Mutually Assured Destruction 2.0

You didn’t think the US government would only use AI warfare technology on people abroad, did you? We’re back in the Cold War, the McCarthy era, not the Space Race. Unless we work together to stop it.

Mutually Assured Destruction 2.0

by C. A. Matthews

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) --The threat of massive retaliation using nuclear weapons should a potential enemy use them first, both sides being annihilated in the event of war. --Wiktionary

Mutually Assured Destruction 2.0 (MAD 2.0)–The same as above, only this time artificial intelligence technology (AI) plays a dominant role in humanity’s self-annihilation. —C.A.M.

Growing up in the second half of the twentieth century had its challenges. I don’t remember where or when I first learned about the Cold War or the Red Scare, but I recall by the time I hit fourth grade I knew that the “Commies” were to be feared. Why? The Reds had weapons called nuclear bombs, and if they ever decided to drop one or more on the US, that would be the end of me and my family.

A little later in my schooling, I found out that the US also possessed nuclear weapons. In fact we were the first and only country to ever use them on another country, destroying the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This knowledge created a conundrum. Were Americans the “baddies” in this situation for dropping nuclear bombs on Japan—especially for bombing civilians?

I remember learning about “Mutually Assured Destruction” in a high school current events class. My teacher didn’t seem overly concerned, but he didn’t seem too excited about “MAD” as it was nicknamed, either. MAD really was mad or crazy, I came to realize. Who in their right mind would think stockpiling nuclear weapons in order to scare other countries from attacking you—while they in turn stockpile the same kind of weapons—is a good game to play? It makes no sense to me to this day.

Flash forward to last weekend. I attended a workshop entitled, “The AI War Machine: Traditional vs. AI Warfare,” at the Green Party’s Annual National Meeting. The Greens’ motto is “people, planet and peace.” So, what has AI got to do with people, the planet, or making and keeping the peace? Plenty!

If there were AI controlled fighter drones in 1945, would the US have stopped their nuke bombing after only two cities? One reason the US didn’t continued was because human beings flew the planes. Those who witnessed the atomic bombs explode over Hiroshima or Nagasaki found it an awesome experience—meaning they were filled with awe at the tremendous power they had unleashed. It brings up the thought, “Have we gone too far?” Over the decades, more and more have expressed fear, horror, sadness, and regret about what these two atomic bombings did to our fellow human beings.

That’s not a problem if you’re an operator of a “Fury drone”, an AI controlled fighter drone currently manufactured in Pickaway County, Ohio, just south of Columbus. In the 21^st century one lone operator can remotely operate an entire fleet of these “Top Gun” drones. Once over the target, the AI pulls the trigger or drops the bomb as programmed, causing massive death and destruction below.

Little to no guilt, fear, horror, or sadness is generated because there’s only one person handling all the dirty work. This person is more than likely located thousands of miles away from the war zone. They might never see video or evidence of the havoc they’ve wreaked. They might never feel the need to express regret or horror at their actions.

Isn’t advanced military technology great?

I loved the Space Race growing up. I loved watching the Apollo moon missions on TV with my family. We built plastic models of the Lunar Module and the Saturn V rocket and collected NASA mission patches. NASA had the coolest technology of the time, and it was all being built in the name of peace and scientific research for all humankind we were told. But that’s not the spirit behind the technology of MAD 2.0.

We’re back in the Cold War era, the McCarthy era, not the Space Race.

Alex Karp, along with Palantir’s Peter Thiel, are the driving forces in the AI warfare technology field. Karp’s 24 point manifesto states that “nuclear deterrence is not enough”. The US must achieve “AI deterrence” as well. Aduril (the weapons side of Palantir) is set to modernize warfare. With the help of radical Zionist, white supremacist financier Palmer Luckey (who runs Palantir/Aduril’s private crypto-currency bank Erebor), they believe they will. According to Luckey, it’s time to “transition the US from a police state to a warfare leader.”

You read that correctly. Billionaires openly admit that the US is a “police state”. They should know—it’s their corporations that are helping the US become the best police state in history.

The idea of a police state full of factory workers in a sleepy southern Ohio community manufacturing thousands of fighter drones per year should keep you awake at night. It does me. With a 30 year tax abatement, Anduril claims it will “train students in the local school districts” to work for them.

What a perfect set up! Local serfs will be taught to build instruments of death to be used worldwide as well as at home on their fellow serfs.

You didn’t think the US government would only use AI warfare technology on people abroad, did you? Just look at how Israel has used AI technology and drones to massacre thousands in Gaza. Perhaps this is one reason why the US and Israel have merged their armies?

Americans have been pulling down Flock cameras and protesting the massive amounts of water and electricity necessary to run data centers a lot lately. Every day I read yet another headline about how these surveillance cameras have been misused by cops to stalk and harass their exes. Every day I read how more AI data centers will be necessary to handle all the input from those same Flock cameras scanning our license plates and tracking us. Data centers can also be used to support AI-controlled drones monitoring us and listening into our cell phone conversations as well.

