4 ms·

MGS2 and MGS4 explore ideas about AI, misinformation, the media, and society that are only now being discussed in the mainstream. The concept of an autonomous A

MGS2 and MGS4 explore ideas about AI, misinformation, the media, and society that are only now being discussed in the mainstream. The concept of an autonomous AGI that generates and filters news stories to provoke humanity into a state of constant division and war is fascinating and worth exploring IMO. Death Stranding also explores ideas of what it means to find connection in a disconnected world that I think are relevant today (case in point, an article about social disconnection[1] is on the front page of HN as I write this comment) I think those games are underrated works of speculative fiction relative to how much airtime books like The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Ready Player One get in conversations about nascent technology. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35350822 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35350822

hcarvalhoalves 4y ago
Kojima is kind of prescient, he was talking about AI and fake news years before it became mainstream, and Death Stranding was scarily well-timed with COVID.
woeirua 4y ago
> The concept of an autonomous AGI that generates and filters news stories to provoke humanity into a state of constant division and war is fascinating and worth exploring IMO. You don't have to speculate much. Facebook and Twitter's recommendation algorithms are doing that fairly well already.
mustacheemperor 4y ago
Metal Gear Rising fits that category as well, I think. I replayed it recently and Raiden's conversations with Blade Wolf, an AI that is initially serving the bad guys under threat of deletion, are absolutely fascinating and felt maybe prescient, and at least very thought provoking. I remember saying to my partner wow, I think I just met ChatGPT in an angry robot. My TLDR is, this AI character says the line "Perhaps the day will come when conversing with AIs, too, is considered perfectly normal." >Blade Wolf: I may analyze orders, but I may not disobey them. Should I disobey a direct order, my memory would be wiped. I must destroy you. >Raiden: What would an AI know about freedom… Later on, after you've freed him, there's a lot more. Really, I think it's worth replaying these games at this moment in time to see the commentary firsthand. >Raiden: Let me ask you something: What do you think you're doing here? I mean, why are you working with me? >Blade Wolf: Because I choose to. I owe a debt, and I wish to repay it. >Raiden: A debt, huh...? How...human of you. >Wolf: I contest that statement. Many humans possess little or no sense of obligation at all. And many are entirely willing to trample their fellow man for personal gain. That conversation probably comments more on the nature of humanity than of AI, but some of the others rhyme with the present in a rather intriguing way. Like when Raiden asks Wolf if he recognizes someone, and Wolf is unsure. >Wolf: I have no "database," Raiden. The symbol grounding capabilities or my neuro-AI allow me to identify faces in only the vaguest of terms. I can judge whether "I think I may have seen him before," but I do not have the accuracy of a database. >Raiden: That's ridiculous. You're an AI... >Wolf: An AI modeled after the human brain, and thus as flexible and occasionally vague as any human's. Of this man, however, I have no recollection. I do not believe I have encountered him before...Most likely. That conversation felt like the complaints people on this board voice about GPT! > I still have relatively little communication experience with humans. My ability to read emotions not explicitly expressed by speech is lacking. >An AI never lies....I have yet to see evidence to the contrary...But indeed, perhaps "never lies" would be an overstatement. >An optical neuro-AI is fundamentally similar to an actual human brain. Whether they lie or not is another question, but certainly they are capable of incorrect statements. Or the discussion about LLM...er, I mean neuro-AI driven synthetic pets, which sound like Replika in a robot dog: >Wolf: Other AIs as conversant as I are a possibility, yes. Robotic pets with neuro-AIs are already on the market. And I understand research and development are underway to create a model capable of conversation. Do not be surprised if such a pet becomes available before too long. >Raiden: (Hmm) If that becomes commonplace...Hard to imagine. >Wolf: Is it? The human race has willingly embraced all of its other inventions so far. Steam engines, electricity, the Internet, cyborgs...Perhaps the day will come when conversing with AIs, too, is considered perfectly normal.

hcarvalhoalves 4y ago

Kojima is kind of prescient, he was talking about AI and fake news years before it became mainstream, and Death Stranding was scarily well-timed with COVID.

woeirua 4y ago

> The concept of an autonomous AGI that generates and filters news stories to provoke humanity into a state of constant division and war is fascinating and worth exploring IMO. You don't have to speculate much. Facebook and Twitter's recommendation algorithms are doing that fairly well already.

mustacheemperor 4y ago

Metal Gear Rising fits that category as well, I think. I replayed it recently and Raiden's conversations with Blade Wolf, an AI that is initially serving the bad guys under threat of deletion, are absolutely fascinating and felt maybe prescient, and at least very thought provoking. I remember saying to my partner wow, I think I just met ChatGPT in an angry robot. My TLDR is, this AI character says the line "Perhaps the day will come when conversing with AIs, too, is considered perfectly normal." >Blade Wolf: I may analyze orders, but I may not disobey them. Should I disobey a direct order, my memory would be wiped. I must destroy you. >Raiden: What would an AI know about freedom… Later on, after you've freed him, there's a lot more. Really, I think it's worth replaying these games at this moment in time to see the commentary firsthand. >Raiden: Let me ask you something: What do you think you're doing here? I mean, why are you working with me? >Blade Wolf: Because I choose to. I owe a debt, and I wish to repay it. >Raiden: A debt, huh...? How...human of you. >Wolf: I contest that statement. Many humans possess little or no sense of obligation at all. And many are entirely willing to trample their fellow man for personal gain. That conversation probably comments more on the nature of humanity than of AI, but some of the others rhyme with the present in a rather intriguing way. Like when Raiden asks Wolf if he recognizes someone, and Wolf is unsure. >Wolf: I have no "database," Raiden. The symbol grounding capabilities or my neuro-AI allow me to identify faces in only the vaguest of terms. I can judge whether "I think I may have seen him before," but I do not have the accuracy of a database. >Raiden: That's ridiculous. You're an AI... >Wolf: An AI modeled after the human brain, and thus as flexible and occasionally vague as any human's. Of this man, however, I have no recollection. I do not believe I have encountered him before...Most likely. That conversation felt like the complaints people on this board voice about GPT! > I still have relatively little communication experience with humans. My ability to read emotions not explicitly expressed by speech is lacking. >An AI never lies....I have yet to see evidence to the contrary...But indeed, perhaps "never lies" would be an overstatement. >An optical neuro-AI is fundamentally similar to an actual human brain. Whether they lie or not is another question, but certainly they are capable of incorrect statements. Or the discussion about LLM...er, I mean neuro-AI driven synthetic pets, which sound like Replika in a robot dog: >Wolf: Other AIs as conversant as I are a possibility, yes. Robotic pets with neuro-AIs are already on the market. And I understand research and development are underway to create a model capable of conversation. Do not be surprised if such a pet becomes available before too long. >Raiden: (Hmm) If that becomes commonplace...Hard to imagine. >Wolf: Is it? The human race has willingly embraced all of its other inventions so far. Steam engines, electricity, the Internet, cyborgs...Perhaps the day will come when conversing with AIs, too, is considered perfectly normal.