Gregor Vukasinovič
Tartaria Effect
Well, I'm not convinced of this one. One of the lesser known conspiracy theories, claiming that there has been a technologically advanced society existing around much of the western world that disappeared some time around the 1600s. Its proponents claim many of the most astonishing and extravagant historic buildings still around today - classicistic architecture, industrial revolution, Edwardian era and the likes, were originally built much earlier by the Tartarians and merely repurposed and what not. It doesn't make much sense.
Much of the pre-WW2 Europe fell victim to the war, which was "of course" the real reason for the carpet bombing and all. New York City's old Penn station is another often cited example of a Tartarian building which "they" had to get rid of because it gave away the real history of the world. Perhaps "they" did, perhaps not, but if yes, it looks like NYC's public library just evaded their attention. Sometimes they also come up with old photographes, manipulated or not, that show these buildings covered in weird antenna looking things. I find it hard to believe that. Basically it would mean that entire centuries have been deleted from collective memory and history, and if that wasn't possible, retconned into some other meaning.
Or, I found it hard until yesterday, when I had my first conversation with GPT-4. First thing I did was quizzing it a bit about my city, asked some well and not so well known facts. Not gonna lie, it was not perfect, but still fairly impressive. Heck, it even knew what the name of the boat is that's used on the Wesseling ferry. The RheinSchwan. But then, I asked what the name of their previous vessel, the one in the picture was, the Marienfels. And GPT admitted, it didn't know that. My heart sank a bit at that moment. On the one hand, sure, one doesn't need to know that, it's nerd knowledge. Also, it made me feel old. But what's more, it quickly turned into another realisation, a bigger picture: If one day, chatbots like this replace things like Wikipedia, Google searches, perhaps even TV documentaries, and facts get reduced to AI answers that fit into a single page... the part of human history before AI took over may well disappear into obscurity.
Maybe just the 90's and early 2000s, maybe the whole industrial age with steam engines, computers, soccer stadiums and Pokemon cards. Looking at how places like reddit seem entirely oblivious to things like historic context, societies evolving over the course of decades, centureies or even millennia, and demand the world to change like you flip a switch... well, how to put it. Tartaria is humbug in all likelihood, but the tale may well be a glimpse of what will happen to us existing today. In a future where Skynet's replies determines whether you even exist or not, where a disagreement with the system sends Robocop on your ass, fully automated... maybe it's indeed better not to exist, at least in the eyes of the computer.
Tartaria Effect
Well, I'm not convinced of this one. One of the lesser known conspiracy theories, claiming that there has been a technologically advanced society existing around much of the western world that disappeared some time around the 1600s. Its proponents claim many of the most astonishing and extravagant historic buildings still around today - classicistic architecture, industrial revolution, Edwardian era and the likes, were originally built much earlier by the Tartarians and merely repurposed and what not. It doesn't make much sense.
Much of the pre-WW2 Europe fell victim to the war, which was "of course" the real reason for the carpet bombing and all. New York City's old Penn station is another often cited example of a Tartarian building which "they" had to get rid of because it gave away the real history of the world. Perhaps "they" did, perhaps not, but if yes, it looks like NYC's public library just evaded their attention. Sometimes they also come up with old photographes, manipulated or not, that show these buildings covered in weird antenna looking things. I find it hard to believe that. Basically it would mean that entire centuries have been deleted from collective memory and history, and if that wasn't possible, retconned into some other meaning.
Or, I found it hard until yesterday, when I had my first conversation with GPT-4. First thing I did was quizzing it a bit about my city, asked some well and not so well known facts. Not gonna lie, it was not perfect, but still fairly impressive. Heck, it even knew what the name of the boat is that's used on the Wesseling ferry. The RheinSchwan. But then, I asked what the name of their previous vessel, the one in the picture was, the Marienfels. And GPT admitted, it didn't know that. My heart sank a bit at that moment. On the one hand, sure, one doesn't need to know that, it's nerd knowledge. Also, it made me feel old. But what's more, it quickly turned into another realisation, a bigger picture: If one day, chatbots like this replace things like Wikipedia, Google searches, perhaps even TV documentaries, and facts get reduced to AI answers that fit into a single page... the part of human history before AI took over may well disappear into obscurity.
Maybe just the 90's and early 2000s, maybe the whole industrial age with steam engines, computers, soccer stadiums and Pokemon cards. Looking at how places like reddit seem entirely oblivious to things like historic context, societies evolving over the course of decades, centureies or even millennia, and demand the world to change like you flip a switch... well, how to put it. Tartaria is humbug in all likelihood, but the tale may well be a glimpse of what will happen to us existing today. In a future where Skynet's replies determines whether you even exist or not, where a disagreement with the system sends Robocop on your ass, fully automated... maybe it's indeed better not to exist, at least in the eyes of the computer.