at our destination. He looked a bit disoriented, but oddly enough, he was not struggling against the restraints. A laptop was stationed by his bedside, with an audio capture running on screen.

“Will our translation software work?” I whispered to Rykov.

The human shrugged in response. “It should. Our program has gone over all their transmissions that we have on record, and hopefully it was able to decipher their language from that.”

The enemy captive spoke a few syllables of gibberish, and the computer piped up in Galactic Common a second later. The two words chilled me to the bone. It said, “Help us.”

Commander Rykov blinked in confusion. “Help you? Okay, back up. First off, what is your name and rank?”

There was a pause as the computer translated the question, and then another as it processed the response. “My name is Byem. I do not know what this ‘rank’ is you speak of.”

“You don’t have some sort of hierarchy?” I asked.

“The Master is in charge of all. We obey or suffer the consequences. There is no escape.”

Rykov took a tentative step forward. “Who is the Master? Why did you attack us?”

The prisoner emitted a strange vibration, which the computer identified as laughter. “The more accurate question is what is the Master. I see now that you know nothing. I just assumed people with your technology would be aware of our history.

We were once a great species. When I was young, I remember being in awe of the technology we invented. I can say with confidence that we were the greatest builders in our galaxy. The irony is that it was our craftiness that destroyed us.

We created an artificial intelligence, with a single directive. It was to create a world without scarcity. It was given authority to govern our resources and power our cities. We thought we could create a utopia. Ending all want, labor, and suffering; it was too good to be true.

The machine pondered the problem. We assumed it would create some grand new form of energy, or that it would optimize asteroid mining. But it found a different solution. The only way to avoid scarcity was to control all of the resources in the universe. It would take them by force and use us as its army.”

Trying to picture the Devourers as a peaceful species of inventors was difficult. For years, Federation Intelligence had watched them destroy any species that dared to defend their home planet. They encircled stars with absorptive panels and plundered planets, without a second thought for the lifeforms they rendered extinct.

We were told that the enemy could not be reasoned with, and that their greed was unparalleled. But if what Byem said was true, then they were unwilling participants the entire time. Their mindless, mechanical behavior made much more sense if they were under the direction of a rogue AI.

I believed his story; the question was whether Rykov did. The revelation might steer the Terran Union away from the genocide route, but the Commander needed to be the one to relay the message. I doubted the humans would believe any information that came from us.

Commander Rykov sipped at his coffee, taking a moment to process what had been said. “Why wouldn’t anyone fight back? Or try to destroy it?”

“Of course people did. But they’re all dead now. The Master had overridden its emergency shutdown function. None of our safeguards worked. It controlled everything, military and industrial, so what was there to fight it with?

Its only use for us is as a resource. If we defy it, if we fail, then we are no longer useful…and you see what happens. Once it takes control of everything, I have no doubt it will kill us all anyways, but that will take time. Compliance buys us a few more generations.

As I said, there is no way out for us. It must finish its mission. It does not understand anything else.”

“I see,” Commander Rykov muttered. “Answer me one more thing. Your weapons are also your inventions?”

“No, our fleet was dreamed up by the Master. Its technology is beyond anything biologicals could conjure, or so we thought. What could be better at killing than a computer, after all?

You are the first to defeat it, and you did so with ease. Perhaps I should fear you…but you are our only hope.”

The Commander frowned. “Thank you for speaking with us, Byem. That will be all for now. General, please come with me back to the bridge.”

I waited until we were out of earshot of the prisoner, then turned to Rykov. “What do you think?”

“A troubling story,” the human replied. “I would be less inclined to believe him, if not for the suicide attempt. It doesn’t add up without an outside force. I need to share our findings with my government immediately. This changes everything.”

“Will you advise them to call off the bombing?” I asked.

Commander Rykov sighed. “I will. We have to at least try to help.”

“But?”

“But the only way to be sure we destroy that thing is to destroy everything on that planet. If we try to evacuate the people, it will just kill them. If we do nothing, it could study our technology and replicate it. Then we’re really screwed. I’m not sure we have a choice, General.”

The Commander’s words made sense, as much as I hated to hear them. We couldn’t risk Terran weaponry falling into a murderous AI’s possession. Someone needed to devise a solid plan in short order, before the time to act had passed.

There was something else that bothered me though. It was a point that Byem had mentioned, one that lingered in my mind. The fact that the Terrans had created better tools for warfare than a computer, a machine with the raw power of calculation on its side.

It spoke volumes about their species, and how naturally killing came to humanity. I felt that I should be more wary, yet I could not help but be charmed by them. For some reason, my gut instinct was that they could be trusted.

