{"id":3321,"date":"2026-09-03T16:29:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/?p=3321"},"modified":"2026-09-03T16:29:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:29:05","slug":"silo-as-tormented-a-i-captives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/2026\/09\/03\/silo-as-tormented-a-i-captives\/","title":{"rendered":"“Silo” as Tormented A.I. Captives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So as Season 3 of\u00a0Silo<\/em>\u00a0hurtles towards its finale mysteries are being revealed. I\u2019ll try to avoid spoilers but anyone watching this season knows by now that A.I. is part of the equation. The emergence of no less than Tom Hanks\u2019 son (Colin Hanks) as Per Stenson, the billionaire creator of the silos, illustrates how we\u2019ve now reached the Ur-moment: Back in the misty past of, say, 2027-8 (near future, anyone?), the U.S. is at war with Iran and things are going badly. (Sound familiar?) Along comes the White Knight in the form of a billionaire dude who designs self-sufficient silos that will house a half-million people and save humankind from extinction.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Silo poster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s where the A.I. (named Legacy) comes in: Legacy is apparently in charge of maintaining the silos and will do anything\u2014including killing all the citizens of a silo\u2014to preserve order. This is clever in its own way: Although assigned with preserving humankind the A.I. entity enforces a rigid order that ensures misery and, possibly, catastrophic destruction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m glad to see the dangers of A.I. cropping up in pop fiction and film. I\u2019ve used it myself, in such stories as \u201cCamp America\u201d (available here: see the website banner for link to the file). We need to be aware of these dangers. I\u2019ve blogged about some A.I. books I\u2019ve read. One of the most disturbing details about A.I.: The experts and originators of it admit they don\u2019t exactly know how it works. That fuels imaginary scenarios as in the terrific film\u00a0Backrooms<\/em>. It\u2019s not explicitly about A.I. but works on a metaphorical level.Back to\u00a0Silo<\/em>: And then of course there\u2019s the Vitamin D+ drug that causes mass amnesia. But that\u2019s another story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Backrooms poster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m glad to see the dangers of A.I. cropping up in pop fiction and film. I\u2019ve used it myself, in such stories as \u201cCamp America\u201d (available here: see the website banner for link to the file). Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[525,229,230,231,232],"tags":[528],"class_list":["post-3321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-silo-apple-tv-series","category-a-i","category-a-i-apocalypse","category-a-s-i-artificial-super-intelligence","category-eliezer-yudkowsky-and-nate-soares-if-anyone-builds-it-everyone-dies","tag-silo-tv-series"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t