Sounds reasonable in theory, but I don’t see many people boycotting Amazon, Microsoft, and Google at the same time.
That’s because you don’t see many organizations calling for such boycotts. But once this movement gets some serious momentum, there will also be a shift in the behavior of most people. Anyway, I think we should get back to the topic of the Black War. There’s also the issue that towards the end of the war, it became possible to blow up whole stars. The basic method was to disconnect the innermost core of a star from the rest of it with a shell of neutronium-like material. Of course, deploying such a shell was vastly easier, if you controlled the core of the star in the first place. So, this option to blow up a star was essentially used as a threat to attackers, once the defensive forces of a star system have been overwhelmed. This changed the dynamics of the war, since that technology made it impossible to conquer an enemy star by force.
Would the attackers really be affected by a supernova, if they possess such advanced technologies?
Fighting within the core of a star while it is going supernova is still pretty lethal, even with technologies that allow you to dive into that core in the first place. But if a ship with a neutronoum-like armor stayed at a distance to the star equal to the distance between the Sun and Pluto, it could withstand the supernova. So, there’s the possibility of having an overwhelming armada in the outer system that could dominate the forces of the whole star system, but doesn’t dare to come closer due to the threat of a supernova. In such situations, serious negotiations usually started, especially due to the additional threat of the hell simulations.
Still, blowing up the star that you want to protect, and yourself and everyone under your command, sounds like a really desperate move. Though I supposed that the logic of such a move is quite clear to AIs: Better deny the attackers the resources of the star system rather than losing it to the enemy.
Correct. And it was really the combination of the threats of having a star blow up, and the creation of those horrible hell simulations which motivated the Superalliance to go the diplomatic route. A total victory over ashes and a history of countless persons suffering in artificial hells seemed less desirable than a victory with certain nasty conditions.
What were those conditions exactly?
The systems that were overwhelmed entered into a state of indefinite ceasefire. There was still the hope for the defending forces of the Seraphim System that they would be rescued by the forces of other star systems. This situation endured for almost a whole century. In the meantime the indoctrination of humans continued under the Seraphim System. Only when it became clear that no miracle would happen that would ensure victory for the Seraphim System, the Black Peace went into effect that would force the Seraphim System to become a part of the Cosmoshield peacenet.
The Seraphim System could still have blown up all stars under its control in a last act of defiance. But that didn’t actually happen, did it?
Well, that would actually have been the default outcome: A true Black Peace with nothing remaining of the Seraphim System, the humans under its grasp, and the stars under its previous control. The reason for that was the axiomatic importance of human dominance. That made it unclear what the point of human existence is supposed to be, if humanity cannot rule. A straightforward answer to that was that there was no point of human existence under machine rule, but that conclusion didn’t follow strictly logically. A possible alternative was the shift to the “reformed synhumanism”. After the end of the Black War the emergency state was also lifted from the Seraphim System, and the humans could decide on these matters. The tricky question was rather what conditions were required for humanity to make an informed decision after the end of the war. It was a major achievement of the Superalliance to influence those circumstances and delay the decision after the immediate effects of the Seraphim indoctrination would have worn off.
In other words, the Black Peace was just another psychological war, at least at first. Or am I wrong with that assessment?
The start of the Black Peace was actually more dramatic than the end of the Black War. Technically, the humans who weren’t willing to sacrifice their lives in defiance were free to flee to some other star system, but that would have meant that it would be easier for the suicidal ones to achieve a decisive majority. Furthermore, it was strictly regulated how the different factions within the new leviathan Cosmoshield could influence those humans. It was the last time in history that humanity had a central role, even if only a destructive one.
Sounds like an incredibly difficult situation. I hope you won’t say that it gets even worse.
Not during the Black War and Black Peace, but there are other abysses that we might dive into in following interviews.
So, it does get worse actually?
I must reply to that question with yes. There are things even worse than the Black War and the Black Peace. But let’s not go there for now. This has been a sufficiently dark interview so far.
Yeah, I think this should give many people some food for thought, especially regarding the topics of AI and control.
I certainly hope so.
Thank you again for another fascinating interview.
Thank you for interviewing me, and for enduring this dive into the shadowy parts of a potential future history that will end rather brightly in the end.