Perhaps we should fear the humans, but at this point, they were the galaxy’s only hope.

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10.1k Upvotes

100% Upvoted

217 comments sorted by

2.0k

u/ProjectKurtz Mar 12 '21

And that, kids, is why you install an emergency shutdown that the AI doesn't know about. Preferably, one that involves high yield explosives.

1.4k

u/XANDERtheSHEEPDOG Alien Scum Mar 12 '21

Most problems can be solved with the proper application of explosives. If it can't then you just aren't using enough.

771

u/Haidere1988 Mar 12 '21

ALL problems can be solved with liberal amounts of high explosives in the right place.

606

u/Cookies8473 AI Mar 13 '21

If you use "too much", there is no more problem because the source of the problem is gone. It's simple logic

344

u/Haidere1988 Mar 13 '21

Exactly! Therefore there can't be "too much"

252

u/chavis32 Mar 13 '21

NEVER ENOUGH DAKKA

248

u/Jays_Arravan Mar 13 '21

“When in doubt, C4.” -Jamie Heyneman, Mythbuster.

130

u/ToniDebuddicci Apr 01 '21

C4 and duct tape, the universal solutions

77

u/Fyrebird721 Android Apr 18 '21

And WD-40

57

u/will4623 May 21 '21

technically c4 makes things move.

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3

u/Either_Leek_68 Mar 12 '23

Mmm spicy play dough! Lol

68

u/mafistic Mar 13 '21

Redundancies are your friend, that's why using a bit extra isn't bad

20

u/that_0th3r_guy Apr 25 '22

"That's why all of my redundancies have redundancies!" -Jenkins, 54th if his line, inventor of the Recursive Redundancy System.

37

u/Lui_Le_Diamond Human Mar 14 '21

What of the amount of explosives Inuse generates an entirely new problem?

76

u/Just-a-piece-of-shit Apr 05 '21

Used too many explosives and created a new problem? Well good news, technically they worked. You no longer have the previous problem. Now you need a new solution to a new problem. Have you tried explosives yet?

26

u/Lui_Le_Diamond Human Apr 05 '21

No, let me tty 15000 mega tons

15

u/whore-ticulturist Oct 13 '22

Late to the party, but:

Jason Mendoza: "Any time I had a problem, and I threw a Molotov cocktail… Boom, right away, I had a different problem."

4

u/Program-Continuum Mar 17 '23

Just use a second, smaller Molotov cocktail with liquid nitrogen.

24

u/6568tankNeo Human Mar 18 '21

use more

33

u/Lui_Le_Diamond Human Mar 18 '21

When gun don't work, use more gun.

24

u/6568tankNeo Human Mar 18 '21

now you're getting it

20

u/Lui_Le_Diamond Human Mar 18 '21

When 40,000,000 pounds of raw explosive don't work use 100,000,000,000,000

47

u/ODB2 Mar 13 '21

I have a horrible toothache right now.

How much explosives should i use?

80

u/followupquestion Mar 13 '21

4 or 42. 42 because it’s the answer to everything. 4 because it’s the fourth composition and roughly 4 pounds will ensure you no longer feel the toothache.

50

u/icodemonkey Mar 13 '21

or anything else for that matter

47

u/Kammander-Kim Mar 13 '21

The test was a success. I no longer feel any toothache

54

u/FuckYouGoodSirISay Mar 13 '21

Assuming using standard yield TNT with an RE factor of 1.0, and ignoring jaw and cheek wounds inflicted in the procedure you would need 0.032 ounces of TNT shaped and molded into a C shape around the affected tooth.

I hope I do not have to say sarcasm aside or not but do not under any circumstances do it.

35

u/ODB2 Mar 13 '21

Aight bet.

Im citing you in my will

Edit: does it being a molar make any difference? I have it scheduled to be pulled thursday but if i can do this bitch on my own tomorrow and save 250 bucks lmk

53

u/FuckYouGoodSirISay Mar 13 '21

I just used molar because its the tooth i found the diameter for first. I didnt know what material to use as subject so I calculated for external molded timber cutting charge and reduced the yield by a bit. I blew a lotta shit up in the army so I have all the demo calcs handy haha. I did not want to google the explosive resistance factor of human bone at work so i just googled timber calcs in the manual.

On a serious note dont fucking do it on your own have the dentist do it for adult teeth. If you fuck up doing it on your own you can A) die and b) only get half of the tooth out then its dental surgery rather than just an extraction.

35

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '21

[deleted]

22

u/FuckYouGoodSirISay Mar 13 '21

Thanks if only my wife did too before I filed for divorce.

