The question of the hour is: will one group or party be the first to use AI or use it so artfully to control and weaken the other party?
The human race has awakened a powerful, transformative technology. A few wealthy and powerful individuals have access to the most advanced AI. So, have the rules of democracy changed without the masses being aware? Can the fundamental beliefs of a party lead to the supremacy of one party over another?
The Libertarians are a complicated, freedom-loving party. One immediately thinks of, “Give me liberty or give me death.” They also believe that the strong have a natural right to rise to the top through unrestricted competition and limited government intervention. Since these are their embraced beliefs, they are the likely group to seize the moment and use the new and powerful tool to do as they believe is justified—rising the most capable to the top.
In which case, one might see the slower-to-move Progressive party as soon resembling the dodo bird: such a beautiful, easily caught, friendly bird. One is forced to wonder if the dodo was also overly trusting of humans too.
The Progressives like their rules, regulations, and visions of equality that they hope will balance a well-ordered democracy. Since powerful AI has hit the scene, the equality-loving Progressives may have some old ideas that are quickly making them a thing of the past.
Conspiracies are kryptonite to the left and food for thought for the right.
The Democrats are the type that quickly shy away from conspiracy, even if a speculation that is unproven is clearly viable. They know that the moment they utter an unproven idea—something that can’t be immediately and clearly proven—they could easily be labeled an alternative thinker or a conspiracy theorist by the conservative party.
Terms like preemptive gaslighting or weaponized stigma are sometimes used to describe this phenomenon.
It’s no surprise that Democrats act more like the local highway department: they wait until a terrible accident happens before they put up a traffic light. These slow-moving, friendly, well-meaning birds think a terrible accident and innocent deaths are the only way they can prove something terrible will and can happen. Each Democratic politician that holds a political office is fearful of stepping out of the crowd and being labeled an alarmist or conspiratorial thinker.
This might be the Darwinian trait that eventually killed off the Democrats. They are becoming plump and delicious feed for the Libertarians. Although, the Libertarians are highly intelligent, they may keep a few around in powerless positions to give an ongoing façade of democracy. They don’t need a messy revolution.
With the understanding that Libertarians are the first to act to seize the day, we need to be less idealistic relating to AI and the current state of affairs.
So, to get a more three-dimensional image, let’s consider a thought experiment, relating to several famous individuals—a parody of sorts:
A highly intelligent fella, a true tech genius, that just happens to be the richest person in the world. Over time, he’s seen the usefulness of limited government intervention that slows down his lofty ambitions. He has a like-minded friend that owns the most powerful data-science infrastructure on earth. Let’s call his friend Mr. Rabbit.
The true tech genius, a now Libertarian who had once aligned himself with Democrats, has a dream: he wants to push the human race forward into space. He sees how slow government is, how inefficient unionized labor can be with all their hierarchical, non-merit-based systems, graft, nepotism, and so on.
A few years ago, he and his good friend and sometimes business partner saw the power that AI would soon wield. Being two of the richest people and tech billionaires, they already had access to the most powerful AI.
Mr. Rabbit says, “Hmm, maybe we need a bigger mouthpiece because AI is great at influencing and directing people. It has this way about it. We can pinpoint what will motivate a group. We can identify human weaknesses and magnify those weaknesses. In a fraction of a second, we can identify a group with our data science and pre-existing infrastructure, then start our machine-learning conversion strategies to convince them in an exacting way to support our desires to accomplish our goals.”
“I see where you’re going with this. It doesn’t matter what you say or what they think—it’s about getting the goals accomplished. We’ll do it by identifying them, then saying specifically what certain groups need to hear.”
“In our sort of… democracy, every vote has value, and it’s those votes we need to direct.”
The tech genius replies, “Hmm, what’s for sale? Well, I can’t buy Facebook. Is there anything—any other social media platform—that we can use with this powerful technology?”
So, not too long after, the tech billionaire purchases and uses a social platform with a great deal of help from his AI, leaving so many to wonder why he was willing to pay so much.
The two friends talk on Zoom.
“I’ve been training it, asking it how do I say this, to convert this group to do that? I don’t care if I look like a madman as long as I get the job done—get them to do what I want,” the tech genius says.
“Oh…”
“Things I’ve been saying on my new platform are crazy—it works though. Sometimes I wonder what I believe. Doing this will help me get our goals accomplished. We’ll get to Venus or some other redder planet.”
Mr. Rabbit smiles and says, “Yeah, I laugh sometimes at what you write!”
“Yeah… I sound like a madman to some. The dumb Dems don’t get it, but I’ll get those on the right to support me in any which way,” the tech genius responds with a wry smile.
“We are the smartest and richest. We have a right to do it. We must go forward! It’s simple Darwinian natural selection. If they could, they’d use it against us.”
“Guy Yarvin, that’s the guy, what a genius! Am I right! We need a —monarch, like the CEO of a corporation that directs these half-wits in this failed democracy.”
