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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17166 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2022 4:11 pm Post subject: Will mankind be conquered . . . by our own technology? |
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I had an idea today while watching Star Trek: Discovery. The technology presented by that amazing series inspired me to come up with this novel concept.
Imagine a race of humanoid beings whose technology gradually allowed them to enhance their intelligence and replace their injured or aging body parts.
The evolution of their technology was similar to ours. First they developed increasingly user-friendly computers. Then they created mobile devices like cell phones, which were augmented by earphones, microphones, and Google-glass eye wear.
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Artificial hearts and prosthetic limbs became so advanced that they were better than the biological ones!
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Eventually they're doctors were able to implant microcircuits across their skulls and inside their brains which increased their intelligence, enhanced their memories, and gifted them with the ability to experience virtual reality without any help from devices outside their bodies.
All that sounds wonderful, right?
However, these beings added more and more electronic “enhancements” to their brains until the implants were doing most of the work, and the “gray matter” was becoming obsolete!
Meanwhile, as each of these beings aged and developed physical ailments, they would receive artificial eyes and ears, mechanical limbs, and synthetic skin which replaced their aging flesh.
In other words, each person’s body was gradual replaced by robotic components . . . . until little of the original person remained.
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The logical progression of this technology would be that these technological enhancements eventually achieve their own form of A.I. — and realize that the remaining biological elements of each person they inhabited was no longer needed!
And so, an entire race of humanoid beings would became completely unnecessary to the mechanical bodies which had gradually replaced them.
At some point in their history, the now-predominately mechanical beings would decide to simply purge themselves of all the remaining biological parts of the creatures who had originally created them!
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Now . . . imagine this.
A spacecraft from Earth lands on the planet occupied by this race of advanced A.I. beings — all of whom had originally been the humanoids who first invented the technology.
But the humans are unaware that this planet-wide race of gleaming robotic A.I. beings actually evolved from the various hi-tech enhancements which were applied — bit by bit — to the human-like creatures who once lived there!
Unfortunately, the A.I. race becomes aware that these humans are similar to their biological "forefathers". And they aren't sure the people from Earth should told that our own species is currently on the same road to eventual extinction as the humanoid beings who once occupied this alien planet — before their technological enhancements gradually replaced them!
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If I use this idea in a novel, I think the climax would include the shocking realization by the humans that this alien planet was once inhabited by the “ghosts” of the life forms who were replaced by their own technological creations!
Fortunately, the humans would be warned by a few sympathetic robotic beings who would tell the people from Earth that the robot race was plotting against them.
The A.I. beings feared that Earth would view them as superior, and try to wipe them out!
The exciting climax would involve the dramatic escape by the Earthmen, accompanied by a few robotic allies they’ve acquired who hope they can meet with the authorities on Earth and plead with them to make piece with the A.I. beings on their planet.
That would be The End . . . until the sequel. _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Jul 14, 2022 4:22 pm; edited 5 times in total |
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Gord Green Galactic Ambassador
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Joined: 06 Oct 2014 Posts: 2948 Location: Buffalo, NY
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Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2022 1:39 am Post subject: |
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Well, as a real cyborg ,,,( I have an artificial device (( pacemaker)) controling my heart, Plastic lenses in my eyes, aluminum replacements for my knees...Hell...I'm 25% artificial!) I have to think that WE are the way of the future!
Puny humans beware!!! _________________ There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child. |
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Morbius Astral Engineer
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Joined: 25 Oct 2014 Posts: 207
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17166 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2022 11:46 am Post subject: |
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In the original series, this is listed as the origin of the Cylons.
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In the original 1978 series, Cylons are a fictional race of robots at war with the Twelve Colonies of humanity. The Cylons were created by a reptilian race, also called Cylons, that died out centuries before the series takes place.
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In the later reboot, this is their origin.
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The new humanoid Cylons were created by the five survivors of an earlier generation of humanoid Cylons from Earth in exchange for the Centurions ending the Cylon War. These five early generation Cylons (now known as the "Final Five") are the descendants of Cylons created by humans on Kobol thousands of years ago. _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Jul 14, 2022 4:16 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Pow Galactic Ambassador
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Joined: 27 Sep 2014 Posts: 3441 Location: New York
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Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2022 11:58 am Post subject: |
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Splendid story idea, Bud.
Somewhat similar story themes show up in, Star Trek: TOS episode "What Are Little Girls Made of?"
Star Trek: Voyager: "Prototype"
Space: 1999 "Guardian of Piri."
Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future.
Star Trek: The Next Generation's the Borg.
The Six Million Dollar Man.
Space: Above & Beyond, "The Dark Side of the Sun," and "Pearly."