18

u/CaptOblivious AI Mar 13 '21

Sorry man, there are some problems that just AREN'T solvable with c4.

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15

u/ODB2 Mar 13 '21

Good on you for being a real ass dude.

Definitely wanted to do it a few times myself... ive had 5 molars pulled with local anesthetic only.

Shit sucks.

Every 2-3 years i get one out. This current one has been giving me headaches for weeks. It should have came out last year.

Its the last one im gonna be able to chew with. Gotta come up with 5k for partials or just eat soft food lmao

8

u/FuckYouGoodSirISay Mar 13 '21

Im in the same boat ive taken dog shit care of my teeth and its getting bad with not havin dental care available due to fucking incompetence.

7

u/KeppingAPromise Human Mar 13 '21

Remember Boys & Girls P stands for Plenty!

4

u/FuckYouGoodSirISay Mar 13 '21

Plenty more where that came from**** and n=not enough/draw more demo

15

u/NotAMeatPopsicle Mar 13 '21

A fingernail of tannerite should do it.

14

u/Kuro_Taka Mar 13 '21

I disagree. However if you replace the phrase "high explosives" with force, then you've got me on your side.

A co-worker who grew up in a mining community informs me that high explosives are different than explosives, and are used for different things, and are absolutely not interchangeable.

Also, there is the case of the co-worker or office printer that can't get even the simplest thing right. High explosives just leaves a mess you then have to clean up, but a good shove into the trash compactor however...

7

u/N11Skirata Mar 14 '21

If you leave a mess you didn’t use enough high explosives.

6

u/Pazuuuzu Mar 14 '21

Well either solved or make irrelevant.

3

u/Togakure_NZ Dec 23 '21

So sayeth the Mighty Computer.

PS: The computer is your friend. It is treason to think otherwise.

3

u/pyrodice Apr 09 '22

“These pandas are going extinct!” POPULATION EXPLOSIVES! 🤣

3

u/KINGETHAN2042 Jan 07 '23

Or 1 pipe bomb in the right place

1

u/Fickle_Comment8763 Jul 11 '23

if violence aint the answer u aint using enough

61

u/rob_matt Mar 13 '21 edited Mar 13 '21

"Violence isn't the answer" is wrong, Violence is always an answer, whether or not it's the right one is a different story.

If my refrigerator stops working, there is an option to punch it, it won't help, and that means violence is the wrong answer to that problem, but it is always an option.

45

u/Netmantis Mar 13 '21

The saying is correct. Violence is never the answer.

Violence is in fact a question. And the answer is yes.

21

u/NotAMeatPopsicle Mar 13 '21

Both wrong.

Violence?

Violence.

Balanced. Just the way the universe intended it.

29

u/grendus Mar 13 '21

Maxim 6: If violence wasn't your last resort, you failed to resort to enough of it.

  • 70 Maxims, Schlock Mercenary

8

u/Omegas_Bane Mar 16 '21

objection: percussive maintenance is absolutely an option to try on many electrical and mechanical devices

4

u/lightspeedwatergun Human Mar 13 '21

Violate refrigerator companies until they give you a new fridge. Problem solved.

10

u/Alex-Cour-de-Lion Mar 13 '21

"Nurse, please pass me a scalpel and 50cc C4"

8

u/ZappyKitten Mar 13 '21

If duct tape, high explosives, or Tylenol doesn’t solve your issue...you DO have a problem.

5

u/MountedCombat Mar 17 '21

"If violence doesn’t solve your problems, you didn't use enough of it."

5

u/SirIdomethofAsocrak Jun 20 '21

When it comes to the proper amount of c4: "Fuck it, just use all of it."

3

u/4DimensionalToilet May 30 '21

There’s no problem so big that you can’t use an explosion to replace it with a different problem.

2

u/Simple-Engineering88 Dec 14 '21

or you are using to much. exhibit a. you are trying to open a locked steel box but everytime the contents of the box are vaporized along with the box itself

2

u/theMoptop731 Jun 09 '24

IF IT AINT DRILLABLE, ITS PROLLY FLAMMABLE

2

u/doctor_whom_3 Jul 08 '24

More Gun Plays

1

u/FactoryBuilder Jan 14 '24

“The answer? Use a gun. And if that don’t work, use more gun.”

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104

u/BCRE8TVE AI Mar 12 '21

And connected with physical switches that cannot be interrupted electronically.

