# Upgrade (open spoilers after 1 June 2018) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2018, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-open-spoilers-after-1-june-2018/814160 "2018-05-14T20:20:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-open-spoilers-after-1-june-2018/814160/41 "2018-10-19T01:02:27Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Surely there are easier ways to accomplish this goal than for STEM to put itself at risk and… _what_ trail? How was any of this supposed to get back to STEM, if STEM wasn’t going out of its way to draw attention to Grey by, y’know, guiding him through a killspree? But this isn’t a Joker-esque story where all of the most implausible and improbable things that the planner anticipates keep happening, thus enabling his ludicrous plan. This is STEM having a goal and seizing on opportunities in furtherance of that goal, IMO. The fact that he can’t plan very far in advance is because there’s just so much he doesn’t know yet regarding, as **SenorBeef** says, the loose ends that are STEM’s priority. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-open-spoilers-after-1-june-2018/814160/42 "2018-10-24T01:39:45Z")
Grey Trace - a great foreshadowing name. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-open-spoilers-after-1-june-2018/814160/43 "2018-10-24T02:50:46Z")
I wonder what STEM did after the movie ended. STEM was obviously far smarter than the humans around it, so the world was its oyster. So what did it do? Start a multi billion dollar business creating other STEMs? Take over politics? ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-open-spoilers-after-1-june-2018/814160/44 "2018-10-24T03:24:41Z")
Probably! Some AI experts warn that even “boxing” a superintelligence is too risky because they could manipulate the humans they interact with. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-open-spoilers-after-1-june-2018/814160/45 "2018-10-24T03:31:23Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Probably! > > Some AI experts warn that even “boxing” a superintelligence is too risky because they could manipulate the humans they interact with. Yeah. The entire plot of Upgrade reminded me of this quote about ASI. [http://teddyb.org/robin/tiki-index.php?page=Post-Singularity%2BAnd%2BTranshumanist%2BFiction%2BI%2527ve%2BEnjoyed](http://teddyb.org/robin/tiki-index.php?page=Post-Singularity%2BAnd%2BTranshumanist%2BFiction%2BI%2527ve%2BEnjoyed) > [@](#): > > On a related note, I once heard Stross talk about how to write superintelligences, and he gave an illustrative example, paraphrased: “When I need to take my cat to the vet, I bring out the cat carrier. The cat knows what this means, and then runs for the cat door. He is then very surprised to discover that it’s closed and locked. To him, these two events are totally coincedental. I think that it’s easy to write a story about a superintelligence: just have any humans that try to act against it constantly surprised by apparent coincidences that turn out to all have been the superintelligence’s fault in the end.” ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-open-spoilers-after-1-june-2018/814160/46 "2018-10-24T03:46:51Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Yeah. The entire plot of Upgrade reminded me of this quote about ASI. > > [http://teddyb.org/robin/tiki-index.php?page=Post-Singularity%2BAnd%2BTranshumanist%2BFiction%2BI%2527ve%2BEnjoyed](http://teddyb.org/robin/tiki-index.php?page=Post-Singularity%2BAnd%2BTranshumanist%2BFiction%2BI%2527ve%2BEnjoyed) The Sirens of Titan 😛 ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-open-spoilers-after-1-june-2018/814160/47 "2018-10-24T05:11:32Z")
Thanks a lot for that link—I will never escape that rabbit hole! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-open-spoilers-after-1-june-2018/814160/48 "2018-10-25T12:13:11Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Yeah. The entire plot of Upgrade reminded me of this quote about ASI. > > [http://teddyb.org/robin/tiki-index.php?page=Post-Singularity%2BAnd%2BTranshumanist%2BFiction%2BI%2527ve%2BEnjoyed](http://teddyb.org/robin/tiki-index.php?page=Post-Singularity%2BAnd%2BTranshumanist%2BFiction%2BI%2527ve%2BEnjoyed) That link will not resolve for me. And nitpick > [@](#): > > On a related note, I once heard Stross talk about how to write superintelligences, and he gave an illustrative example, paraphrased: “When I need to take my cat to the vet, I bring out the cat carrier. The cat knows what this means, and then runs for the cat door. He is then very surprised to discover that it’s closed and locked. To him, these two events are totally coincedental. I think that it’s easy to write a story about a superintelligence: just have any humans that try to act against it constantly surprised by apparent coincidences that turn out to all have been the superintelligence’s fault in the end.” He must have had a particularly stupid cat. Mine learnt VERY quickly that once the carrier comes out there is no point in trying the catflap and belts off upstairs to hide. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-open-spoilers-after-1-june-2018/814160.md?page=2)