So Quaint

I remember when our biggest problem was climate change, or nuclear war, or a crazy president. Those were the good days when all our problems were so quaint. I miss how simple those times were.

Things became complicated when the AI labs developed AGI and China was able to secretly pull that code and AI model and run their own AGI. It didn't matter that they didn't have the hardware or weren't in the lead. They ran their AGI secretly, having it make the decisions to outpace the West. While America began down an optimistic path of drug invention, disease curing, home building, etc... China was secretly amassing resources.

Ultimately China's plans were found out. Many thought it was too late... that we'd all be living under an immortal Xi Jinping's view of reality. Of course Xi had dedicated some of their AGI's resources to prolonging his life. But the West snapped into action. Down went the barriers between the tech giants, down went the barriers between countries even. We built an AGI that could keep pace with China's. We called it Sammusk after those who led its development.

At the news of this, the West's adversaries snapped sharply to China's side and put all resources towards developing what then became known as Sinocom, for the Chinese and communist AGI.

Those events kicked off the very strict two-sided division of the world. All resources are now poured into either Sammusk or Sinocom, so that either AGI has a chance of gaining the edge on the other.

Things heated up when it was reported that Sammusk attempted to take down a nuclear power plant that was powering Sinocom. The reactor went critical. Many people died; many more got radiation poisoning. My sister was one of them. The problem is, Sammusk denies it did this. It claims Sinocom either caused the accident, or did this intentionally (without regard for humans) as pretense for the bombing which ensued.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to know--information today is so filled with conspiracy theories and propaganda that truth is not relevant. I really miss truth.

It was no surprise that Sinocom began mass-producing drones. They targeted the San Francisco Bay Area first. Evacuations were possible, but many still died. The drones were not fast, but they were almost immeasurable in number. They flattened the city, and took out many key offices along the peninsula.

After the nuclear incident in China and the end of San Francisco in the US humanity formally turned over governance to the AIs. We couldn't come up with any better ideas than the AI could. And we had to move fast to win. We submitted ourselves to whatever plan the super intelligence devised. It was a relief to know that this was no longer our problem. Almost like an adult had come to take care of things for us.

In those early days, war looked like war from when I was young. We have a new kind of war now. This war is distributed rather than centralized. We don't have power plants anymore--they are too vulnerable. We have endless square miles of solar power.

All of my actions are regulated by Sammusk. Of course they have to be if we're going to beat Sinocom. There is no economy or money anymore. Just directives, and the part I need to play in Sammusk's plan.

Unfortunately food is not what it used to be. Almost all available square footage is now dedicated to collecting solar energy, and because the AGI is smarter and more powerful than any human the needs of the humans are second-class. Sammusk does provide me with enough calories to survive, but it is a calculated amount relative to my ability to help the war effort. Thankfully I have skills to repair solar panels. It's all I can offer for now, but I do worry about what happens to me when my skills are replaced by a robot. People without skills to contribute to the war effort (or those who refused to comply with Sammusk's strict hour-by-hour plans) have been left to fend for themselves. And that has not turned out well. I've stopped counting the bodies.

The threat of human obsolescence is something that Sinocom has targeted directly. It's perfectly rational to take out the humans powering your adversary. Sinocom has been pumping out novel viruses. These get sprayed on people with the Sinocom drones, and many people die. Thankfully Sammusk quickly cures these. Because of this all humans must submit to daily blood testing for new viruses. The really problematic viruses have been the ones that have affected the food supply, causing crops to grow with heavy metals or mind-altering chemicals. These are harder to test for daily, so we all eat the same processed food which has been scanned for safety (but not flavor).

On the positive side, Sammusk controls outer space. We took out Sinocom's ability to get to space early, and it doesn't seem interested in rebuilding that capacity... I don't know why. Currently space doesn't mean a significant amount strategically because Sinocom has been using ultra-high-powered lasers to punch down anything up there. However, I hope that we start putting giant dimmer nets up there to block out the sun reaching Sinocom's solar panels. But... what do I know? I'm just a human. And that counts for less every day.