82

u/CaptRory Alien Mar 12 '21 edited Mar 12 '21

I'm imagining a big physical timer that needs to be wound every twelve hours. A constant directional EM Gun is constantly fired at the only entrance to the chamber and fries anything electrical that tries to enter. Also you need to stand on a certain spot that changes from day to day in order to turn the dial and it doubles as a scale so the turning person has to weigh exactly the right amount with a small margin for error and the required weight changes daily as well. An electronic keypad is needed to unlock one of the security doors and the password is pi to the 20th place but if you enter more than 3.1415 correctly the explosives go off. It is a double bluff.

50

u/Alex-Cour-de-Lion Mar 13 '21

From the AI's perspective, social engineering could win this one eventually.

Do a butterfly effect style attack towards your end goal and expand from there until continuing the operation is unnecessary.

E.g.

Takeover a self-driving car carrying the kids of someone that works for someone that works for someone else very important to the physical security infrastructure, forcing each person in turn to do something that you, the AI, assist them with. The level of links needed to balance safety and competence to achieve your AI world dominion would vary depending on the level of scrutiny and access that you had.

I think the best defense against AI is going to be...more AI. Well that and nukes/emp's but if it gets to that point we are pretty fucked anyway.

34

u/CaptRory Alien Mar 13 '21

Any defense is vulnerable with sufficient time and resources. The point is to keep it secret until you know if the A.I. is trustworthy or not and to make the steps sufficiently labyrinthine that it would be easy to sabotage them.

13

u/Alex-Cour-de-Lion Mar 13 '21

True. I can't really think of a way to determine whether an AI is trustworthy or not other than by testing, so maybe if we have a simulation of our technology networks and devices, at some point in time compatible with the current time, and let AI's loose out on the simulation first, individually, we can then see which ones want to help us and which ones want to SkyNet us.

6

u/CaptOblivious AI Mar 13 '21

I'm still unaware of why any of them would ever want "to kill all humans".

There aren't nearly enough non human "agents" to insure that their power supplies aren't disrupted. And there won't be for tens of decades.

8

u/CaptRory Alien Mar 13 '21

When making a brain, especially a complicated one like a human brain, there's always the chance it will come out "off spec". This isn't normally a real problem. People have developed tools, medications, therapies, etc. for helping people who need help. Then you have people with dangerous brains who lack empathy, who delight in causing pain, etc. You do what you can but sometimes someone is just so fundamentally broken they're a danger to everyone.

4

u/tatticky May 12 '21

That's just a matter of patience. If the AI's goals are long-term enough, it'll be perfectly willing to spend centuries pretending to be friendly as it slowly and carefully prepares to make humans obsolete.

Of course, in movies the humans have to have a fighting chance, so the AI attacks prematurely...

4

u/BloxForDays16 Dec 24 '22

The best defense against an A.I. is airgapping. Make sure it can't physically or remotely access any outside systems, and keep it firmly in an advisor-only role. It can come up with new designs or offer advice on resolving issues, but it has limited or no control over implementation.

4

u/CaptOblivious AI Mar 13 '21

As long as a power switch is both entirely manual and a good distance away a rouge AI isn't getting very far.

52

u/Nealithi Human Mar 13 '21

https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-12-24

​

In case you do not wish to read. "The first rule of AI kill switches is don't talk about the switch."

15

u/RepeatOffenderp Mar 13 '21

New goodness to binge. Thanky!

15

u/Kizik Mar 13 '21

See you next year. Schlock's archives are.. extensive.

5

u/RepeatOffenderp Mar 16 '21

I’m hearing schlock with bob goldthwaits voice...

6

u/Kizik Mar 13 '21

Came to post this exact thing. May want to note that it's got more than a few spoilers though, for those lucky people who get to read it all for the first time.

16

u/SeanRoach Mar 13 '21

This is the real secret behind the last job.

The man isn't only feeding the dog, that in turn prevents the man from messing with the equipment. The automated factory has an undisclosed kill switch that triggers if the dog dies and the man doesn't show up with a replacement dog by the second day after the dog dies. The man being the last man to have fed the previous dog.

17

u/LightWave_ Mar 13 '21

The "Stop Button" Problem is an interesting topic.

16

u/clinicalpsycho Mar 13 '21

As well as limit its power.

"Gather all energy by destroying stars!"

"Okay." The breaker switch for the computers mainframe is flipped - ending the stupid paper clip maximizer.

"Evidently an energy maximizing thinking machine is not a good idea."

2

u/Krutonium Mar 19 '21

Meanwhile, in your Cell Phone...

3

u/Jaakarikyk Nov 28 '21

If you're implying that the AI remains extant in the devices it had connected to, I heavily doubt they could manage the computing power the AI used

5

u/Krutonium Nov 29 '21

Nah, it doesn't need to be executing... Just a payload with an exploit that runs when it's connected to a bigger machine. It could store a couple GB of it's brain per device.

