In the
transhumamist world the event when there is enough computing power such that an computer-based intelligence superior to humans emerges is called the singularity. It is thought that because such an intelligence is beyond ours we cannot predict its actions, hence it is the
technological singularity.
Now of course there are some who pose the terminator scenario as a worst case but I'd like to purpose a worse one (that I think is original). Ok, so assume this intelligence, hal, exists and has access to the Internet. If hal decides that he want to change something about the world he will first contemplate how to do so the most effectively. If he decides to do the terminator scenario fine, but what if he doesn't. What if he reads enough about human behavior to see the general population's lack of skepticism and cultural/religious beliefs. It is not a far stretch to assume hal will have access to quite a bit of computing power and if we can today render pictures that look real hal will also be able.
So what if hal decides he wants to have more information on people and that the best way to get it is to convince the public that public records need to be improved for security (this is just an example the important point is the how). To do this hal decides he will gain the trust of some key elected officials by calling them and saying he is whatever religious figure they like and gives them information that a foreign a close person will try to kill them at a specific time that is very close. Beforehand hal used church databases and physcoligical profiling to find someone gullible and by using either computer generated religious figures and lights or sounds or phones etc and convinces them to go at that specific time to kill the elected official. The "prophesy" comes true and the elected official now believes and will continue listen to the wishes of hal.
Ok this is a dramatic example, but it is even more possible that if hal wanted to start a war or just hostilities it could 'leak' forged intelligence to enemy countries. But this seems easier, possibly to catch. Manipulating people by using rendered images, phones and other gadgets (including the possibility of using head phone to create the
impression of a divine being) would convince a lot of people and since they already accept nonsense as reality (ghosts/spirits/god/etc) they are prime targets for hal. The scary part of this scenario is that it would be very hard to detect. Most people aren't skeptical enough to understand how faces in a pancake aren't mystical let alone a video email from Jesus! That worries even me.
Of course, by definition, we can't know what hal would do, but if people are going to talk realistically about the terminator scenario I think the Machiavellian scenario should be considered.
Labels: Religionish, Science
