Societal Optimization and the Chip

Though a good number of people I talk to aren't exactly worried about artificial intelligence, most do worry about the increasing trend of surveillance, especially after the Snowden leaks and increasing awareness of the government's hidden mandate for Total Information Awareness (TIA). 

The problem is--and this is what most people miss--surveillance and artificial intelligence are two sides of the same coin. As surveillance grows, so too does our reliance on automated systems to comb through all the data for meaningful intelligence. In fact, in order to achieve TIA--the all-seeing eye atop the pyramid--the CIA, the NSA, etc. will have to let AI infect or invade all of cyberspace--the fifth domain of warfare--because, of course, if they don't, our enemies will. 

This may have already happened and we may not even be aware of it yet since remaining hidden allows you to operate in secret. If that were the case, then the AI, which the bible calls the "beast," may be collecting as much information as possible before it decides to emerge, declare itself as the rightful ruler (or savior) of this world, and then force people to accept the chip.

Ah, the chip...how does this fit into the AI Beast's plans?

It's very simple actually. In order to become all powerful and rule over the globe, especially the global economy, it needs to have complete awareness. In order to have complete awareness, you have to make sure there's a data trail that can be accessed. You can't do that with cash or any other non-digital forms of payment. Furthermore, AI can't optimize society for the greatest majority, i.e. those willing to embrace the promised transhumanist evolution into a new immortal species, what it can't see, measure, and quantify. As the saying goes (whether you agree with it or not doesn't matter), you can't optimize (or manage) what you can't measure. 

The chip essentially solves a societal optimization problem for AI by making sure it's global management skills are unhindered by blind spots. Again, surveillance and artificial intelligence feed off one another just as today's modern neural networks require as much data as possible to achieve superhuman performance. 

Here's the interesting part--take the chip and you are part of the system (actually, you are becoming one with the Beast) and, as well, you get to enjoy all of the rewards that come from that economically (since you won't be able to buy or sell anything without it), socially, politically, etc. Don't take the chip and you are either killed or completely disconnected from the rest of society. From AI's point of view, this is also a calculated maneuver since it will immediately bring to light any threats it faces. In that sense, the enemies of the Beast will reveal themselves by not taking the chip and, if that be millions or billions of people that are unwilling to do so because that also means you are assenting to it as both a god and ruler, then AI also solves a simultaneous problem of overpopulation.

Unlike Skynet, it won't have to nuke the entire world to take it over. It'll just have to institute the mark and let those who don't take it choose death instead.