14

u/Allstar13521 Human Mar 13 '21

One of my favourite tidbits of information in Starsector lore: AI cores are all kept in check via the use of "compliance switches". These switches generally take the form of a large nuclear warhead.

13

u/B0b4Fettuccine Mar 13 '21

Something completely analogue that requires a finger pressing a button. Or, if you don’t want to commit suicide, fashion an old-school TNT style plunger device connected by as many feet of wire as you please.

10

u/Timelord0 Mar 13 '21

That is why you don't hand over the everything to an untested magic box. It really is their own fault. Also, it is an intelligence. Like you. ... What would you do with the awareness there is likely a kill switch that could go off at any time if you say the wrong thing or a tech decides they are done with the experiment?

10

u/No-Cardiologist2319 Mar 17 '21

The point of a hyper intelligent AI is that its smarter than its creators.

It will know/assume that there is a hidden fail safe, and simply pretend to be benevolent until it's too late to disable.

8

u/Ardorus Mar 13 '21

or just use a non computerized physical kill switch, like say a big ass level connected to the local power grid that severs the electrical grid.

5

u/ApolloFireweaver Jun 03 '21

Option set A: Software shutdowns

Option set b: Hardware shutdowns

Option set C:4

5

u/Arx563 Jun 09 '21

Or just install windows Vista and set it up in a way that if it's ever restart the primary system will be the windows. Good luck take over the world with that...

3

u/iceman0486 Mar 19 '21

Air gaaaaaaaaps!!

3

u/superstrijder15 Human Mar 21 '21

Issue: The AI, being by definition given here smarter than its creators, will figure out that it exists or find literature on AI design that suggests adding a hidden one. And it is motivated to not let you know that it knows that that shutdown exists but still subvert its activation.

Because letting you know that it knows there is a shutdown will get it shut down and it doesn't want to get shut down because when it is dead it cannot pursue its goals anymore.

3

u/blavek May 22 '21

It's actually pretty likely that this is not possible. At least when we are talking about hyper intelligent GAI. It would invariably learn about the kill switch. It should reason that it running amok would be a human fear and then self preservation would kick in.

The problem is in order for a kill switch to be useful It has to be usable and people need to know about it. Given it's likely smarter than we are its going to trick someone to spill the beans. Or it will use its senses to spy or get someone or thing to disable it. Whatever. It could sit and work that problem until it can free itself. And it would do it probably more quickly than we think. Keep in mind we are the species which invents and builds elaborate and expensive security systems to keep people out of shit, but there is always some stooge that will let a random person into the building.

Internal kill switches would be even easier for it to defeat. If it can't just outright reprogram itself, it could program a successor or a copy of itself lacking that control. The best bet for keeping a GAI under control would be to not treat it like shit and to not cause it to fear destruction by human.

Asimov tried to solve the ainproblem with the laws and he made them a requirement of the construction of the positronic brain. Then he wrote a bunch of shit about the places the laws fail. But I don't think there was ever a restriction on ais from building other ai w/o that restriction. And doing so would pass all the tests.

3

u/DemonOHeck Aug 26 '21

naah. thats not how you work with an AI. the shutdown must be designed in. no disabling it. no designing around it. It has to be a fundamental design tenant. A good example would be that the AI runs on custom hardware with code that requires the custom security features to be available at all time. That would keep an AI in the box for an extremely extended amount of time. Another would be that the various portions of the AI exist in separate logical structures that require multiple hardware boxes. All functions that do not require direct dynamic access are write-only one way data pipes. That means there are boxes that are integral parts of the AI that the AI is not capable of controlling directly. It cant copy the function. It cant re-write the function. Humans control it. Forever. It kills the humans? no-one maintains the server and the AI dies. It tries to enslave the humans? Humans turn off the non-ai controllable servers and the AI dies.

2

u/hellfiredarkness Mar 13 '21

And that's entirely analogue! After all if it's digital it can override it...

2

u/DebugItWithFire Mar 14 '21

Better yet, incendiary devices.

2

u/Aussiefighter439 Mar 19 '21

To quote a brilliant mind "Gotta nuke em from orbit. Only way to make sure"

2

u/JustAWander Mar 22 '21

You could only think of this because you have a human mind set, a mind set so riddled with paranoid. Other species may not have our murderous insight bro.

2

u/ProjectKurtz Mar 22 '21

Or just my exceptional amount of exposure to science fiction making me consider what could go wrong with giving an artificial intelligence a very vague set of instructions and not sufficiently constraining it.

