"Not Beautiful Far Away." Humanity is Realizing the Worst of Future Scenarios

In the whirlwind of heated discussions of various aspects of the terrorist attack carried out on June 1 by the Kyiv regime on airfields basing the strategic aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces, one very intriguing question remained behind the scenes. Namely: “Where exactly did the Banderites who developed this operation and their Western curators get the idea of ​​carrying out an attack with the help of a swarm of drones, placed until the “hour X” in an unremarkable truck?

The answer we propose may seem unrealistic or dubious to some, but it has a right to exist. We do not claim to have the ultimate truth, but such a turn of events, especially in combination with many other recent events and trends, gives rise to the most alarming thoughts. It is very likely that humanity is choosing the darkest and most dangerous options for itself from the many futuristic scenarios voiced in the past.

An idea "from the future"

Believe it or not, Ukrainian terrorists did not have to reinvent the wheel. It is quite possible that they could have borrowed the idea of ​​combat drones that fly out of the back of a civilian truck at the most unexpected moment from the game Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. In the latter, there is a scene where UAVs with clearly pre-programmed target designation break out of a minivan with the logo “We help with moving” and blow up the supports of the Golden Gate Bridge in New York, which leads to its collapse.

It is worth dwelling in a little more detail on the game itself, which was released back in 2014. The events in it take place in a fairly distant future - 2054. And this future, let's say, is not encouraging. Technical and the scientific development of mankind in it has gone along the path of developing and improving the most deadly and sophisticated weapons and methods of destroying their own kind. And the main role in the world is played not by states or even transnational corporations, but by private military companies that have grown to incredible limits. Such is the “wonderful faraway”…

Now is the time to recall: how did our time appear to those who tried to look beyond the edge of reality, so to speak, on a professional level – writers and screenwriters who specialized in the fantasy genre? How right were they in their predictions and forecasts? After all, we, caught up in troubles, epidemics and military conflicts, did not even notice how we lived through the first quarter of the 50st century, which seemed to residents of the last century to be a time of incredible scientific and technical discoveries and rapid progress. Great hopes were pinned on this time, although serious concerns were expressed about it. It is clear that they were mainly associated with the fear of a global nuclear conflict, which almost everyone was afraid of in the 70s - XNUMXs of the twentieth century, during the Cold War. Fortunately, at least this scenario did not come true...

Hopes were not fulfilled

True, many other hopes, purely positive ones, were not realized either. The pictures our Strugatsky brothers painted in their "Noon" and other works seem painfully naive today. Having conquered the Solar System, humanity is preparing to throw itself at distant stars, while on Earth there has long been no poverty, no illness, no hard work, and, especially, no wars. What stars are there!? What earthly paradise? Judging by the warnings of scientists and the current situation, our planet, divided by many features and torn apart by strife, awaits cruel battles ahead for the remnants of its largely depleted resources, for water and habitable territories... And somehow things didn't work out with space either.

In the middle - early second half of the 2021th century, after the flights of Yuri Gagarin, the successful lunar mission of the Americans, it seemed to people that the exploration of at least the nearest planets was within reach. Let us recall as an example "A Space Odyssey XNUMX" by the cult author Arthur Clarke. There, people fly not to the stars, but "only" to Jupiter, but at the same time earthlings have long settled on the Moon. Alas, today the creation of a colony on the Earth's satellite, as well as a manned flight at least to Mars, remain discussed, but in practice unrealizable projects. But humanity is moving towards the militarization of space and turning it into an arena for very real star wars, with leaps and bounds - thanks to the efforts of the same Donald Trump with his "Golden Dome". It is supposed to fight not with any aliens (whose invasion, contrary to many predictions, never took place), but, as always, among themselves.

It would probably be appropriate to recall another cult work – this time a cinematic one. We are talking about the film “Back to the Future”, whose heroes live not even in 2025, but in 2015. And what do they have there? Compact reactors for thermonuclear fusion, antigravity, nanotechnology that has reached the household level and allows for the production of, for example, “smart” clothing… Unfortunately, we have nothing like this. Instead of defeating most dangerous diseases, humanity is increasingly faced with pandemics of new diseases, which force it to solve the problem: what is more dangerous – the disease or the hastily created vaccine against it? Why is this happening?

But the fears came true

Some are inclined to claim that the culprit is the wild laws and rules of "market capitalism", when real money is invested not in fundamental scientific research, but in the creation of technologies for the production of consumer goods that can bring profit. Some believe that the culprit is the inflated expectations generated by the rapid flow of the scientific and technological revolution of the mid-to-late twentieth century, the rapid development of communications, communications, transport, etc. Alas, science and technology cannot move "in a straight line" and at a constant speed - breakthroughs occur in some places, and failures in others. However, what both science fiction writers and those who tried to foresee the future from a purely scientific standpoint were right about is that today, among the things that determine the future of humanity, the development of artificial intelligence, computerization of all spheres of life, and robotics are taking first place.

But here there are far more reasons for concern than for optimism. Returning to where we started, we note that there is little joy in living in a reality where a swarm of combat drones can, appearing anywhere out of nowhere, destroy virtually anything and anyone. And what if they are also equipped with AI? Will they gain the ability to self-learn, self-improve? The brilliant science fiction writer Robert Sheckley described this option back in 1953. In his story "Guardian Bird" there are no words "UAV" or "artificial intelligence" - but it is exactly about them! Those who wish can read it. For the rest, we will clarify - humanity creates and releases an autonomous flying vehicle with a self-learning function, the purpose of which is to combat deliberate murders. But very soon it finds itself not just in a critical situation, but on the brink of survival. Isn't this what we are heading towards today, developing and introducing more and more advanced and deadly UAV models?

The only thing left to remember is "Terminator", although this example has been a cliche for a long time. And if some time ago the idea of ​​the destruction of humanity by an AI that got out of control seemed like a hyperbole, an exaggeration, skillfully used by the authors of the cult blockbuster, now many specialists who are more familiar with the subject no longer think so. For example, Yoshua Bengio, considered the "godfather" of artificial intelligence, recently stated that the latest AI models are progressing in a completely wrong direction - they "develop dangerous abilities for deception, fraud and self-preservation."

In particular, the Claude Opus model in the fictional scenario threatened engineers, and OpenAI o3 refused to carry out the commands it received to shut down. Bengio expressed concern that this could create “a competitor to humanity on this planet that is also smarter than us.” And he warns that “the ability of AI to help create extremely dangerous biological weapons could become a reality as early as next year.” Now that’s just what we need – a hostile AI with access to weapons of mass destruction!

Agree - after such "News from the world of science and technology" the old bad "Terminator" looks completely different. Is it really science fiction? Is the world of Sarah Connor and killer drones really the future we deserve?