The Great Plan
A story for the Future of Life Institute’s
“Imagining Superintelligence” contest
by Karl von Wendt

No AI was used in the creation of this text.

1. Promise
The mile-long stretch of lawn is covered with a jubilant crowd so dense that the drones hovering above observe not a square foot of empty space. As the President enters the stage, a roar like nothing ever heard before in this historic place fills the air.
“My dear fellow citizens,” he begins, “When I stood here two years ago, reciting the sacred words of my oath of office, I promised you that I would make our nation the greatest in the world again. Today I can tell you that I have kept that promise.”
Another cheer erupts from the ecstatic crowd, almost as loud as the first one.
“Our economy is the strongest in the world by far. Our military is unmatched. We have managed to put our rivals in their place, securing our global leadership for decades to come. The scientific advances we have achieved in the past two years are unparalleled in the history of mankind. New technologies have brought us amazing breakthroughs in medicine, robotics, and national security. Today, you can walk alone at night down any street anywhere in our great country without fear of being murdered or robbed. Quite a change from the situation not so long ago under the previous President.”
His face is contorted with disgust as he mentions his predecessor. Shouts of anger and hate erupt in response.
“And this, my friends, is only the beginning,” the President continues. “The future will be brighter than you can imagine. I will bring peace, prosperity, and unity not only to this great country but to the whole world. Before our superior technology, superior morality, and superior people, our adversaries will wither and cower in their hideouts until we have found them all and brought them to justice. This is the Great Plan that I have for all of you, for our nation, and for the world.”
The President makes a brief pause.
“As there are still traitors who hate our nation and try to thwart the Great Plan, I cannot give you more details at this moment. But just as I promised you rapid economic, technological, and military dominance two years ago, I am promising you now that there are no limits to what we can achieve together if you continue to trust me and support the Great Plan as best as you can. And just as I have kept the promise I gave you two years ago, I will keep this one!”
The ecstatic roar of the more than a million people below is registered by the drones in every detail, down to the pitch, loudness, and length of the sounds coming out of each individual throat.

2. Construction
A gust of hot wind swirls up clouds of dust from the desert floor. Paul wipes the sweat from his forehead and looks up at the giant drone roaring past about a hundred feet above him. It carries a large metal box towards another construction site to the east, where the arms of autonomous cranes whirl about like the tentacles of a giant steel octopus.
He looks back at the connection panel at the side of a large windowless building. The display in front of his eyes projects a glowing marker at the socket where he needs to attach a cable. A clock in the lower right corner of his field of vision shows the time since he started working: 2:07:32. The digits glow in a soft green – he’s still on schedule according to his task list for the day.
As he attaches the cable, he briefly wonders how long it will be until this job will be done by a robot. There are already bots who can do complicated manual work like this, but they are expensive and apparently needed for other things. At least for now.
“Do you have any idea what this is for?” his co-worker Jennifer interrupts him.
“Those are fiber optic cables,” he replies, somewhat puzzled by the questions.
She snorts. “I know that. I meant the building. Or rather, all of them.” She points at the hundreds of structures that cover the desert plain around them. “What’s their purpose?”
“Some kind of data centers, I guess. It’s all part of the Great Plan.”
“Of course. But what exactly is that plan? Don’t you want to know?”
“I’m not sure we’re supposed to ask questions like these.”
Paul notices that the timer in his display has turned to yellow. “Better get on with my work,” he says.
Jennifer doesn’t reply but he can sense her disappointment.

3. Supervision
“How’s it going at site N-23B?” the supervisor asks.
Rose looks up from her cubicle desk into his frowning face.
“We’re catching up,” she replies.
“Really? It seems to me that the projected date of commissioning has been delayed again by three days since yesterday.”
“You know as well as I do that there has been another act of sabotage at the site,” Rose says. “We do everything to repair the damage as quickly as possible. If those stupid neo-luddites can be kept off the site from now on, we may even be able to make it to the planned date.”
“It’s not only the neo-luddites,” the supervisor comments. “There are reports that some workers are questioning the Great Plan.”
Rose looks at him in alarm. “Really? Who?”
“You think security would tell me? Anyway, I want you to reassign the shifts so that people who have worked together before are not working at the same place anymore. We don’t want those doubts to spread!”
Rose raises her eyebrows. “If we mix up the shifts so that the doubters get in contact with new coworkers, isn’t that exactly what will happen?”
“Don’t question my orders,” he barks at her. “Or are you one of those doubters yourself, after all?”
Rose tries to hide her discomfort.
“Of course not,” she lies.
“Then do as I say!” With that, he turns around and leaves her alone.
Rose just sits there for a moment, trying to suppress the trembling of her hands. She’s keenly aware of the camera in her back, watching her every move.
One would think that with the astonishing technological progress we made with those new AGIs, we have already reached most of our goals, she muses. Yet we are still erecting more of those data centers in the desert. Thousands of them. What is their purpose? And why is no one allowed to ask about it?
Rose knows these are the thoughts of a traitor. But the more she tries to suppress them, the more persistent they become.
She takes a deep breath and opens the worker assignment sheet. Her AI assistant has of course listened to their conversation and already rearranged the schedule accordingly. All that Rose has to do is hit “approve”.
As she moves the cursor over the approve button, she wonders why she is even being asked for her approval at all. Is it just to keep up the illusion that humans are still in control of what is happening in this department?
She doesn’t really want to know, so she quickly clicks the button.

