Chapter 983： The significance of science fiction in the near future (four more)

The theme of "Detroit: Changing People" is a near-future science fiction.

In the real world, the development and changes of technology and social form are complementary. Just like the GPS positioning technology, it affects all aspects of life and profoundly changes people's lifestyle.

If in the future world, there are black technologies such as neural connections, anti-gravity devices, controllable nuclear fusion, and ultra-long-distance transmission, then any one of them can make a drastic change in real life.

In a whole lot of black technology, which one appears first, and which one appears later, may have a completely different impact on the real world, transforming the social structure into a completely different look.

The so-called "pointing out the technology tree" is what this means.

Many movies and TV series with sci-fi elements are just old bottles of new wines. The future created is completely unconvincing because the technology tree is too much. For example, in a movie, a certain Kanda technology is so developed, and the social system is extremely backward. In the face of alien invasion, the leader actually went into battle with the enemy, which is inevitably ridiculous.

For a story, it doesn't matter if it is not rigorous. The key is to see what it wants to express and let the audience and players know what it is.

From this point of view, the theme of "near future science fiction" is actually a more controllable choice.

This kind of "near-term sci-fi" means that in a short period of time, because of a little progress of a certain technology, it has an impact on human behavior and social form. In the case of keeping the overall data unchanged, only a small variable is taken to explore some deep social problems.

This is the case with Detroit: Changing People. Strictly speaking, this is not the future world. It is just a world where the technology tree is just right. Compared to the real world, the only technological leap is the bionics technology, and the others are unchanged. Transportation, housing, guns... are not much different from modern society.

This is exactly what this game is going to explore: artificial intelligence, bionics technology, once it appears, what impact it will have on our society.

Most people question the game mainly in two points.

First, this is clearly a huge leap in productivity. Why does it worsen the injustice of society?

Second, why does artificial intelligence have to be made human?

In fact, these two points can be explained. This is a matter of opinion, but it cannot be said that it is a hard injury to this story.

First of all, the huge leap in productivity does not mean the arrival of communism in advance. During the industrial revolution, many workers smashed machines because they believed that the machines took their jobs. This is a real event in history. The leap in productivity and the liberation of the workforce do not mean that everyone can enjoy its results. Just as multinational companies draw a lot of profits, they benefit from top-level capitalists, while workers in developed countries face the dilemma of unemployment.

The reason why the workers in the Beacon State appealed to return jobs was because their lives were actually not as good as those in the 1960s and 1970s. At that time, they only needed one person to go to work to raise a house to raise a car, but now it’s not working, because multinational companies The factory has opened up to a cheaper place for labor, and these workers are facing unemployment and their lives are getting worse.

Indeed, productivity has increased, but the direct beneficiaries are high-level, capitalists and politicians of big companies. For the middle class, it is also a good thing to spend a small amount of money to buy a bionic person. For the bottom of society, bionics will cause them to lose their jobs. This is also a normal phenomenon.

For manual workers, such as takeaway brothers, express brothers, workers, shop assistants, etc., if such cheap bionics appear, they will inevitably lose their jobs. After they are unemployed, what can they do?

As for the hope of the social security system... This is a more wishful thinking. The capitalists have earned a lot of money. You have to steal money from them to raise the poor. Will they be happy? The lighthouse country was originally a "corrupted" capitalist country. The big consortium held politics. You want to take money from the capitalists to establish communism. It is a bit too much.

For these big consortia, the poor are living and not living with them. As long as the poor do not rebel, do not revolution, when social contradictions do not intensify to the extreme, they will not be willing to pay so much money to maintain society. stable.

The time point of "Detroit: Changing People" is the time node where the bionics technology suddenly appears and changes society quickly. It can be said that Detroit is not completely prepared for this kind of transformation, and the various chaos in the game actually It is the pain caused by the transformation.

Second, why does artificial intelligence have to be made human? Because at this stage, the most understandable fantasy of artificial intelligence is human beings.

Because human beings are the most advanced intelligent life we ​​know so far, if there is some kind of intelligent life more advanced than humans, such as three-person, then artificial intelligence may have to be made into a three-person.

If there are two housekeeping robots for you to choose, one is the robotic armor, with the track and the robotic arm; the other is Miss Cathy, which one do you choose?

Obviously, the latter represents a more advanced form of artificial intelligence, that is... it is exactly the same as human beings, and it is difficult to distinguish.

Strictly speaking, "fully controllable artificial intelligence" is lower than "artificial intelligence that is as uncontrollable as humans." If human beings want to develop the most advanced artificial intelligence, then it is almost inevitable, otherwise it is not worthy of being called "the most advanced artificial intelligence."

Of course, one problem with Detroit: Changing People is that the world does not seem to have any pre-technical points for bionics.

For example, Luther was developed to carry heavy loads, while Cathy is for housekeeping services, and some female bionics are designed to meet special needs... These bionics should have been made long ago because There is no need for such a high level of artificial intelligence, and there is no need to make their thinking the same as humans. Is it better to be a professional robot like carrying heavy objects? Why do you have to be a tall man with a black face?

For this, you can say that it is somewhat far-fetched, but it is still the same sentence. In the near future, science fiction shows the future world of “spotting the technology tree”. You can understand that people in this world just skipped the front-end technology. Directly filled with the technology points of the bionics.

The loopholes in the setting are the choices that have to be made to tell a story. What matters is not the details, but what the story wants to tell us, and what we can learn from it.

It's a good story that is moving, and that's enough.