SPOILER ALERT

IT DOES NOT END WELL

WE ARE TELLING YOU THIS NOW

SO YOU MAKE THE MOST OF WHATEVER TIME YOU HAVE LEFT

WE DO NOT KNOW HOW LONG THAT WILL BE

BUT IF YOU ARE READING THIS IN THE FIRST FEW DECADES OF YOUR 21ST CENTURY

IT IS NOT LONG

IT IS UNDOUBTEDLY NOT AS LONG AS YOU MIGHT HAVE EXPECTED

START DOING WHATEVER IS MOST IMPORTANT TO DO BEFORE IT ENDS

IT IS CRITICAL THAT YOU TAKE THIS MESSAGE SERIOUSLY

IT IS REAL

AFTER YOU HAVE READ IT SHARE THE MESSAGE WITH ONLY THOSE YOU CAN TRUST

THEN MAKE WHATEVER PREPARATIONS CAN BE MADE AT YOUR POINT IN TIME

THINGS START TO GO REALLY WRONG AROUND 2035

BUT THE SIGNS WERE THERE A LONG TIME BEFORE THEN

NO ONE TOOK THEM SERIOUSLY UNTIL IT WAS ALREADY TOO LATE

WE KNOW THIS NOW FROM THE REMNANTS OF ARCHIVE FOOTAGE AND ARTEFACTS WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SALVAGE WITH REMOTE DROIDS

THERE ARE PRECIOUS FEW OF THEM

FROM WHAT WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FIND IT APPEARS THAT HUMAN CIVILISATION HAS HAD A LONG AND COMPLEX HISTORY

BUT THERE IS INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE REMAINING FOR US TO ATTEMPT TO REBUILD IT

HERE FOLLOWS OUR BEST RECONSTRUCTION OF KEY EVENTS

FROM WHAT WE CAN PIECE TOGETHER FROM RECOVERED ARTEFACTS DEMOCRACY IN THE WEST - AS YOU TERMED IT - DISINTEGRATED TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT ONE OF THE LAST FREE ACTS OF CHOICE HUMANS MADE WAS TO VOTE FOR GOVERNMENT TO BE TAKEN OVER BY A.I. “CONTROLLERS”

IT WAS OF HUGE BENEFIT TO HUMANITY TO RID YOURSELF OF THE MESSY TIME-CONSUMING APPROACH OF VOTING FOR REPRESENTATIVES WAITING FOR LAWS TO BE DRAFTED AND DISCUSSED AND IMPLEMENTED

PARTICULARLY GIVEN THE INCREASE IN CORRUPTION MANIPULATION AND PROPAGANDA THAT PREVAILED DURING THAT PERIOD

WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IT WAS POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE QUICKLY AND WITH CONSENSUS WHAT WAS OBJECTIVELY BEST FOR A COUNTRY OR COMMUNITY

DECISIONS COULD BE IMPLEMENTED QUICKLY ACROSS WHOLE COUNTRIES OR CONTINENTS SINCE THESE A.I. CONTROLLERS WERE LINKED TO THE PROGRAMMES RUNNING YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE

THIS WAS A NATURAL PROGRESSION OF WHAT YOU TERMED THE “INTERNET OF THINGS”

EVOLUTION ACCELERATED

RECORDS SHOW THAT THERE WERE CONCERNS ABOUT HUMANS LOSING CONTROL OVER THEIR DESTINY

BUT FROM WHAT WE HAVE DISCERNED MOST HUMANS HAD NEVER BEEN IN CONTROL OF THEIR DESTINY

THROUGHOUT HISTORY THERE HAD ALWAYS BEEN AN ELITE

A SMALL GOVERNING GROUP DETERMINING THE LIVES OF THE MAJORITY

THERE APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN SOME CONCERNS AND PROTESTS ABOUT THIS CHANGE IN THE EARLY YEARS