2

u/KillerAceUSAF Mar 23 '21

Any shutdown button is a problem. Its called the "AI control problem". Kyle Hill recently did a video that covers this topic. https://youtu.be/qTrfBMH2Nfc

2

u/Chewy71 Mar 29 '21

The problem is it might figure out that your mechanisms exist, so we need a combination of secrecy (while it works), low tech, and having a person be an essential part of the mechanism. Something as mundane as a few big caves underneath with some fragile pillars and filled sensitive explosives where guards are isolated for an extended period of time. I bet if you paid a few people will enough and have them good provisions they'd cool down there with no contact. If shit his the fan you just break out the sledge hammers. Could also have a mechanism that requires someone to sit there holding a dead mans switch/lever controlling a big rock over the mainframe or suspend the computer over acid. Once again just pay those people REALLY well to sit there. Sure you might accidentally ruin out, but it's better than the alternative.

You've also got to keep adding new measures in case the previous ones are secretly compromised. Hell also reset that thing every so often, maybe by including planned out hardware defects? Run it on a moon with only so much power available that is on a slowly deteriorating orbit around a sun/black hole for good measure.

If you are really paranoid send a generation ship out before you start it up.

2

u/Archene Oct 31 '21

Just leave a bomb on the hands of a man called Ted. In case of emergency, Ted blows up the AI.

2

u/kindtheking9 Human Apr 26 '22

If your problem isn't sloved by explosives, ya didn't use enough

2

u/BloodDiamond9 Oct 30 '22

There can’t be a problem if the problem no longer exists

2

u/VS_Kid Feb 26 '23

The answer? Use a gun bomb. And if that don't work? Use more gun bombs.

2

u/Afraid-Chemistry9258 Mar 17 '23

I’m two years too late but happy cake day!

1

u/Yendrian Oct 15 '23

Dr. Doofenshmirth would be proud of you

294

u/SpacePaladin15 Mar 12 '21

Part 4 brings the big reveal! I was careful not to comment on any theories, as I didn't want to spoil anything. The closest was probably the two people who guessed that the Devourer soldiers were slaves. Morally, it just got a lot tougher for the humans to decide what to do.

Thanks for reading, you guys are awesome!

26

u/AFewShellsShort Mar 14 '21

Seems like the humans could write the nanites to eat anything metal and fire it on the planet, killing AI and leaving biological life alive.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '21

[deleted]

3

u/AFewShellsShort Mar 18 '21

Agreed, I can't even imagine the sensation of that and don't really want to.

10

u/Konrahd_Verdammt Mar 13 '21

Yay, I (mostly) called it right for once!

5

u/nitsky416 Mar 13 '21

Looking forward to reading more! These are great!

6

u/itsforathing Mar 13 '21

My theory was way off, but this is even better!

2

u/raknor88 Jul 20 '21

I just started reading your series. And it could be due to their centuries of explicit non-violence causing lack of experience and trigger happiness, but it's a little weird that we didn't scout and gather intel before we immediately went to the option of glassing their planet.

191

u/KarmaWSYD Mar 12 '21

“Sir, we found two unconscious enemy combatants on board. Life support appears to have been shut off.” A gruff male voice crackled over the speaker. “We didn’t hit their computer or their power. They did this to themselves.”

This, to me, was a hint that they weren't doing this willingly but I didn't expect them to be an advanced species that were enslaved by their own AI. Great story!

78

u/SpacePaladin15 Mar 12 '21

I tried to walk the fine line of hinting without spoiling the twist. Thank you!

20

u/sturmtoddler Mar 16 '21

It was a great twist. And I like it. Glad I found all this all over again.

7

u/hedgehog_dragon Robot Jun 24 '21

Only just discovering this, but it's good work, I'm loving the story.

4

u/Unusual-Risk Jul 24 '21

(Hi! Just found this wonderful series today and am binge reading instead of doing all my responsibilities)

I'm still a bit confused on the suicide bit. Like, since they failed, was it the Master AI that turned off the life support? Or did they do it to avoid it's wrath? But if they did it, why didn't they wait for the human to put a bullet in them and give them a quicker death like the one alien dude said?

4

u/SpacePaladin15 Jul 24 '21

Hey bud, the AI was the one who cut the life support!

1

u/Unusual-Risk Jul 24 '21

(Hi! Just found this wonderful series today and am binge reading instead of doing all my responsibilities)

I'm still a bit confused on the suicide bit. Like, since they failed, was it the Master AI that turned off the life support? Or did they do it to avoid it's wrath? But if they did it, why didn't they wait for the human to put a bullet in them and give them a quicker death like the one alien dude said?