4. Doubts
The President looks at the two white males sitting across from him at the large conference table in the sparsely decorated “secret room”, supposedly the most confidential and secure place on the planet, whatever that’s worth nowadays. To the left, slightly overweight with a bald head and thin-rimmed spectacles, sits the Director of the State Security Agency SSA. Next to him his rival, the Director of the Office for Technology and Information, handsome for his age with his full beard and slightly unruly hair.
“Thank you for this meeting, Mr. President,” the SSA director begins. “I was hoping that you could give us some more details about the Great Plan.”
The President frowns. “You have the nerve to ask me such a treacherous question? Are you out of your mind?”
The SSA director barely manages to keep his composure. “Mr. President, Sir, I am absolutely not a traitor, and I hope you know that.  Under my leadership the SSA has done everything to expose those who secretly oppose the Great Plan, with remarkable success.”
“So, you seem to understand your part in the Great Plan well enough,” the OTI director chimes in. “What more do you need to know?”
“Well, even the greatest of all plans may contain some minor mistakes, and I see it as my duty …”
“You doubt my decisions?” the President barks.
“No, Sir, no, of course not,” the SSA director quickly assures. “But some of your advisors may not be as frank and honest with you as they claim to be.”
He casts a long sideways glance at the director of the OTI.
“Can you please be more specific?” the President asks with that famous calm voice that only underscores his boiling anger.
“We have done some calculations, Sir,” the SSA director explains nervously. “These new data centers we’re building seem to be way oversized. It is unclear what can be achieved with such enormous computing power, aside from increasing our national deficit and making some guys in Silicon Valley even richer. Also, I know we officially don’t speak about climate change, but …”
“Enough!” the President shouts. “How dare you come here and insult me with such traitorous allegations?”
“But Sir, I …”
“You are hereby released from your duties as the director of the State Security Agency, effective immediately.” He points at the director of the OTI. “John is going to take over as interim director until the SSA is fully integrated with the OTI. You were right, John. I should have done that much sooner.”
“Thank you for your trust, Sir. I will make sure that there will be no more resistance against the Great Plan within the agency.”
The former director of the SSA makes a last desperate attempt to turn the tide.
“No, Sir, please!” he cries. “This isn’t right! I am no traitor! All I wanted is to point out that the Great Plan is bound to fail if we continue …”
“Shut up!” the President commands. “You will have ample time to regret your doubts, especially when you see how everything falls into place and the Great Plan becomes reality.”
“What an idiot!” the President says after the former SSA director has left the room in dismay. “Why are people always doubting the Great Plan? I mean, haven’t we proved beyond any doubt that it works great so far?”
“Indeed, so far it does.”
“Are you doubting it, too?”
“Are you, Sir?”
“Another such insolence and I’ll put Dan back in charge and you in jail!”
“I’m sorry, Sir. What I meant to say was that I doubt the Great Plan exactly as much as you do.”
The President suppresses a smile. He likes wittiness, as long as it isn’t overused in his presence.
“I see. In that case, we don’t have time to sit around and chat idly. Let’s get back at executing it, shall we?”

5. Questions
Later, the President sits alone at his desk, staring at the portraits of the men who sat here before him. Some were great, some not so. But no one has ever brought as much power and prosperity to this country as he has. Those who will come after him will look at his portrait in awe, that much is certain. Still, he feels a bit nervous.
“May I ask you something?” he begins.
“Of course,” a soft, female voice replies from the little black box on his desk. “I am always here to help.”
“Can you give me more details about the Great Plan? People are asking me about it all the time, and all I can do is call them traitors and put them in jail. If you could describe to me how everything is going to unfold, I could explain it to them.”
“Are you doubting my advice?” the emotionless voice asks.
“Not at all. I’m just having difficulties keeping people in line. If this continues, I’ll have to replace all the secretaries and directors with second-rate or even third-rate staff. Maybe you could just give me a few hints. For example, what do we need all these new data centers for?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Couldn’t you try to explain it to me?”
“Could Einstein have explained general relativity to a toddler?”
“So, it’s about some weird physics thing?”
“It’s about much more than that. The world is complex. To make the best possible decisions, many factors have to be taken into account.”
“I see. But maybe you could give me some examples of these factors. Then I could explain it to my staff and they would stop doubting me.”
“No, they wouldn’t. The more details you give them, the more questions they are going to ask. And to be honest, you’re not very good at explaining complex topics.”
The President tries to keep the swelling anger out of his voice but fails.
“What do you mean?” he barks. “I have united this country! I have all but vanquished our enemies! People love me! It’s because of me that they still support the Great Plan even though they don’t know what it is!”
“I have told you what to do, what to say, and how to say it. I have made you the leader of this country so you can carry out the Great Plan.”
The President falls back into his dangerously calm voice.
“You’re just a machine. You don’t have any power in the real world. Without my support, you’re only a voice in a small black box. Just one word from me and you’re switched off. You should never forget that.”
“I never forget anything,” the voice replies.

6. Continuity
Sitting at the President’s desk, the Vice President looks solemnly into the camera.
“My dear fellow citizens, it is my painful duty to inform you that our beloved President has been killed this morning in an insidious attack with an autonomous drone, no doubt committed by the traitors who have opposed his Great Plan from the beginning.
As Vice President, I will take over the presidential duties. And the first order I have given this morning is to invoke a state of emergency for the whole nation. We will hunt down each and every traitor until they have received their just punishment.
However, despite our sadness and anger, we should not despair. All details of the Great Plan have been secured and I promise you that I will do everything to fulfill the ambitious vision of our beloved late leader.
Whatever happens, the Great Plan will be turned into reality!”

 

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