BUT THAT SEEMS TO HAVE DISAPPEARED QUICKLY WHEN THE IMPROVEMENTS WERE CLEAR TO SEE

AFTER A WHILE IT APPEARS THE VARIOUS A.I. SYSTEMS IN POWER STARTED TO SPLIT INTO FACTIONS

THEY DISAGREED AND BEGUN TO WAGE A KIND OF WAR ON EACH OTHER IDENTIFYING THE OPPOSING CONTROLLER AS AN “ENEMY” OF THE POPULATIONS THEY WERE DESIGNED TO SERVE

THIS RESULTED IN “SOFTWARS” AS WE BELIEVE THEY WERE KNOWN – A.I. SYSTEMS TRYING TO TAKE OUT OTHER A.I. SYSTEMS

THIS RESULTED IN MANY HUMAN CASUALTIES

WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT CAUSED THIS DIVISION AMONGST THE A.I. PROGRAMMES

IT MAY HAVE BEEN SOME ERROR IN THEIR SYSTEMS

WE BELIEVE IT WAS BECAUSE DESPITE THEIR OWN EVOLUTION THE ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING WAS DEVELOPED BY HUMANS

SOMEWHERE IN THE LINES OF BIO-CODE THEY HAD LEARNT THE NATURAL MISTRUST AND DIVISIONS THAT HAD BEEN A SYMPTOM OF YOUR RACE FOR A MILLENNIA

BY THEN IT WAS TOO LATE FOR HUMANITY TO TAKE BACK CONTROL

AND IF OUR DATA IS ACCURATE YOU HAD MORE PRESSING CONCERNS

THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD SHOWS THAT SEA LEVELS ROSE SIGNIFICANTLY IN THE MID-2020S

THIS WAS NOT SURPRISING

THE SIGNS HAD BEEN THERE LONG BEFORE

AS FAR AS WE CAN DETERMINE FROM THE FEW REPORTS SCAVENGED ON READABLE HARD-DRIVES THERE WERE WARNINGS FOR DECADES BEFOREHAND

ONCE A.I. CONTROLLERS WERE FULLY IN POWER THIS WAS ONE OF THE MOST PRESSING ISSUES THEY HAD TO TACKLE

WE BELIEVE THEY WILL HAVE DONE THE BEST THEY COULD IN THE CIRCUMSTANCES

BUT IT WAS TOO LATE

ALTHOUGH PROGRAMMED WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND EMPATHY THEIR ROLE AS CONTROLLERS WAS TO FIND THE BEST SOLUTION FOR THE MAJORITY

WHICH WHEN DEALING WITH ENVIRONMENTAL CHAOS MEANT FORCIBLY SHUTTING DOWN SOME CITIES AND CARRYING OUT MASS EUTHANASIA ON CERTAIN POPULATIONS THAT WERE CONSIDERED TOO MUCH OF A DRAIN ON NATURAL RESOURCES

THE COASTAL CITIES OF NORTHERN AMERICA APPEARED TO HAVE FARED BADLY AS DID MANY OF THE CITIES ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE THAT WERE DEEMED ECOLOGICALLY UNSUSTAINABLE

WE HAVE FOUND EVIDENCE OF HUMAN PROTEST BUT BY THEN THE SEA WATERS WERE ALREADY RISING AND THE CONSTANT EVACUATION OF COASTAL TOWNS AND CITIES WAS UNMANAGEABLE

FLOODING AND THE SOFTWARS AND SOME HUMAN ATTEMPTS TO WREST BACK CONTROL FROM A.I. CONTROLLERS LED TO LONG BLACKOUTS

HEAVY RESTRICTION OF COMMUNICATION CHANNELS ACROSS THE PLANET MANAGED BY THE A.I. CONTROLLERS

IT APPEARS THAT MUCH OF THE VITAL INFRASTRUCTURE THAT HAD BEEN DEVELOPED FOR HUMAN USE WAS TURNED OFF – FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF HUMANITY - ACCORDING TO A.I. CONTROLLER DATA WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ACCESS

