1984
An inherited Life 3.0 scenario · Also shown as Locked Order
Human surveillance rule permanently blocks superintelligence research.
Life under this arrangement
Research choices become matters of state surveillance. People face a human political order that claims safety as a reason to close off selected technological futures permanently.
- Practical authority
- A human surveillance state, not an AI sovereign.
- Benefits and ownership
- Ownership and provisioning are unspecified.
- Human and digital status
- Biological humanity continues without superintelligence.
- Technical premises
- A human regime can maintain a permanent research prohibition.
- Attractions
- Avoiding superintelligence is the regime’s stated objective, not a guarantee of general safety.
- Costs and objections
- Coercion and extensive surveillance under a lasting political freeze.
- Not specified
- Material conditions and the regime’s stability.
Earlier project summary and extension
No superintelligence: instead, a human regime uses AI-enabled surveillance to lock in permanent control, including control over what technology gets built next. Progress freezes where power wants it frozen.
Preserved from the earlier project catalogue. This is project interpretation, not a source quotation or an extra matching descriptor. Where its extension differs from the original premise, the source distinction above governs.
All authored features used in comparison
These are editorial descriptors, independent of the historical map. Unspecified and variant-dependent properties remain unresolved when matching preferences.
- Practical human governing authority
- Present
Humans retain practical final authority
Linked source premise. The linked 1984 premise puts a human-led surveillance regime in charge, without ASI.
- Revisable governing mandates
- Absent
Governing mandates cannot be effectively revised
Project editorial inference. The project reads a lasting totalitarian research prohibition as a mandate citizens cannot effectively revise.
- A practical right to leave
- Unspecified
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether people have a usable right to leave.
- Several self-governing communities
- Absent
A single authority governs the whole arrangement
Project editorial inference. The project reads the global surveillance state as one final order, not several independent polities.
- A guaranteed material floor
- Unspecified
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether everyone receives a guaranteed material floor.
- Private ownership of productive resources
- Unspecified
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether private ownership organizes productive resources.
- Continuing biological humanity
- Present
Biological humanity continues
Linked source premise. The linked premise retains humanity under the surveillance state.
- Others’ choice to transform themselves
- Variant-dependent
Depends on the variant; no single answer
Unresolved. A ban on superintelligence research does not settle which other transformations are permitted.
- Standing for artificial persons
- Unspecified
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether artificial persons have institutional standing.
- Enforced limits on selected capabilities
- Present
Selected capabilities face enforced limits
Linked source premise. The linked premise expressly prohibits superintelligence research.
- Visible exercise of governing power
- Present
People know who exercises governing power
Project editorial inference. The human state visibly enforces the prohibition; this does not claim that every surveillance operation is public.
- Practical independence from a technical provider
- Variant-dependent
Depends on the variant; no single answer
Unresolved. The regime’s surveillance could rely on concentrated or replaceable infrastructure.
Compare the institutional difference
Origin and source status
Original concept: Max Tegmark, Life 3.0 (2017), chapter 5. The short premise is paraphrased from FLI’s reference. Life, institutions and feature descriptors are this project’s editorial interpretation, not additional claims from the book.
- AI Aftermath Scenarios · 1984 row; Life 3.0, chapter 5
Inherited concept · Checked 2026-09-11
IR Worldview Inventory · AI-assisted editorial draft · futures-catalogue-0.3. Attribution does not imply endorsement. No current-development or community-attribution claim is inferred from this entry.