The debate surrounding artificial intelligence is dominated by the concept of “existential risk”, or the fear that we as humans feel that an invention can get out of our control. Humanity is facing the dangers of a sudden technological paradigm shift, just like at the times of nuclear energy and the Bomb. Unlike the Cold War, though, there’s no logic of deterrence and no principle of containment. Artificial intelligence is the brainchild of a few choice individuals in Silicon Valley, but it has thousands of implications and multiple potentially devastating risks. So, we can’t possibly hope to contain it unless we imagine a pervasive and permanent surveillance state, and even that might not be enough.

The audio inserts you hear in this episode are taken from Wargames, a 1983 film directed by John Badham and produced by MGM/UA Entertainment Co., available on Prime Video.