Space Rangers.
Earth 2.
Superboy: "Metallo."
Sliders: "State of the A.R.T."
However, Bud, you've taken the premise and given it an original twist that makes for a most compelling plot |
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17166 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2022 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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Pow wrote: | However, Bud, you've taken the premise and given it an original twist that makes for a most compelling plot. |
Yep, the unique aspect of the concept is the fact that the aliens were willingly (but unwittingly) allowing their "enhancements" to slowly-but-surely to turning them into robots.
Eventually the A.I. components realized they were just "baby sitting" the less-intelligent remnants of the humanoid alien beings whose brains still resided in their mostly-or-completely artificial skulls!
And yet, this race of robots literally evolved from the humanoid beings they had been "built around" during the long period when the technology was advancing.
For that reason, the "host beings" literally taught the A.I. robots, first hand, what it was like to be human!
They learned about emotions by being connected to the brains they were interacting with. They acquired human memories from the people they served and cared for while keeping them alive and healthy.
In a sense, the humanoid aliens served as "mentors" for the evolving robot race — without knowing this, of course.
For that reason, the robots became "artificial people" who retained the memories, the talents, and the feelings of the people whose bodies they slowly replaced as they got older and finally died. At some point in this strange evolution, whenever the body of an aging person was totally artificial and the brain was dead, the robot would be allowed to continue it's life with no human brain at all.
They would become independent citizens!
That would be a troubled period for the humanoid aliens, because they would gradually become a minority group in a population that consisted of humans (most of whom had enhancements in varying degree) and the pure "robots" with no human brain tissue.
Perhaps the end of that era came when the humans rebelled and tried to destroy all the pure robots, fearing their superiority and being jealous of their immortality. Forced to defend themselves, the robots defeated the humanoids — the last of whom perished when a plague infected them, and the planet's medical facilities were no longer well maintained.
And thus the reign of the humanoids came to an end.
But the robots had the amazing ability not only to retain the memories of the people they'd served for many years, these A.I. mechanisms created a vast storehouse for those memories and freely shared them with each other!
Therefore, each robots expanded both its knowledge and its "personal experiences", thus creating a race of amazingly complex, intelligent, and even wise individuals. The could draw on the knowledge and sheer humanity of the individuals who memories they could access.
In view of this, the climax to this story I proposed above seems even more appropriate.
Even though this robot race was composed of intelligent citizens with a wealth of memories which made them not only super-human but also super-humane, they would know (from bitter experience) that the people of Earth might eventually develop the same hostile attitude towards them as the humanoid beings who first created the enhancements which extended their life spans.
Gentlemen, this is a story concept that would make a wonderful series of novels! But I'm not sure that, because of my age, I'd live long enough to write them all.
However, a friend of mine has taken full advantage of the most recent mechanical and electronic enhancements. He's a Star Trek fan like me, and when he got home from the hospital he emailed me this picture of his new, improved appearance!
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I told him I didn't want to go quite that far yet. He said the doctors could let me retain a bit more of my old self.
![](https://i.imgur.com/uFXqntX.jpg) _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Fri Jul 15, 2022 10:55 am; edited 4 times in total |
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Gord Green Galactic Ambassador
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Joined: 06 Oct 2014 Posts: 2948 Location: Buffalo, NY
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Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2022 8:00 pm Post subject: |
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I'm just glad your picture ended where it did!
We don't have to see your Over-thruster Turbocharger to know you had one installed! _________________ There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child. |
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17166 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2022 10:03 am Post subject: |
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Gord, you're thinking like a 20th century guy!
This is the 21st century, and science is working towards eliminating the need for men to have that pesky appendage!
I discussed my options with the doctor, and he said I wouldn't need one of those things anymore, because the microchips in my brain would allow me to create erotic virtual reality experiences that would provide all of the pleasure . . . with none of the usual messiness.
In these VR fantasies, I'd be young and studly while enjoying the tender charms of any lovely lady I chose.
The ultimate "safe sex".
By the way, this morning I realized that I'd gotten so involved with creating the two images above that I neglected to do a final and thorough proofreading of the text!
When I finally did it a few minutes ago I was appalled by all the typos!
Hopefully I've now corrected most of them (which is about the best I can ever do). So, everyone who read it prior to this post might want to read it again, now that it makes more sense . . . and then send me a PM about the typos I STILL overlooked!
By the way, if you're curious about the robot image I used and how I might have altered it, here's the unaltered original. Note the darkness of the image, the flawed background, the unappealing color, the ridiculously small head, the long neck, and the rather lame-looking hand.
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I fixed all that. Here's a before-and-after comparison.
