Science Fiction

I have always considered certain types of science fiction to be exercises in organizational imagination. AI and robotics, which have been among the most thoroughly explored themes in science fiction, are no longer topics of the future; they are now part of our daily lives. Today, therefore, the task is to imagine their evolution and their potential friction with the human race, in light of what we see happening day after day as we consult available generative AIs and read about the latest breakthroughs in robotics.

Thus, while some stories have become highly topical, others present situations that presuppose further development in these fields-the moment when we might consider machines to be "self-aware".

The short story "Reset", written in the near yet distant year of 2016, addresses a situation that causes great concern today: the displacement of human labor by AI, primarily to maximize corporate profits, but it focuses more intensely on the subsequent loss of control. AIs, promoted as remote operating systems, become a niche to which humanity does not yet have the capacity to adapt. Redundancy is gone, attention to know-how is gone, and safety strategies are gone, because relying on AI is simply more convenient and cheaper. This is what is known as an "evolutionary trap": a species creating a situation that expands beyond its own ability to adapt to it. Biological evolution is "blind," and there is no one to perform analyses or establish trajectories to face the future; when, in cultural and technological evolution, foresight clashes with budget demands and an exaggerated pursuit of profit, the exact same blind result occurs.

While many imagine an open conflict between humans and AI, my perspective diverges significantly from Terminator-style scenarios. The conflictual nature and the need for control typical of our societies are human characteristics stemming from our history; they capture our needs within a small group. Bestowing these same constraints upon self-aware AIs has always struck me as an anthropo-normative projection. It turns our social organization-contingent and tightly interconnected with our biology and social history-into a universal recipe.