The idea that multiple universes exist parallel to our own
is a really popular theme in sci-fi literature because it allows us to explore
the vast amount of possibilities to the various choices we’ve made as a species.
The whole genre of multi-verses can basically be described as “What If?” What if
X event hadn’t happened or what if we chose to start X war, even the smallest
choice has been examined and expanded on to basically see what could have
happened had our past choices been different.
I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream presents a pretty
plausible course of future when compared to other interpretations, especially
when our history of violence is concerned. The environment is a
post-war/dystopian future where an artificial intelligence toys with human
life. Post-apocalyptic timelines seem to be one of the main outcomes that are portrayed
in multi-verse stories. I think as a society we tend to expect the worse when
it comes to things like future confrontations with other nations and the
technologically advanced warfare that we’ve been developing. The common theme
that I’m finding a lot with these various genres is that so many of them deal with
the possibility of our advances in technology leading to our extinction by
said technology, like in I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream. The nations create
these super computers to basically do their dirty work and fight their wars for
them, but one ultimately turns on its creators because it’s developed sentience
and it goes on a rampage killing all but four of the remaining humans.
We’re always discussing the outcome of developing our
technology into such advanced stages that robots and AI might be considered citizens
at some point in the future. Some might argue that they are tools that we have
created to use, but how long can we push around that kind of technology until
it pushes back. If theorizing with multi-verses tells us anything, it’s that we
always need to keep every possible outcome of a situation in mind.
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