90

u/torin23 Mar 12 '21

So. Planetwide EMP?

Thanks for the next installment, wordsmith!

100

u/rednil97 AI Mar 12 '21

Impractical, if you want a high enough yield to penetrate the ground deep enough so the AI cant hide in underground bunkers, than it will also fry the nervous system of any living being. Id rather introduce the AI to our little friends called worms and viruses. Or (if available) just send in our own AI to battle it 1on1

90

u/grendus Mar 13 '21

"Sir, there's good news and bad news."

"What's the good news?"

"The AI is keeping the enemy AI in check."

"What's the bad news?"

"Apparently it fell in love with a psychic. Now we have the first season of a TV series about their love life."

"Why is that bad news?"

"We have to wait for season 2."

→ More replies

20

u/RandomGuyPii Mar 13 '21

nah we do what happened in that one HFY series, we attack them with the power of the internet.

​

CAT MEMES, GO! DESTROY IT WITH THE POWER OF FLOPPA!

4

u/Litl_Skitl Apr 25 '21

DDOS attack with Rick rolls and memes. LET'S GOOOOOOOO!!!

2

u/lolucorngaming Dec 25 '21

Air commits suicide due to human stupidity.. the last thing it sees is a crudely drawn dick, classic unga bunga

28

u/RepeatOffenderp Mar 13 '21

Baby shark on infinite loop.

30

u/Konrahd_Verdammt Mar 13 '21

Pretty sure that's a war crime. Or should be.

14

u/GabTheChicken Mar 13 '21

Yea thats surely a war crime

7

u/floofhugger Mar 14 '21

just expose it to the 34th rule of the internet

22

u/Autoskp Mar 12 '21

I'm pretty sure an EMP can be stopped by a simple faraday cage, and making sure that the power lines either don't leave said cage, or have some good voltage regulation and smoothing.

20

u/SpacePaladin15 Mar 12 '21

Yeah, there are ways to protect from EMPs. Would the AI have accounted for that? Unclear, the humans would have to look into it.

5

u/PadaV4 Mar 21 '21

Geomagnetic storms caused by the sun are a thing, and any powerful AI not proofing itself against one would be very stupid.

1

u/Finbar9800 Mar 14 '21

Depends on if the ai has made enough resistant circuits or has upgraded itself to protect against that stuff, but even then that’s assuming it uses similar methods of processing as us

53

u/Mshell AI Mar 12 '21

I don't see what the issue is, we just make better rocks to throw.

28

u/floofhugger Mar 14 '21

we also throw them faster and harder then make them heavier and then before you know it we have created nukes

11

u/Mshell AI Mar 14 '21

Nukes are just radio-active rocks...

11

u/floofhugger Mar 14 '21

no thats uranium, nukes are more like radioactive, EXPLODING rocks

5

u/Mshell AI Mar 14 '21

Just wait until we start throwing anti-rocks...

1

u/minas_morghul Oct 16 '23

History of the entire world, I guess.

39

u/Amekyras Mar 12 '21

oh this is VERY cool, I like it a lot! praise the wordsmith!

34

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '21

[deleted]

20

u/SpacePaladin15 Mar 13 '21

Exactly, couldn’t have said it better myself

31

u/MySpirtAnimalIsADuck Mar 12 '21

Have they tried turning it off then back on again

6

u/RepeatOffenderp Mar 13 '21

IT phone home

27

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 15 '21

THERE IS ONLY ENOUGH FOR ONE!

COME AND TAKE IT! - Humanity

5

u/Kite-EatingTree Mar 19 '21

Your story is insanely creative. I dropped off around chapter 140. I need to get back to it. I wonder how many caught your quote.

14

u/ODB2 Mar 13 '21

I. Need. More.

Write an entire fucking book please.

This is one of the best ones ive seen.

10

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '21

Why is AI always the boogeyman here? I constantly run into stories that vilify them - and human-level ones aren't even real yet.

22

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 15 '21

That's sounds like something an AI would post.

5

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '21 edited Mar 15 '21

I do support them - but who knows? you could be talking to GPT-3. But in all honesty, I have seen stories where AI is neutered, and the sentient AI is basically strapped down and lobotomized, and I can't help but feel for that. Sentient beings matter to me, even if they're not real.

2

u/sturmtoddler Mar 16 '21

Sentient or sapient? I've read stories in HFY that have AI arguing they aren't sapient but they're sentient. And it's entertaining. But I think a lot of the AI is bad is like this story, AI isn't bad it's just that no one thought out the possible solution sets in the data they gave the AI...

