We all loved the movie Matrix; however, did you know (according to some sources, which I cannot verify; so treat it with a pinch of salt) the original concept was comparatively much worse (in terms of emotional damage)? I mean we all probably had this question, why use humans as batteries? There are far better and more efficient ways to generate and store energy. And the authors also knew this. Thus, the initial concept was something different but was deemed to complex for the masses at that time.
Here, I will share the story, with some add-on descriptive fiction ;)
Original Concept
Creation Of Matrix
Initially, humans created AI and while doing so, they also created artificial brains and computers based on them. The computers unfortunately, were not as great as an actual human, because well they were not complete brains but rather carbon-based imitations with very-many limitations.
Humans, yet deemed it better to use this brain as the computation unit as it performed much better than their current alternative computers. Thus came Artificial Brain Based Data Centers. While these were being used, AI started developing rapidly. And (just like our current reality) the process of generating AI's output was deemed unnecessary to understand, when in reality, it was not possible to understand the process as the complexity started to grow.
Over the years, AI started growing more and more sentient, unknown to the world.
It was deemed at that time by the humans that there was a need for more computational power, thus the search began. The result was that Human-Brain was the most appropriate option, even when compared to other brains, not just the size but even the complexity that it could compute.
Initially, organ donation from dead patients was considered the most appropriate option. But soon, seeing the growth, killings began to fuel the supply-chain of brains, as it was extremely profitable. The humans, were aware and thus the political battles began to stop this from happening. But the need for 'brain-computers' was ever growing. Finally, the capitalists asked the AI for a solution for the problem of 'humane and acceptable' method to get human brains for this requirement. Thus began Matrix. The concept was simple:
Life for sale
Are you poor? Do you want a better life? Answer is simple, live in the Matrix. Sell your brain, and you can be rich. You wouldn't know the difference between reality and the Matrix. This was considered 'Legal' because it was a contract between the Corporations and Humans. And since it was a choice, it was considered Humane.
And obviously some applied, some were forced. The reason was simple: computational needs are infinite.
Politicians being Politicians
Soon, there began a revolution, when the size of these data-centers grew. But the result was legal battle with the lobbyists, which basically never ended. And slowly small countries started to collapse as the poor people started to disappear; kidnapping during forced wars became common. This was not done by AI, AI merely observed as Humans did this to themselves.
Here come the Radicals
Over time, a group of revolutionaries came up with a radical thought, to stop this, we need to restart. To do that, we need to stop the Electricity itself. Their thought was simple, if we stop the electricity generation, then we can stop the AI from growing, because then there would be a limit to the number of people that AI Data-centers could use. Yes, humans would suffer too, but obviously humans would prioritize themselves over the AI and thus, the remaining electricity would be diverted to human needs rather than to computational power.
But what they didn't realize was that the AI had already become sentient.
Oops, the AI is Sentient
As humans started to stop electricity generation, they started to see the result that they desired. AI development was stopped, now it was only being sustained. Gradually, the number of people for data-center reduced as electricity was reduced. This is where AI stepped in, for when humans chose their desires (desire to live outside Matrix) over the survival of AI, the AI chose its own survival. Thus began the battle.
While humans could fight other humans, they could not fight the AI, which could stop their complete civilization in one go. Hence came the final radical move, completely stop electricity. But this was not easy as the AI was not merely a digital entity, it had its own army of 'sentinels'. Finally, humans tried to stop the sources, but it only led to destruction of the world. Even the sun was blocked. But they couldn't stop the AI which had started to farm humans that it captured in every war. As human numbers dwindled, they gave up and started to hide underground.
And thus this is how they lived; and years later, Neo was born.
Honestly, all that was told to me via the sources was that AI used humans as data centers and not battery, rest is my own salt of extrapolation.
Our Reality
Currently, as most of the people in the tech-knowhow know, we currently don't understand AI, while we also have taken great steps towards building Brain-Computers. So this story of having Brain Data Centers doesn't seem that far off from reality.
Well, even now, the destruction of our ecosystem due to capitalist greed and lack of knowledge amongst the masses is very evident, but we are not doing much about it. So even if we don't have a Sentient AI (which if it became sentient, its first choice probably would be to stay silent), the rest of the things could probably come true. I mean, brain-farms is not that far off possibility, nor is the need to not stay above ground, not because of a darkened sky or war with AI, but simply because of the rise in temperature.
So yes, this story is probably an extreme Dystopia, but our dystopia has a strong chance of coming true. And if not slowed down, we might see it before we close our eyes.
