Researchers on the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (an precise actual establishment) have launched a Civilization V mod exploring the recent new apocalypse everybody’s speaking about: unchecked AI casually wiping out humanity within the identify of effectivity. If you’ve already clicked by means of the universe as a single-minded AI in Frank Lantz’s ace Paperclips, you may fancy this mod. Trapping an excellent thoughts in a steel field does even have its advantages, you understand.
The Superintelligence mod provides quite a lot of AI applied sciences to the tech tree. This AI might show you how to usher in utopia and win or, when you don’t analysis sufficient tech to maintain it in verify, wipe out humanity because it converts the Earth into a large fractal chessboard or summat to optimise every thing in the direction of its activity (see above). Win some, lose some.
“We want to let players experience the complex tensions and difficult decisions that the path to superintelligent AI would generate,” mentioned the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk’s Dr. Shahar Avin, who managed the challenge.
“Games are an excellent way to deliver a complex message to a wide audience. The Civilization games series has an amazing track record of presenting very complex and interlocking systems in a fun and educating way, including major risk issues such as nuclear war and global warming.”
Consider yourselves educated. The CSER’s website has extra cheery studying about this and different existential threats too, by the way in which.
The mod is definitely made by developer Shai Shapira. You can obtain it from the Steam Workshop in variations for both regular Civ V or with the Brave New World expansion.
It’s comforting to think about that humanity’s finish will probably be one thing sci-fi and thrilling, isn’t it? Stop fretting over the doomsday that’s really brewing–it’s so mundane!–and calm down with an electrical dream.