“Hell yeah, Yarvin! What a genius! Getting votes is just like with consumers, it’s all conversion. You’re finding the sweet spots. Those sweet spots are words and phrases. What the group needs to hear—saying it, resonating with them. Then you can direct the mass in any direction you need. AI tells us what the song is for their type of bird.”
“Just think about what we can do with our sock puppets and AI, imagine tens of millions of sock puppets on Facebook just steering the conversation! Those sheep will just follow the herd in the direction we lead them.”
The two friends test their surprisingly strong AI together. The incredibly intelligent AI quickly spits out comments, spinning points that would make Slick Willy feel like an amateur. Purely designed to say the words and phrases that are engineered to direct the unwitting.
A few weeks later, the two friends are again talking.
“Let’s get together with him. He needs to know what we have, what he needs to do.”
The two friends make arrangements to meet with a certain influential politician.
“Listen, you’ve got some serious legal issues. I want to go to Venus or something. We’ll make your legal issues disappear if you were President, because I don’t know if you’ve heard the latest by the Supreme Court—a President can do whatever he wants. You’re a transactional guy. I want complete power over the government to make it run efficiently, get things done our way. Make it a Libertarian paradise. AI, data science, machine learning—they’ll now let us direct the masses.”
The politician says, “I like IT…”
The tech genius says, “So, this AI—it’s like a superpower. Those idiot Democrats will be blindsided. That old guy in office right now, that ineffective do-gooder, he’s got all these things they push that many Americans don’t care for, like this Woke Mind Virus. They’ve got a huge problem in Israel.”
“We can now use AI to zone in county by county on who is susceptible to being converted and get them to stay home. After the election, the dummies will just think the country had a change of heart. They won’t know we engineered it county by county.”
“Think of it this way: every repressed vote, everyone that just stays home is like them voting for you. We can now target these people and convert them, making them lose faith and enthusiasm to act.”
“I like it! That’s hot stuff! I thought that Green Party woman was a gift for me, but this is even BETTER!” the politician replies.
Mr. Rabbit adds, “Yeah! It’s too complicated. Even if someone did figure out what happened, you’ll already be President. But you know those half-wit Dems anyway.”
The tech genius responds, “The whole thing would frighten the equality-lovin’ left to think about. They’ll simply tune this out as too complex. A conspiracy.”
Mr. Rabbit raises a glass of wine and says, “Here’s to data science, Libertarianism, and being the first mover!”
The politician thinks for a moment. “We can do this! I got a few friends from that other country that can make some really bad AI, and that will be a good head-fake. What do the legal eagles call it? Oh yeah, a red herring. We’ll say, look, that no-good country over there is trying to do some fake computer stuff with some guy voting down south, and they can’t do it. The computers aren’t good enough yet!”
Mr. Rabbit thinks, “This guy is smarter than I give him credit for.”
The tech genius responds, “Great, keep the circus show going! Keep ’em busy thinking about stuff unrelated. The jobs will get done faster with less interference. I’ll get to Venus or wherever—that’s totally cool.”
“By the way… you’re going to have a rally in New York,” the tech genius says.
“NY? That place is a toxic waste hole!”
“We analyzed it. AI says it matters.”
“Oh? OK, I’ll do it. This AI—it’s totally legit, right…? Totally legit? There’s no laws about using this stuff?”
“Totally. Those Democrats only make laws after the fact. They wouldn’t want to be called an alternative thinker. It’s part of their creed. You gotta know what drives these… people. They’re all ridiculous.”
“Totally legal! This is just data science, and we’re just doing regular politicking. The laws won’t catch up with us. Just like with our businesses, it’s up to a society to tell us the rules, we have no moral obligations to do anything. By the time anyone realizes what’s going on, we’ll have already changed the laws to suit our needs.”
“AI is truly a super intelligence. Conservatives are far better organized than those liberals that argue amongst each other. We need to get your… senators ready. We can now ask AI, ‘From what you know about Sanders, what can we use to our benefit?’ We’re gonna make everyone hate these guys. Every single politician has some weaknesses!”
“The way we can deal with them now on—we’re going to do laps around them!”
“We’ll need to leave a few Demon-crats in office to be believable. Let them be noisy to keep the sideshows going. They’ll be powerless!”
“The masses don’t understand terms like preemptive gaslighting, weaponized stigma, psychological inoculation, reverse conspiracy framing. But it all works great!”
“Ah… right,” the politician responds, giving a blank look.
Scene ends.
In a universal sense, one must wonder if this always happens when AI is awakened on a planet. The first movers may be intensely self-interested, possess a high IQ, and be less concerned with climate catastrophe or helping those who die every day from starvation, illness, or suffering.
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Key Contributor
Dan Caracal is a futurist and science fiction writer exploring the intersections of technology, AI, and social dynamics. He holds a Master’s degree from SUNY New Paltz and has a background in business ownership, real estate, equities investment, psychology and education. He currently resides in the Hudson Valley with his wife and young daughter.