They calculated a belief ratio versus the reality ratio and found out against all odds that the army is more irrational than a civilian. That’s why a civilian can, if he wants, challenge an entire army.
We did see this in the past. A few knowledgeable and courageous civilians, and even slaves, became kings controlling the entire armies once they understood patriotism well, because every good soldier fights to death if he wakes up in the morning and sees in the news that his country has been attacked, and the imaginative line that draws the map has changed by 20 km, even if the intruders are just a random tribe who have mistakenly crossed into his country’s territory, or a new ruler who could be better than the current one. The patriotic soldier can’t picture that since his core belief is irrational, and he must fundamentally categorize them as enemies. Even the smartest ones will justify it by saying it's just the principle that matters.
So, we go to war, not knowing whether the benefits derived from dying are better than the benefits of doing nothing, just accepting the situation, act as we are expected to act, and see what will happen. But again, our minds will refuse that. That’s why a civilian may survive and even thrive under occupation as long as his family is not harmed. And that’s why our best generals are right now fighting for the snow.
Because of all that, the world map didn't change much since the AI revolution. The big empires owned extraordinary weapons of mass destruction, and even the small nations had strong armies thanks to the proliferation of the AI in the military field. Mix that with patriotic propaganda, and you get yourself a global war that can last forever. The world leaders knew that, and no one wanted to create chaos in the AI-unified global economy. The top economic advisors of the superpowers drew a red line on that.
Nowadays, it is highly unlikely to see a world leader criticizing a culture, a nation, or a religion openly as in the old days. Invading a nation is something unimaginable. The consequences would be disastrous on the markets – except in the North Pole, of course. The penguins there are bad consumers. In an AI-unified global economy, everything is politically correct and somehow peaceful.
But changes on the world map occurred in a more subtle and sophisticated way. First, we started witnessing the rise of a new economic model based on extreme variations. When the AI unlocked production and distribution, anyone could be his own boss, selling anything that his mind could imagine. Even if his imagination was limited, he could rent an AI-mind to do the job for him. Production was no longer a problem since the AI manages that freely or by taking royalties on the final benefits. Every market is reachable through a revolution in autonomous transportation systems. Plus, a deep AI product manager can change your product on the fly by analyzing in real-time the consumer’s behavior. Let's say instead of 100 biggest coffee brands that used to dominate the global market in the old world, we now have more than a million coffee brands with a million declinations and combinations, all reachable in any place any time. That was a change that empowered the small nations and made them extremely competitive. But still, the superpowers had the upper hand, as only three empires could create a core AI, all the other nations are just users.
The superpowers didn’t invade countries physically as in the old times. The neighbor’s power ratio theory of the old world didn’t make sense in this one. New methods were used to invade indirectly, by imposing fake democracies to control the fake-elected politicians, in a more suitable and less problematic approach. By placing them directly on the top and by giving them all the support and clear predictions from the best AI, they excelled in serving their masters. Also, no politician or religious leader had enough courage to challenge the superpower's direct orders. That would be pure suicide. Therefore, and let's say it frankly, this world is peaceful but boring to an extreme. Everything is politically correct, as one can’t say anything without scaring the nervous investors. As a result of the AI-unified global economy, the borders between the slave nations and their masters were open. The historical borders were still there, but they are now just as a demagogic lesson taught at school to calm the patriotic and the super-patriotic.
Three superpowers emerged from the old world and controlled directly or indirectly the rest of the world’s population. Never has the world seen so much polarization than now, a clear order on who is with who, and who is protecting who.
Although the domination of one nation seemed to be inevitable, all the AI predictions pointed to that result, even the most pessimistic ones. Even if the markets are all merged with one digital-currency, with the exception of The League, of course, the economy is free at a level never seen before, and every nation had the same chances of success.
Still, one superpower's geographic location had a strong effect on the human mind. It had access to all the seas and the best and most suitable temperature for the human body. It had a vast amount of cultivable areas throughout the four seasons. It also had the highest reserves of water.
All those features stabilized the production and the political system of the Amian Empire and gave it an extra boost to dominate the world.
Chapter 2
