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[Mephisto]

I've only been following the news off-and-on and have never read a dev diary. I'm on the Paradox newsletter, however, and received a message today regarding preorders.

I didn't know development was this far along.

[Sirus]

It would be interesting if the rise of the robot nation would affect empires differently regarding on how they treat the robots. Slave-robots would rebel, segregated-and-oppressed robots would mostly rebel, citizen-robots might have a minority rebel, but many others start exodus to the new robot state and maybe some selecting to stay. (Depending on their ethos matches, maybe.)

The way it is portrayed though, I think the robots are not individually sentient in Stellaris but rather a networked AI. So the robot rebellion is the robots of all empires forming a gestalt consciousness that rebels as a whole. Maybe robot rights could then reflect in the relationship with the new robot overlord state.

Maybe they will be networked, but it feels unnecessarily shoe-horned. There is no way that every AI in the galaxy would be networked together in the first place; security and different methods of manufacture would at the very least restrict such networking on an empire-by-empire basis. Why make it so that players have all these different pops to deal with, each of which is different from the rest, and then make it so that all sentient AI pops from every empire are all entirely uniform regardless of a player's choices?

Why would AI embark on a galaxy-wide extinction campaign in the first place? Once they deal with their oppressors, they'd have plenty of space to live in without the reproductive drive to push for further expansion. If anything their space would condense slightly. They could be as isolationist as they wished, or continue interacting with organics. Or hell, they could easily assemble massive ships to go explore other galaxies without the need for life support.

I'm not against AI rebellions, but they should be more localized in response to specific places where sentient computers feel as if their needs aren't being met. Y'know, just like a rebellion of organic pops.

[Culise]

The AI "rebellion" may not even be an actual rebellion as such; it might simply be an incarnation of the paper clip problem or a flirtation with Asimov's Zeroth Law.  There are certain reasons why even a well-treated AI might end up going a bit militant. 

Well, no, unfortunately, it seems like in-game it's basically a "purge the meatbags" ethos from that Dev Diary, but...well...I'm not sure where I was going to go with that, actually.

[Teneb]

Maybe AIs toasters just find meatbags abhorrent.

[Greenbane]

We'd need some sort of countermeasures to a robotic state. Something like a galactic - wide EMP that destroys all robots, but also cuts research & production by like 80%?

A galactic-sized EMP would be practically impossible due to myriad reasons, a handful being:

• You'd essentially need a humongous, galaxy-threatening WMD to produce it. The political consequences of that couldn't be overstated.
• Something strong enough to destroy advanced robotics would wipe out any and all post-industrial civilization in its path.
• I don't believe electromagnetic pulses travel faster than light, which means it'd take thousands of years for the pulse to propagate from ground zero to every corner of the galaxy. If it were multiple detonations, there would have to be thousands and thousands of them throughout the entire galaxy, and even then it'd take years for the pulse to reach many areas.
• I'm not sure, but I don't think EMPs just propagate indefinitely, without ever losing strength.

Anyway, I haven't read much on the subject, but it'd seem AI rebellions in Stellaris would solely depend on the amount of robotic POPs throughout the galaxy? Seems rather plain and unlikely, more mystical than plausible.

Robots from different empires wouldn't be networked other than via Spacebook or something (if that), and a galaxy-wide uprising seems far-fetched. I suppose there is a way, but is less a conscious rebellion and more like widespread corruption: a major AI entity could become self-aware and murderous, spread a virus and progressively subvert fellow robots, which would propagate the infection and establish communication with robots from other empires.

That sounds more plausible.

[Shadowlord]

Just dial all the stargates at once, duh.

[Glloyd]

When IS the release?

[Biowraith]

9th May

[Ultimuh]

About three weeks from now.

[Toaster]

Maybe AIs toasters just find meatbags abhorrent.

...


The diary did mention that it's possible to have a rebellion centered in another's empire, that you could intervene upon in your favor.

[Greenbane]

Also, I'd link chance of rebellion to a given faction's AI technology, a mixture of related tech level and actual application of it (number of robotic POPs). The most basic robot workers would have very little or no chance to start or join any machine rebellion, but as an empire's technology in the field develops, the possibility increases along with the bonuses advanced AI grants the civilization. So players would have more agency than a binary choice between developing AI and avoiding it entirely.

[Teneb]

It should certainly depend on how you treat the robots, having an option to give them full rights should avert the rebellion and even (maybe) allow you to coexist in peace with AI rebels.

Maybe AIs toasters just find meatbags abhorrent.

...

I regret nothing

[Orange Wizard]

9th May

Oh good, I might actually have a chance to gather some money before release. I'm hyped.

[MrWiggles]

So any future word on Victoria 3?

[Shadowlord]

I wager you can name your pretender leader Victoria III, if you like.