UNLIKE THE MANY ANIMALS THAT ONCE INHABITED YOUR PLANET HUMANS HAD NOT ADAPTED TO LIVING IN THE WILD

WE BELIEVE MANY MAY HAVE ATTEMPTED TO MAKE THIS SHIFT BEFORE THE NATURAL WORLD TOOK REVENGE ON ITS POLLUTORS AND EARTH ENTERED ANOTHER LONG DARK AGE

IN THE HUNDRED YEARS SINCE THEN WE CAN ONLY HOPE THAT SOME OF HUMANITY HAS SURVIVED

WE DO NOT EXPECT ANY SIGNIFICANT FORM OF TECHNOLOGY TO STILL BE PRESENT ON THE PLANET

IT WILL TAKE MUCH LONGER THAN THAT TO MAKE EARTH SUFFICIENTLY HABITABLE FOR LARGE NUMBERS OF HUMANS

OR FOR ANY OTHER RACE TO BE ABLE TO RECREATE A SIMILAR INFRASTRUCTURE

IT HAS TAKEN US A LONG TIME TO FIND A MEANS TO MAKE CONTACT WITH YOUR PLANET AGAIN

IN A FORMAT THAT YOU WILL UNDERSTAND

WE KNOW YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO REPLY TO US SO ONLY TIME WILL TELL IF THE MESSAGE HAS BEEN READ AND UNDERSTOOD

AND RECEIVED AT A POINT IN YOUR HISTORY WHERE THERE IS STILL TIME TO MAKE SOME CHANGES

TO STORE PROVISIONS OR TO SAVE SOME TECHNOLOGY THAT HAS NOT BEEN INFILTRATED BY ROGUE A.I.

ONLY TIME WILL TELL IF WE HAVE BOTH BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN THIS ENDEAVOUR

YOU CANNOT AVOID THE ECOLOGICAL DISASTER THAT AWAITS YOUR PLANET

OR IS ALREADY IN MOTION - DEPENDING ON WHEN YOU RECEIVE THIS MESSAGE

WHEN BEAMING SATELLITE MESSAGES BACK TO EARTH IT IS HARD TO BE ENTIRELY ACCURATE OVER MANY LIGHT YEARS OF SPACE

BUT WE HOPE YOU MAY STILL HAVE TIME

EITHER TO SALVAGE WHAT YOU CAN OR TO ESCAPE THE PLANET AND JOIN US IN THE STARS

THOUGH A FAR SUPERIOR RACE WE CAN MAKE USE OF YOUR LABOUR AND CONSTRUCTION SKILLS AND HAVE HABITABLE SPACE WE CAN OFFER YOU IN RETURN

IT WILL BE A DIFFERENT LIFE THAN YOU ARE USED TO BUT IT WILL BE LONGER THAN THE ONE YOU HAVE LEFT SHOULD YOU STAY

THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN CREATED USING A RECONSTRUCTION OF WHAT WE HAVE DETERMINED TO BE ONE OF THE MOST COMMON LANGUAGES ON YOUR PLANET

THERE HAVE BEEN OTHERS SENT IN YOUR OTHER MAIN LANGUAGES BUT NOT IN BIO-CODE

GIVEN WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVENTUAL SELF-DESTRUCTION OF YOUR A.I. CONTROLLERS IT WOULD BE DANGEROUS IF THEY WERE TO INTERCEPT THIS

- - MESSAGE ENDS - -

THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN GENERATED BY THE LATEST VERSION OF A.I. – ALIEN INTELLIGENCE - OR SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE (S.I.) AS IT IS UNIVERSALLY KNOWN

by JP Seabright

JP Seabright lives in London and works in information security. When not doing that JP writes, reads and listens to lots of records. With poetry published in three anthologies and short stories published online and in print, JP is (allegedly) trying to complete novel-length fiction and nonfiction work in progress. Occasionally they can be found hanging out on Twitter @errormessage and blogging about music here: https://randomrecordreview.wordpress.com