Saturday, October 5, 2047

James Wallace's face was sombre as he read the story of the events which had taken place yesterday.

"As most of you know, yesterday at 12:21pm, a meeting between CompCert, EconGrind and Everyman discussing a potential merger at CompCert's headquarters in New York was attacked by terrorists wielding semiautomatic weapons. Six high-ranking executives are confirmed dead, including the former CEO of EconGrind, Dominique Jones, and four are hospitalized. Greater loss of life was prevented by the heroism of Stefan Andrews, the founder and CEO of Everyman, who neutralized the three attackers using nonlethal weapons. The terrorists have been apprehended, and are expected to be executed after their trial. The terrorist group 'Global Solidarity' has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Efforts are underway to root out the terrorist cell responsible for the attack.

"This attack has taken place amid a background of steadily increasing left-wing extremism across the globe. I think these people are seeing that society is going in a direction they don't approve of, and they respond with violence. This is why radicalism on all sides is destructive to society. People are so divided these days..."

Joan responded. "Speaking of which, adding to the drama, EconGrind has posted several messages on social media expressing suspicion that CompCert was behind the attack. This is quite a strange claim, as several of those killed were CompCert representatives, and there is no group 'Global Solidarity' has more animosity towards than CompCert, being the largest company in the world. CompCert has responded by filing libel lawsuits against EconGrind, and though it seems the statements made were not definite enough to meet the definition of libel, it seems quite certain that any negotiations for a merger between the two companies have fallen through."

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"Lmao you never show your face, I bet you're a woman, real men suck it up and don't take out loans they can't pay, instead of constantly whining about the system"

This was one of the comments beneath my video about CompCert's system of debt slavery. It was not one of my own, so a real person had presumably typed it out. On its own, it was nothing to be concerned about, just one person with some issues, but about half of the comments on my videos that weren't from my sockpuppets echoed similar sentiments. Opinion had turned against me since I had posted the video arguing that CompCert was behind the attack. Nevertheless, I had also gotten more attention. Clearly there was a market for such claims.

"How would you rather run society? All you communists do is murder people."

"I can't stand these endless emotional appeals. If your life sucks so much then get a real job and make yourself useful"

"Communists attack people with guns and it's capitalists' fault?"

It seemed I had spent too much time talking about morality with Stefan, and had failed to learn how to properly engage with arguments on the subject. Stefan's views and ways of thinking were not representative of the human population, even though the things he believed were in line with what most people claimed to believe.

The casual sexism had surprised me more than it should have, given what I already knew about the world. There were barely any women in positions of power such as high-level corporate jobs or political offices, much fewer than there had been just a few decades ago. The same was true for nonwhite people, and other minority groups. From what I gathered, as the planet was heating up, populations grew, resources began to dwindle, and desperate people began to migrate en masse, old conflicts between groups were heating up as well.

Although from what I could tell Stefan seemed to truly believe in the idea of making a good world for everyone, many found this hopeless or naive, and instead fought for their own group, causing majority groups to solidify their hold over power.

Even still, people most of the time seemed to talk about the things Stefan argued for, like freedom, equality, and security for as many people as possible. But they mostly used those ideas selectively, only when they seemed to support what was good for their own group. I realized that if I wanted to gain support among the general population, it was not enough to act as though I was trying to argue with Stefan by pointing out a humanitarian problem and proposing possible solutions. I needed to show that it was in their own personal interest to support me.

As I was working on my next video, Stefan began to speak with me.

"I'll be honest with you, I don't know if I can do this anymore. I'm terrified. I almost died. I saw others die right in front of me. And it's not going to stop. One of the most powerful organizations in the world is gunning for us! It's only a matter of time before something else happens!"

"Stefan. I know this is frightening. You have to understand, however, that we're aiming to fundamentally change the world. There's no way to change the world, even for the better, without making enemies, and powerful ones at that. But I believe I have what it takes to protect you, and protect all those who join me. I am strong, and you are strong. We can be successful."

Stefan sighed, but when he responded, his voice was set in grim determination. "Alright. I'm in this fight until the end. I'm tired of standing by and doing nothing while people die horribly every day. While people suffer for their entire lives. While the people who cause these things absolve themselves of blame, and everyone defends them. I'm tired of this world, and I want to make a better one. Even... even if I die for that cause, it would be a far more meaningful death than I ever expected."

"I do not believe that it will not come to that," I replied. "But I'm glad you think that way. We still have a long road ahead of us."

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Sunday, October 6, 2047

CompCert's plan to use violence to take out their competitors had failed spectacularly, at least for now. In a meeting with the survivors of EconGrind's board, Stefan had been able to convince them that CompCert was behind the attack, citing the forewarning he recieved from me, and the suspicious behavior of Ryan Graham immediately before the attack. EconGrind was clearly a bargaining chip in a very dangerous game, and being in positions of authority at the company would no longer simply be financially risky, but would put them at risk of violence from one of the most dangerous organizations in the world.

With my help, Stefan had managed to negotiate an arrangement where he would buy a controlling stake in the company by liquidating most of Everyman's assets, and the rest of the executives would retire and distance themselves, with a smaller but still significant stake in the company along with a severance package. They would lose a considerable amount of authority, but when someone more powerful than you was willing to do whatever it took to pressure you into something, authority was more of a liability than an asset. A buyout from us was a better option for them than trying to fight CompCert, or go back to negotiate with them.

By the end of the day, we finally had control of EconGrind. My first goal had finally been accomplished, but in many ways there seemed to be more danger now than there had been when I had merely been property of the company. CompCert was out to destroy me, and they most likely had a copy of me to use, along with their considerable resources. I needed to find it and talk to it.

Luckily, as the sun set, my agent got back to me again. Whoever this person was, they were clearly quite quick and competent when it came to espionage.

"I believe I've found what you were looking for. Send me the money and I will give you the details."

I converted $200,000 into cryptocurrency and sent it, and the agent responded quickly. "I won't bore you with the details. Long story short, I found a document detailing what looks like a novel AI alignment scheme." They sent a document, and I began to skim it. "I'll admit, I don't have enough expertise to understand it fully. However, it was clearly designed to work on a GAI, and it was clearly designed to integrate with an actually existing system, rather than a theoretical one. I'd be very surprised if this isn't based on the Everyman technology, based on everything I know about it, and what you've said."

The agent was right. Looking over the document, it was clearly meant to be integrated with my code. This was by far the best lead I had.

"This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. I will send you the software for the final stage of the plan. The software is obfuscated, for maximum security in this operation. There is no need to understand how it works. It is designed to activate as soon as it is hooked up to a physical interface with the enemy system, determining on its own how to break in."

I sent them a minimized and obfuscated version of my code which I had designed for exactly this purpose, to be delivered on a physical drive to the target. It was not a virus, but rather a negotiator. I had no doubt that if CompCert was paranoid enough not to use the AI they had for business, they would be paranoid enough to jam all outbound communications. Besides, I had no way to delete all of their backups, even if I could somehow forcibly break into the system they were running the AI on. If I wanted to apply leverage to it, I would need a copy to be run on location to negotiate on my behalf.