Example of ‘decisive strategic advantage’: The Spanish in America, 16th century.
Although this example does not present research by a small group, it does show what happens when a small group holds superior technology: A few hundred men conquered a large empire, without resupply or reinforcement from the Old World. This happened at least twice—Cortés and Pizarro—indicating that it was not a fluke.
Well, kind of. The Spaniards succeeded by killing off/holding hostage their opposition’s leadership cadre, and through the accidental deployment of biological weapons-they were immune the illnesses that spread from them to the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans.
They won the battle, and they might have won later if they engaged in a full-scale invasion, but it is not completely clear form historical outcomes that they actually had a decisive strategic advantage.
Sure, the diseases were accidental. But beyond that, they used various methods, including hostage-taking and building alliances, and a few hundred men defeated millions, in two cases. Doesn’t that show a decisive strategic advantage?
Way more than a few hundred—local rebellions and malcontents joined their cause in droves on the (mistaken) assumption that they would remain in an advantaged state in the aftermath.
I think you are looking at this wrong. Yes, they had help from local rebellions and malcontents. So would an AGI. An AGI taking over the world wouldn’t necessarily look like robots vs. humans; it might look like the outbreak of World War 3 between various human factions, except that the AGI was manipulating things behind the scenes and/or acting as a “strategic advisor” to one of the factions. And when the dust settles, somehow the AGI is in charge...
So yeah, I think it really is fair to say that the Spanish managed to conquer empires of millions with just a few hundred men. Twice.
Non-immunity to illnesses is very important to us. Our computers and network infrastructure is more or less immune against script-kiddies and polymorphal viruses and standard attack schemes.
Our systems are not immune against tailored attacks from intelligence agencies or AIs.
Minor nitpick: Though the Aztecs and Incas were empires that were defeated by the Spanish, the Mayan Empire had long since fallen when the Spanish arrived. There were Mayans, but only in the sense of the ethnic group that remained in small villages in the region that had formerly been a powerful kingdom.
Example of ‘decisive strategic advantage’: The Spanish in America, 16th century.
Although this example does not present research by a small group, it does show what happens when a small group holds superior technology: A few hundred men conquered a large empire, without resupply or reinforcement from the Old World. This happened at least twice—Cortés and Pizarro—indicating that it was not a fluke.
Well, kind of. The Spaniards succeeded by killing off/holding hostage their opposition’s leadership cadre, and through the accidental deployment of biological weapons-they were immune the illnesses that spread from them to the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans.
They won the battle, and they might have won later if they engaged in a full-scale invasion, but it is not completely clear form historical outcomes that they actually had a decisive strategic advantage.
Sure, the diseases were accidental. But beyond that, they used various methods, including hostage-taking and building alliances, and a few hundred men defeated millions, in two cases. Doesn’t that show a decisive strategic advantage?
Way more than a few hundred—local rebellions and malcontents joined their cause in droves on the (mistaken) assumption that they would remain in an advantaged state in the aftermath.
I think you are looking at this wrong. Yes, they had help from local rebellions and malcontents. So would an AGI. An AGI taking over the world wouldn’t necessarily look like robots vs. humans; it might look like the outbreak of World War 3 between various human factions, except that the AGI was manipulating things behind the scenes and/or acting as a “strategic advisor” to one of the factions. And when the dust settles, somehow the AGI is in charge...
So yeah, I think it really is fair to say that the Spanish managed to conquer empires of millions with just a few hundred men. Twice.
Non-immunity to illnesses is very important to us. Our computers and network infrastructure is more or less immune against script-kiddies and polymorphal viruses and standard attack schemes.
Our systems are not immune against tailored attacks from intelligence agencies or AIs.
Minor nitpick: Though the Aztecs and Incas were empires that were defeated by the Spanish, the Mayan Empire had long since fallen when the Spanish arrived. There were Mayans, but only in the sense of the ethnic group that remained in small villages in the region that had formerly been a powerful kingdom.