生化危机

By Aaron

Three seconds after the detector had picked up the T-virus molecules emanating from the shattered vial did Red Queen extrapolate with surgical precision the inevitably logical conclusion of this incident, namely the extinction of humanity as a species.

Acting upon this realization, she instantly moved to respond by taking the singular measure believed to be able to avert this prospect, which is to seal off the Hive and wipe out every single organism living inside it.

Human individuals may well balk at such a decision for the disturbing nature of it, but not this powerful AI. Operating on cold, rational calculations rather than wishful thinking typical of mankind, she had no qualms about stepping up to the plate on humans' behalf and providing the ethically fraught answer to the proverbial Trolley Problem, that is, sacrificing the few to save the many.

Since then, this nuclear approach to handling a public health crisis, notably an outbreak of epidemic diseases, has come to be called the Red Queen's Gambit, in honor of the AI that adopted it and came so close to carrying it through if it weren't for Alice and her fellows.

At the onset of early 2020, some ventured an idea along the line of the Red Queen's Gambit as a strategy to curb the spread of an unknown yet quite deadly virus, fretting that the seemingly controllable and relatively restrained few sparks could evolve over time into a conflagration humans will never be able to put out. Unsurprisingly, their proposal was turned down on the grounds of utter madness.

In retrospect, they were not entirely wrong - about the conflagration part. If an AI had been put in the position to make the call, the world would not have had an endless pandemic on its hands, and millions of deaths and immeasurable suffering could have been avoided. Still, this fact does not make such kind of decision any less insane or controversial. It looks like this story is doomed not to have a happy ending for all.