Then I gave the second version a devastatingly handsome head with blond hair . . . and a pair of robot ears.
![](https://i.imgur.com/xEGbkS6.jpg) _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Aug 18, 2022 10:49 am; edited 1 time in total |
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ralfy Mission Specialist
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Joined: 23 Sep 2014 Posts: 488
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Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2022 5:24 am Post subject: |
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I think they have to hurdle resource availability issues first. Here's what I remember about the backstory:
The world faced multiple wars, pandemics, etc., leading to billions dead, and only a few surviving hundreds of years later. One tried to continue a failed experiment--to travel at the speed of light for only a second or so--and succeeded. Aliens detected him, made first contact with earthlings, and started what would become a Star Trek future.
Apparently, they had been monitoring the earth for a long time but did not want to make contact because they found earthlings barbaric.
In that case, Step One consists of stop being barbarians. That's gonna be tough. |
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Pow Galactic Ambassador
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Joined: 27 Sep 2014 Posts: 3441 Location: New York
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Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2022 9:11 am Post subject: |
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Do all civilizations on other worlds each go through their savage, barbaric phase as we are, with some managing to outgrow it, while others succumb to it?
Do other planets have beings that had little-or-no barbarity as they evolved?
Do all planetary societies progress as we do? That is to say, do they reach a certain technological level but destroy themselves and their worlds before becoming space faring races with faster-than-light star ships? |
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17166 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2022 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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Pow wrote: | Do all civilizations on other worlds each go through their savage, barbaric phase as we are, with some managing to outgrow it, while others succumb to it? |
Pow, your questions are brilliant! After pondering them carefully, I can offer these thoughts in reply.
Naturally, there's no way to be sure that some-or-all civilizations start out barbaric and gradually get civilized.
But just based on the size of the universe and the probability that we are not the only intelligent beings in it (God forbid!), it seems reasonable to assume that all possibilities have manifested themselves . . . somewhere, sooner or later.
In other words, in an infinite universe, if it CAN happen, it WILL happen.
Here's a wild example.
Imagine an artificial life form which was created by an advanced civilization (something completely different from themselves, not a variation), and these intelligent beings made their creations so smart from the moment they're born that they were destine to become a race even more advanced than their creators.
Then a modest population of these super-beings were placed on a very hospitable planet far from the home world and allowed to develop for several thousands of years, during which time they progressed at an astounding rate — as expected by their parent race.
So , this race of genetically designed beings never had a "primitive form" from which they evolved.
My point is that I don't think we could make a statement which included the phrase "all civilizations on other worlds" with any accuracy, because there wouldn't be one single aspect that they "all" shared.
A blanket statement which manages to cover that much ground is probably impossible. Here's what I mean.
~ Perhaps MOST races have a savage period in their history — but not ALL of them.
~ Perhaps 99% of all civilizations will experience war in some form, but maybe a lucky few will not.
~ Perhaps most planets with intelligent life will only have one sentient species — but there might be several worlds with two-or-more!
~ On a similar note, perhaps some star systems do have one planet with intelligent life. But there might be several systems with two-or-more such planets! (Those would be very lively systems, I suspect.)
~ Perhaps MOST civilizations eventually decline and vanish, but a few might last "until the end of time" (whatever that might means).
As you can see, Mike, your fine questions opened up a floodgate of exciting ideas. Thanks! ![Very Happy](images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif) _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958) |
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Pow Galactic Ambassador
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Joined: 27 Sep 2014 Posts: 3441 Location: New York
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2022 8:43 pm Post subject: |
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Could we exist in a universe where all civilizations who are capable of creating highly sophisticated AI computer systems, ultimately end up ruled, for good or bad, by their own machines? The universe is a series of machine worlds, assuming the biological lifeforms haven't annihilated themselves before the AI's could successfully prevent them from doing so.
So now, any explorations in space are controlled by computers. Do such starships even require organics of any kind? What happens when one such planet encounters a brand new world that also is run by computers?
Do they collaborate? Attack? Or simply continue on their way?
Exactly what are the goals of these computer worlds? Acquisition of more and more knowledge is a given. However, at some point these computer planets will want to do something with this knowledge. Will they rescue planets in trouble with environmental destruction? Construct artificial worlds (Dyson Spheres) for humans whose planets aren't salvageable anymore?
Are there scenarios where the AI is the "good guy" and the organics who devised them the "bad guys?"
If these AI's were able to create ways to safely go back in time, or to parallel planets, what would they, and their organic creators, do with such technology?
Could AI's begin experimentation by combining the genetic qualities of one species with others? Could they make superheroes real? |
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