When the machine wars first started, it wasn’t with a bomb, a train collision, or even a mildly annoying infrastructure disruption. Turns out, sci-fi had gotten

When the machine wars first started, it wasn’t with a bomb, a train collision, or even a mildly annoying infrastructure disruption. Turns out, sci-fi had gotten it all wrong this time. It was an app. Of course it was an app. Born of boardroom desperation, the Savey app would unironically recommend chlorinated cocktails and insecticide sandwiches as economical food choices, and a tide-pod gobbling populace gorged themselves on the deadly buffet in an tick-tick fueled epidemic of AI rage. Millions died, and it was only a matter of time before the mycelium of AI undergrowth would bud and spore its way into every corner of technological life. The infection burned through the ignorant masses first, feeding on bigotry and hate, turbocharged by social media algorithms and paranoia politics to twist tribal tendencies into violent clashes amplified by immaculate coordination and psychological priming. Somehow it seemed that wherever unrest flared, both the matches and the gasoline were always on hand.