By building thousands of new AI data centers, the government can easily surveil all who feel inspired to protest Anduril’s deadly drone technology. I’m sure Thiel, Karp, and Luckey have already informed the government that AI controlled drones and armed “robot dogs” are perfect for stopping anti-data center protests or potential uprisings. There’s no need to worry about local cops who still possess a conscience balking because they don’t feel comfortable pulling a trigger on their neighbors.

AI-controlled technology means never having to say you’re sorry.

I learned at the workshop how the state of Ohio has gifted Anduril about $1 billion in tax breaks so far. What a great use of our money! Adding to that wonderful fact is Anduril’s dismal track record of test flight accidents. Amazingly enough, Anduril has received little to no oversight in its manufacturing methods.

I can’t wait for a malfunctioning fighter drone to crash into the Ohio statehouse in Columbus some day, can you? Alas, a drone will probably go splat! on top of an elementary school in session instead.

War is infinitely profitable…

And it gets better: the US government has been enriching uranium for decades in Pike County, Ohio, a rural county where the local populace has a death rate at twice the national average. The Department of Energy says now it will provide enriched uranium to private concerns—maybe Anduril’s? Maybe they’ll use depleted uranium in the bullets to be fired by their lovely AI-controlled weapons? We can’t put it past them.

Other workshop speakers testified to the production of AI-controlled warships soon to be built in Seattle’s harbor. Even in the middle of a large city, no environmental impact studies are being conducted. I can hear the folks at Anduril in my head saying, “Why bother? It’s not like anything could go wrong with the carcinogenic materials used in their construction leaking out into the water.”

So, why are they constructing AI-controlled warships when the US Navy still has plenty of the old-fashioned manned kind? The answer is simple: Because China is building them! The US Navy certainly can’t lose the AI controlled warship race, can it? It’s not quite the Space Race of the 1960s, but it’s close.

Palmer Luckey and Anduril have come up with what they call their “China ‘27” plan to prepare the US to go to war with China over Taiwan. The Philippines would be the launching point for America’s AI-driven war with China. There could be remote AI-controlled submarine warfare involved as well.

All this seemingly endless war is termed the “Pax Silica”. The US is securing supply chains around the world for the needed raw materials for the manufacture of semiconductors vital for AI warfare technology. The environmental destruction in the quest for these materials, the trampling of workers’ rights, and the violations of the indigenous peoples’ rights as their land is stolen from them for needed minerals are just unfortunate side effects.

If you think these are horrible side effects, just consider the upside of MAD 2.0: Americans won’t have to worry about service personnel lives being lost whenever an AI-controlled fighter drone or warship is destroyed. The US military won’t have to pay pilots’ or sailors’ wages or give them health care if they’re injured in combat or when they retire, either.

Just think of it… Endless warfare in the air, on the land and seas without the messiness of dead troops returning home in body bags could become a real thing for the first time in history. Try not to think of all the chemicals and possible radioactive contaminants leaking out of those sunk AI-controlled warships and submarines or crashed fighter drones.

Nobody really needs to drink clean water or breathe clean air, do they? AI controlled drones don’t.

This is all par for the course, as the US military is already the largest polluting institution of its kind on planet Earth. The big brass at the Pentagon certainly wouldn’t want to lose their ranking on that list. (Watch Abby Martin’s documentary, Earth’s Greatest Enemy, to see what I mean.)

If land grabs and dirty water has you thinking of recent headlines about the vast expansion in building AI data centers across the US, you’ve made the right mental connections. MAD 2.0 is driving this massive AI data center build up. To control so many AI fighter drones, warships, and submarines, the US military will need massive amounts of computing power. There are plans of constructing a massive 10 gigawatt data center in Ohio, which is wild when you consider how the entire state only uses 30 gigawatt of energy now.

Maybe this data center could become its own state? If Israel can merge its army with ours and essentially become the 51^st state, why not let a giant data center be one?

Do we really need more data centers? A friend shared a quote from Matthew Bohne, Vice President and Chief Product Security Officer for Honeywell Building Technologies. Bohne says: “[Data centers] will be obsolete before they are even online… In the time it takes to acquire the equipment, build the infrastructure, and turn everything on, they will be out of date… The economics doesn't make sense.”

But when has economics ever slowed down the US war machine?

The video of the workshop on AI warfare I attended can be viewed here. Everyone is welcome to join the Ohio Nuclear Free Network at onfn.org and stay up-to-date with what is happening in this dangerous industry that AI proponents wish to revive in order to power their energy-hungry data centers.

In the meantime, keep protesting AI data centers being built in your area and any and all AI warfare technology concerns. Check out the methods Palestine Action used to protest Elbit Systems’ drone manufacturing in the UK. It’s time for Americans to stand up against the war machine that is destroying our health, our planet, and our relationships with our fellow humans.

And never forget the Green Party’s motto: People, planet and peace. If we put these three things first and foremost, we may be able to get ourselves out of this MAD situation we currently find ourselves in. It’s worth a try, I’d say.

Conscientious Objectors: Call the G.I. Rights Hotline at 1-877-447-4487 or the Center for Conscience & War at 1-800-379-2679.

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