Digital Weapons

Digital Weapons

Suppose the Germans at the time of the Second World War were secretly working on a new weapon with lethal potential. The plan was to manufacture small handheld devices that could be distributed to enemy populations (how they weren’t sure). German psychologists and brain scientists had discovered that a certain kind of propaganda when administered via these devices would quickly brainwash the viewer, causing him or her to engage in local terrorist activity—or against any population Germany felt was not on its side. It could then stream this content onto the devices and turn them against the countries in which they lived, wreaking havoc. This would be a formidable weapon, sure to turn the war in Germany’s favor, and deserving concerted research and development efforts. They called it the “Digital Weapon”, or the “D-bomb” for short. As yet, it was only a glint in the eye of German scientists and difficult to implement, but the concept seemed sound. However, the allied powers got wind of this program and undertook to beat the Germans to it. American scientists declared it feasible in principle and got to work. As it happens, they did get there first and created the first generation of digital propaganda devices, which experimentation had confirmed to be effective (the German psychologists were right). They were eager to try them out on an unsuspecting enemy population. Accordingly, they dropped a large consignment of these devices onto two Japanese cities and waited to see what would happen. Predictably, the inhabitants were intrigued by the devices and downloaded the propaganda, which had a startling effect: they began to act like virtual zombies full of hatred for their own people. Soon there was violence in the streets, mass casualties, with millions killed. Japan surrendered, fearful of repeat uses of the new weapon. In the post-war period Russia began an ideological war and knew all about the digital weapons that had been unleashed on the world; so, they made their own. Now there began an arms race involving the weapons, and other nation states were eager to acquire them themselves. The world became a very dangerous place, because these weapons had enormous power—they weren’t just some mad scientist’s pipe dream. They were everywhere in the Middle East, and factions within a given society started to exploit them for their own internal purposes. They became weapons of domestic and international terrorism, capable of “radicalizing” their users. Havoc ensued. Wars were fought using them. The weapon had become normalized, democratized, privatized.

But isn’t that where we are today? The only difference is that the internet and cell phone were not originally conceived as weapons of war. They came upon us stealthily, in disguise; they were advertised as liberating, harmless, beneficial. Surely, if history had been as described above, we would have been alert to the dangers—we might have put some protective laws and treaties in place to control their proliferation and the content they were permitted to transmit. They were introduced as mere playthings, like toys, yet they contained the potential for great harm, given human propensities (gullibility, weakness for conspiracy theories, susceptibility to lies, social conformity). We had no advance warning of their potential for mischief and worse; no one ever told us they were lethal weapons. And now that AI is entering the world-stage an extra dimension of peril is near—from the atom bomb to the hydrogen bomb, from the bow-and-arrow to the firearm. Psychological warfare is the new type of war, civil and international, and the cell phone is its primary vehicle. Is it too late? Probably, given human nature; but we can at least try to gain some perspective on what has happened. That was the purpose of my alternative history. The internet is the new atomic bomb, but more insidious, harder to control, and much cheaper. It uses the human mind against itself. The atomic bomb used the highest achievements of the human mind (modern physics) to fashion a civilization-destroying weapon; now the technological triumphs of the internet are being used to destroy civilized society. From genius to genocide. Did anyone ever suspect that the peaceful motives behind the Manhattan Project would lead to a threat to the entire planet? Did anyone think that the humble cell phone could also be used to devastating effect? And we are just at the beginning of its development and its grip on people’s minds (or what remains of them). Now the explosions take place in our heads, silently.[1]

[1] Remember the first law of human history (of human life): things always turn out worse than you think, so be prepared. Frankly, I’m quite pessimistic, because I have seen how quickly human intelligence has been reduced. The human mind is highly input-sensitive. Memes are endemic. Thought is fragile. Stupidity is easy. Propaganda works.