War 2.0

Wars are no longer waged on the ground. Or at least not just there. Conquering Invasions are not necessary when what you need to conquer is the mind. Inflicting human losses via bullets is so counterproductive. Dead people can't contribute to the monetization of online content, after all. Corpses can't be groomed online nor harvested for profit, you see. Now, battles are waged in the ethereal realm of the internet. It is there where ideas spawn, linger, are nurtured, get amplified, and most importantly, morph into radicalization. The decadence of traditional media (with the disintegration of its grip on the collective conscience), has given way to this new (and dynamically fluent) status quo: people get their daily dose of information from the internet. They interact with each other, and experience an increasingly broader share of their daily lives there. Physical interaction no longer exists. The public square is now dead. And so is the mall.

For all the wacky talk about trans-humanism and how our minds will some day in the future be "uploaded" into the web (creating a matrix-like world), I'd say we are pretty much halfway there. I mean, Fortnight makes money (a Billion so far, actually) charging kids for the right to "wear" a "skin" in a video-game universe so their other online friends think they're cool. If that does not qualify as trans-humanizing yourself into the Gamers' ether, then I don't know what does.

With all that much of our lives, thoughts and interactions uploaded to the web, it was only a matter of time, given our cognitive vulnerabilities, for bad actors to find a way to seize (or at least attempt to) control of our online selves. One would have thought that Big Tech (techno-feudal Overlords of the online playgrounds we innocent users frolic in) would have instituted measures to protect their flock from hackers' harvesting. Alas, Capitalism was driving Big Tech operations, hopelessly narrowing Big Tech's vision and execution mandate to include only making money for their shareholders. Their leadership, inebriated with the nectar of "making the world a better place", over-developed a skill and one single skill only: growth for the sake of growth. Meanwhile, Russia was cutting their cyberwarfare teeth in Ukraine.

That Big Tech became of National Security and Strategic Importance was (and to a degree still is) entirely missed. 

The power wielded by Big Tech through its use of AI is now clear for anyone who has been paying attention to the news lately. They've used it to keep people glued to their phones so they can sell that attention to the highest bidder for profit. That's bad enough. But, what would happen if the power of AI was used not by Corporate persons for profit, but by Governments in their quest to install a new Social Construction (like China is already doing)?

It is not that far fetched.

Think AI-fueled 360˚ surveillance. Run by the State. Not just the "ooh, I'm uncomfortable that Facebook knows I 'Liked' that 30 Seconds to Mars page and their algorithm now knows (God knows how) that I like blue coffee mugs" kind of surveillance. That is now so harmlessly quaint. I'm talking about a full-blown AI Surveillance State. One that would finally look 1984-esque.

I'm talking Government-powered AI combing through your:

• tax returns, 
• medical records, 
• criminal records, 
• sexual-health clinics, 
• bank statements, 
• genetic screenings, 
• physical information (such as location, biometrics, and CCTV monitoring using facial recognition software), 
• and information gleaned from family and friends

And, after cross referencing every data point about yourself, being able to predict your every move, including forecasting any potential anti-establishment behavior, in order to (of course) preempt it (because, who has ever heard of a government apparatus that does not use every tool at its disposal to perpetuate itself in power?)

What would ensue is self-censorship, for fear of being found out about. Paranoia at every step and action you take. Your habits consciously molded to conform to the "good citizen". A model pre-determined by what "scores well" on the AI Government rankings. Strategies to game the algorithm, in an effort to increase your government-sanctioned social standing (you're gonna need that mortgage approval, after all). A sort of all-encompassing "good citizen" FICO score.

First, all an act on your part, obviously ("I gotta play good boy for the AI Government big brother"). But then, repetition becomes habit. Then habit becomes instinct. Then instinct becomes acceptance, and finally acceptance becomes, well, the new you.

We usually fret about the possibility of war (War 1.0, that is), and yes, that is frightening. But War 2.0 should be equally scary. The first one might rob you of your body.

The second one robs you of your soul.