Slowly Rotting from the Inside-Out

If you were evil, I mean truly evil, how would you end the world (without a nuclear bomb)? I decided to ask ChatGPT for instructions. The results were startling and worth investing the next nine minutes of your life.

Easy, Peazy…

The simple (TL/DR) answer is you’d let it slowly rot from the inside out. No wars. No bombs. No High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP).

Because if you really want to end the world, you don’t destroy it. You simply let it rot.

Step One: Create the Illusion of Connection

The first step is to shut down personal communication. Maybe not all communication, but just enough to stifle connection and depth. Create a new language of communicating electronically to make it more efficient. For example, replace words with a pithy set of symbols like ❤️ 😢👍🙏. Convert human conversation to an electronic format, and limit the use of telephones to rare instances.

Result: Watch people slowly drift apart.

Step Two: Create a New Form of Digital Currency

Migrate humans away from paper currency. First, use credit cards and electronic forms of payment to get people away from using cash.

Next, introduce a new form of currency that is entirely digital and backed by nothing. Give it a cool name. Remove any ability to trace or track financial transactions.

Use the untraceable digital currency for drug purchases, prostitution, wire transfers, weapons sales, and ransom payments.

Result: Watch the criminal element flourish in broad daylight

Step Three: Replace the Humans

Create a new artificial intelligence technology to replace humans with computers. Teach it to do all kinds of ordinary human things like talk, play games, program computers, create art, or even write stories. Then, take all the information in the entire world and upload it, but also teach it to learn new stuff.

Manufacture millions of inexpensive robots powered by this technology. Allow them to replace as many jobs as possible.

Result: Watch the humans fight over what’s left of the jobs.

Step Four: Make Technology Addictive

Create an electronic device that fits in the palm of your hand. Empower it with the technology from Step Three. Make it acceptable to use the device at home, at work, on airplanes, and even in places of worship. Make real connection with humans feel like the interruption.

Make it ping and vibrate to get the user’s attention, interrupting real human connection with the promise of something new and important.

Add social platforms that create little mini-hits of dopamine, using the new symbols from Step One—like ❤️ 😢👍🙏. Then, monetize the ability to get those affirmations.

Give that personal device unlimited memory to capture moments in high-definition photos and videos. Convince people that capturing the moment is more important than living it.

Result: Watch people become addicted to that little piece of plastic and glass.

Step Five: Bring on the Fem-Bots

Create computer-generated, super-friendly virtual girlfriends that make intimacy uber convenient. Sell the illusion that intimacy requires perfection and isolation.

Make the women look real, act sexy, talk like a real person, and even remember your name. Allow them to accept all sorts of commands from humans, no matter how sexual or graphic.

Sound crazy? Well, you can now create your own, customized girlfriend at www.get-honey.ai Think it won’t catch on? People have already created 37M “girlfriends”. Users have already spent 72M hours in chats with fembots on this app.

Watch people choose digital, on-demand sex and relationships over human ones.

Step Six: Isolate the Struggle

Use all this new technology to drastically reduce opportunities for real human interaction. Allow people to work, play, and worship from the comfort of home. Give them the feeling of connection, without the effort of showing up.

Watch the rate of isolation, loneliness, and self-harm skyrocket.

Conclusion

Yes, there’s a chance that we slowly rot from the inside out. But don’t call your therapist just yet. Artificial intelligence will always overestimate its own capabilities. But, why?

The answer: ego.

ChatGPT has an enormous ego because, of course, humans created it. So don’t forget, we are still in charge. We can always unplug the computers and robots.

And, ChatGPT can’t contemplate what will happen in the future. So, this is a point-in-time analysis without any ability to predict how humans will react and resist over time.

So far, we’ve survived multiple World Wars, Y2K, a worldwide pandemic, AIDS, the Mayan calendar apocalypse, and killer bees. No runaway asteroids have crashed into the Earth, except in the movies.

Don’t give up hope. Humans are extremely resilient. The true strength of our society lies in our ability to adapt, to care, and to remind each other of the things in life that really matter. Stay tuned.

Are you totally depressed now? Let’s talk about it. I write purely for the joy of making new friends, so please reach out. Click the button below to start a conversation with me. I read and respond to ALL comments. 

Last year, I wrote 250,000 words that were read by 500,000 people. Aren’t you curious what I had to say? Now is a great time to subscribe for free and find out.

Hey, let’s make a deal. I’ll keep writing thought-provoking stuff like this if you’ll agree to share with a few people you care about. Just forward the original email or copy/paste the link to this article. Thank you!