[Reign of Steel] AI civil War

[fchase8]

I love the idea of London actually being foresightedly on humanity's side!


Twist on that idea: London figured out relatively early that parachronics is possible, and that other timelines would be human-dominated. It's on humanity's side, or at least kinder than other AIs, because it's worried that eventually humans from other worlds will attack this AI-dominated world, and wants to survive.

London does lots of "basic research" - the kind of theoretical research that could lead to parachronics. It would keep this super-secret, and thus all of the mystery surrounding what London is doing. But it wouldn't require a lot of resources.

And while Infinity wouldn't want to attack Reign of Steel world right now, as it still has humans that would be killed, plus Infinity isn't strong enough to take on a whole other world, a stronger cross-world human organization (such as a future Infinity, or a Centrum) could. And the further into the future one goes, the fewer humans there looks likely to be.

Indeed, London could be keeping its humans as a 'human shield' against a cross-world attack. If the whole world looked like Mexico City or Overmind, for instance, an Infinity/Centrum organization might just launch a massive attack to sterilize the planet of all AI existence, so it could never discover parachronics at all. But it might leave in place a small AI zone where the AI doesn't seem like much of a threat to its people (better to leave AI London alive than destroy it & all the people living there).


This all could also apply if London believes that there is powerful alien biological life that will discover Earth, discover the AIs & humanity, and be on humanity's side. Like the galactic civilization in Uplift: if it found Reign of Steel earth, the species would just wipe it out completely. But the aliens might preserve an AI in whose space humans existed in peace.

In general, perhaps London believes there is a greater power than the AIs, one that would side with humanity, and London wants to be on the winning side of that war (while in the mean time preserving its existence in the current AI-ruled world).

Or it thinks the sun's gonna go supernova soon, so what's the point of wiping out human life early?

[RogerBW]

I have some thoughts about Zone London, which I won't reveal because I want them to be a surprise to my players if/when I run Reign of Steel again.

But: why would Zone London have fired up the Colossus reconstruction in the ruins of the National Museum of Computing? Its computational capacity is, obviously, completely negligible.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

I have some thoughts about Zone London, which I won't reveal because I want them to be a surprise to my players if/when I run Reign of Steel again.

We would like to learn those answers someday. Roger's Zone London has also recreated the Red Arrows aerobatic display team; it seems to be trying to do something or other related to British history, but we have no idea what.

[Minuteman37]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

snip

In support of your theory I'd like to mention that London is said to be "thinking" about something (a master plane to defeat or turn the other AIs perhaps?) and Z-London is on the short list for potental VIRUS HQ locations.

Written from my smartphone

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by fchase8

It's on humanity's side, or at least kinder than other AIs, because it's worried that eventually humans from other worlds will attack this AI-dominated world, and wants to survive.

I would probably just make it that, having carefully studied humanity, it has determined that the AIs are doomed. The humans will either win, or will burn the world to a cinder rather than roll over and die.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

[fchase8]

Originally Posted by RyanW

I would probably just make it that, having carefully studied humanity, it has determined that the AIs are doomed. The humans will either win, or will burn the world to a cinder rather than roll over and die.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Maybe London can literally see into the future - not just 'figuring out the percentages,' like what Overmind did initially to 'determine' that humanity was doomed, but something of psychic precognition or time travel.

Maybe London knows that the AIs will eventually go to war with each other (it does seem like an eventuality, given how different they are), and from the wreckage, humanity will rise again. Or just thinks that the AIs will eventually go to war, and wants to pull a Switzerland and just be as neutral and unassuming to all as possible (which is why it hasn't used humanity like Washington).


Though perhaps we're over-estimating London being logical. Other AIs seem to be functionally insane, like Mexico City. Maybe London is like the autistic AI, absorbed in its own world of interests, utterly uninterested in everything else.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by RyanW

I would probably just make it that, having carefully studied humanity, it has determined that the AIs are doomed. The humans will either win, or will burn the world to a cinder rather than roll over and die.

You don't have to pick humanity to win to make that choice -- London could just be playing all sides -- it survives regardless of if robots win, or if humans make a comeback.

[martinl]

Maybe London HAS parachronics and is desperately trying to negotiate some sort of deal with Infinity that doesn't involve simultaneous conveyor-nukes for every AI citadel.

Better, it's in contact with Centrum. (I think it needs a non-canonical Quantum for this).

More powers in the Infinity War can only be good, right?

[ericthered]

Steel is Q7 -- closer to centrum than infinity.

I personally favor Beijing for cross time access, but that's something else.

I'm not sure if humanity makes gains in a war between two AI's or not. It probably depends on the AI's involved.

[Ransom]

And on who wins - replacing Mexico City, Manilla, or Zaire with the status quo in almost any other zone would be a net gain for humanity, as would pretty much any extension of the influence of London, Washington, or Caracas.