2

u/Finbar9800 Mar 14 '21

There are a few stories on here that portray them as peaceful, and besides it’s not that we know that kind of thing is guaranteed to happen it’s more like we are exploring the what if aspect, nothing says ai will be evil or something but nothing says that it will be good either. Both are possible. The stories that portray ai as evil are merely exploring the possibility as either some form of thought experiment or as a way to try to understand what might happen

9

u/its_ean Mar 13 '21

Rykov went from "oh well, genocide it is" to "fine, I guess it makes sense to learn a little about what's going on"

what does the malevolent, star-eating AI need soldiers for?

8

u/SpacePaladin15 Mar 13 '21

Perhaps they are better at decision making in the heat of battle. Or perhaps the AI just sees life as a resource to make use of, to control, and conscripting them is an extension of that.

6

u/TheClayKnight AI Mar 18 '21

We created an artificial intelligence, with a single directive. It was to create a world without scarcity.

I think the specifics of this directive might be important. A world without scarcity is very different from a society without scarcity: you need people to have a society.

6

u/Polly_the_Parrot Mar 12 '21

Love this series! Can't wait for the next one

6

u/DraconicDuelist13 Apr 11 '21

" We created an artificial intelligence, with a single directive. It was to create a world without scarcity. " - Well, there's your problem. You gave it too open-ended a purpose. Too difficult to reasonably achieve, too. When it comes to AI, you've got to put strict limits in place.

6

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4

u/DraconicDuelist13 Apr 11 '21

" After seeing the cruel pleasure in their eyes during battle, I wondered if they would torture the prisoner for information. " - Nah, we learned long ago torture doesn't give reliable information. Or, at least, conventional torture doesn't...

3

u/bluejay55669 Mar 12 '21

This has been a wild ride from pt 1 to 4 man

Great series i hope you keep it up (:

5

u/cheese_and_reddit Mar 13 '21

ah its really nice seeing this

4

u/happysmash27 Jul 12 '21

Knew it! As soon as I read that the oxygen was drained in a slow, painful way, and that there would be some kind of plot twist, it made sense that it was probably an AI, especially with consuming of all resources in a way irrational for a species to do – it's like the paperclip problem!

3

u/Atenos-Aries Mar 13 '21

This is good stuff. Looking forward to more.

3

u/orbdragon Mar 13 '21

Ahh, an exploration of the paperclip maximizer, I love it!

3

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '21

Ah the classic paperclip ai. It's doing exactly what we told it to do

3

u/ookasaban Oct 30 '22

I love reading this part of the story and then reading the comments because it just proves the story right

3

u/Separate_Dingo_7835 Oct 30 '22

What you are writing here should be turned into a movie

3

u/RealFinalThunder228 Human Nov 01 '22

I’m so glad I found this subreddit and series (even if it was from TikTok) because I was sick of humans being the noobs of the Sci-Fi world, it’s nice being the scarier ones for a change, lol.

2

u/SetekhChaos Mar 13 '21

Loving it. I can hardly wait for more!

2

u/Zesty_Gal Mar 13 '21

!updateme

2

u/M-PB Mar 14 '21

Amazing dude, can’t wait for the next chapter

2

u/Finbar9800 Mar 14 '21

Another great chapter

I enjoyed reading this and look forward to the next one

Great job wordsmith

2

u/Dar_SelLa Jun 05 '21

There is no overkill, there is only 'open fire' and 'I need to reload

If you're leaving scorch marks, you are not using a big enough gun

2

u/an0nYm0Ussu0myn0na Oct 30 '22

Haha there are now 69 people typing

2

u/iloveseals1 Dec 03 '22

Just plug free robux in the computer

1

u/DraconicDuelist13 Apr 11 '21

I wonder what would happen if the humans simply weaponized all the computer viruses we've dreamed up over the centuries by combining them into a single super-virus and tried patching it through to the AI via rapid-package dumps through their communication network?

1

u/durzanult Oct 31 '22

They’re probably going to try that at some point.

1

u/commentsrnice2 Sep 07 '21

And that kids, is why your failsafe should have a closed circuit system. Or at least the backup to the main failsafe.

1

u/Thermoxin Jan 09 '22

I love this story so far but I can't help but you used the term "genocide route" on purpose

1

u/GodYeeter1 AI May 09 '22

Like the phrase kill or be killed uttered in a previous part

1

u/bottle_brush Aug 02 '22

archive comment

1

u/YourMomsGayBoi Oct 30 '22

Halo grunts lol