The Invisible Cliff is a scifi tway (Twitter play) I performed on May 16, 2009. The format of the play is that in a world of Twitter, YouTube, and blogs, there are also AIs. For reasons that aren’t immediately clear, all the AIs in the world shut down within moments of each other. There are five “characters” in the tway – InvisibleCliff, Emlen6, 2kwel4u, 1972Wolfe, and i8usernames – who tweet what information they have been able to gather as well as speculate on what happened.
Enjoy.
TIME
CHARACTER
TWEET
1403
Anyone catch the reports of a worldwide AI outage?
1408
@Emlen6 Maybe it’s Judgment Day. :P (Old movie reference for you whippersnappers.)
1415
Has anyone heard about the AIs? What’s going on?
1419
did i hear my tv correctly, nato’s ai has been corrupted?
1421
@2kwel4u That’s worrisome.
1422
Is anyone having basic computer problems? If the AIs were corrupted by some malware, it might spread.
1425
@Emlen6 just the usual spam
1427
@2kwel4u Spam Spam Spam Spam, Spam Spam Spam Spam
1428
@Emlen6 spammity spam?
1430
#AI outage, possible terrorist attack? Thoughts?
1432
Finally, a news report with some info. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF-4wWzAV9E
1434
@1972Wolfe Does scared shitless count as a thought?
1438
Reports that #AIs for Indian Armed Forces, Tokyo Stock Exchange, NASA, and Cambridge University have crashed.
1440
@i8usernames Any word on NATO? An #AI crashed a few years ago, right? How could so many crash all at once?
1443
Reports that #AIs for NATO, NYSE, Australian Gas and Electric, MIT, and Moscow State University have been corrupted.
1445
@InvisibleCliff Three years ago the #AI at the University of Pennsylvania crashed during testing of an “enhanced computational matrix.”
1446
No word on Uncle Sam, the US DoD #AI
1447
@i8usernames What’s the difference between a crashed and corrupted #AI?
1448
@Emlen6 A few million in medical bills. :D
1450
Everyone on TV is talking about the #AI “problem,” but nobody knows what’s going on.
1451
I’m not yet ready to curl up in the fetal position, but I’m getting close. Anybody have an idea that doesn’t involve terrorists? #AI
1452
are corrupted #ais like horses?
1454
@InvisibleCliff Alien Invasion? #AI :D
1456
@Emlen6 Mommy!
1458
If this was a terrorist attack, what group would want to kill the #AIs?
1500
Reports that the NATO #AI committed suicide!
1501
@1972Wolfe WTF? #AI suicide?
1502
OK, I’m starting to get a lot worried. #AI
1503
Could the #AIs have started to rise up against humanity but were stopped by a secret defense program? Just throwing out an idea.
1504
@1972Wolfe Whether NATO #AI shut itself down or shut down from corruption hasn’t been determined.
1505
@Emlen6 It’s possible there was a built in kill switch in case of #AI rebellion.
1506
What we know. #AIs have been corrupted and are shutting down. Why, we don’t know. Did I miss anything?
1507
Should we be going off half-cocked about the end of the world when we don’t know what the hell happened? #AI
1508
@InvisibleCliff Besides possible alien invasion, no. :D
1509
Reports Japanese rail service under strain as non #AI computers try to pick up the slack.
1510
@InvisibleCliff You’re right about going off half-cocked about the end of the world, but it’s human nature. #AI
1511
Reports MIT #AI hit by unknown virus.
1512
@i8usernames A virus? So someone did this on purpose? #AI
1514
@InvisibleCliff Not necessarily on purpose. Maybe it got away from some punk who thought writing virus code was cool. #AI
1515
@InvisibleCliff But I’m betting it being on purpose. Probably some nutjob fundamentalist who hated us “playing God” making #AIs.
1517
isn’t it sad that this might be the end of the world as we know it, and here we are tweeting instead of being with our loved ones?
1518
Could it be possible for a computer virus to ... mutate into something the #AIs couldn’t handle? Are computer viruses evolving?
1519
@2kwel4u I’ll go spend time with my loved ones in my porn folder. Be back in five minutes. :D
1520
NASA #AI hit by virus as well.
1521
@Emlen6 eww.
1523
@Emlen6 5 minutes? Oh to be young.
1525
@InvisibleCliff An #AI is well protected with firewalls, etc. An evolved computer virus would probably wreck everything else first.
1527
I’m coming down hard on this having been done by religious fundamentalists. #AI
1529
Reports NATO #AI did shut itself down after major corruption.
1530
@i8usernames #AI suicide. I think that’s more unsettling then them being hit by evolved viruses.
1531
@i8usernames sometimes the pain is too great, like with my grandfather. thank god for das.
1533
Anyone have an #AI causality list?
1534
Genesis 2:7 Organization, an anti #AI group, denies any involvement in current situation. http://genesis27org.blogspot.com/2009/05/statement-on-worldwide-ai-crash.html
1535
@1972Wolfe One religious fanatic group down, a few million to go. Ain’t we humans wacky? #AI
1537
#AIDeaths Suicide – Ismay (NATO), Crashed – Chanakya (Indian Armed Forces), Neil (NASA), Nihombashi (Tokyo Stock Exchange)
1538
There have been some groups who’ve wanted to delete all the #AIs, but I’ve always laughed them off as kooks.
1540
#AIDeaths Crashed – Tako (Japanese Rail), Peter (Cambridge Univ), Anthony (NYSE), Homi (Tata Institute)
1541
@i8usernames thank you for using their names.
1542
#AIDeaths Corrupted – Julia (Australia Gas & Electric), Albert (ITR1), William (MIT), Elizaveta (Moscow State Univ), Louis (CERN)
1543
#AI No reliable word on the other 36.
1545
#AIDeaths William (MIT) has crashed.
1546
#AI I’m online and watching TV. I caught one of those news crawls saying the President has been taken to a “secure location.”
1547
Everyone is talking terrorists, but about an hour ago I posed the possibility we did this to stop an #AI revolt. Any thoughts?
1548
Has anyone noticed anything unusual in the past few days? Signs of an impending #AI revolt?
1549
@InvisibleCliff We can stop worrying, the President is safe. HA! #AI
1550
@Emlen6 They all have the same base code, so it’s possible something was slipped in, but that seems too paranoid.
1551
Is anyone who works with #AIs on Twitter? They might keep us from floundering around.
1553
there’s too much going on – possible end of the world and all – i need to get some fresh air.
1554
@Emlen6 #AIs are a million times faster than us. Their plans for a revolt could cement in a minute.
1556
#AIDeaths Crashed – Hiroshi (National Taiwan University)
1559
HOLY SHIT! AN #AI CIVIL WAR?! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRb4cDglZDs
1600
I guess they’re more human than we thought.
1601
#AIDeaths Crashed – Albert (ITR1)
1602
Anyone have a link to the statement? I have to read that.
1603
Statement on the #AI Civil War. http://www.oneoveralpha.com/cliff.htm
1604
Did any of them survive? More importantly, did any of the ones who wanted to enslave us survive?
FIN