This made me think of this one Star Trek TNG episode, When the Bough Breaks.
The people of Aldea have been cared for by a supercomputer they call The Custodian for centuries. It provides everything they need, cares for them when they’re sick, feeds and clothes them etc. All the Aldean people need to do is pursue whatever artistic hobbies they feel like. (They don’t even really do that with any true skill, either. They have tools that allow them to bypass the learning and skill development stages and just instantly be experts at everything they do or try. Which honestly sounds like it would get super boring after like ten minutes. They’re basically living in godmode 24/7.)
Anyways, they get to a point where they realize their bodies can’t reproduce anymore, and it’s been about 20 or so years since any baby was born on their planet. So they SOS call the Enterprise to come help them and ask for their kids. The Aldean’s reasoning is “well we can’t have kids anymore, but you guys can, so give us all your kids and you can just make some more!” Which of course is shot down immediately by Picard.
So, the Aldeans, used to getting everything they want, whenever they want, simply transport all the ships kids down to their planet and throw up a shield so they can’t be transported back. Picard is like “WTF” and the Aldeans are like “it’s fine, we’ll love them like our own! Go away now please”
Anyways, while Wesley is trying to figure out how to play hostage negotiator and also keep the kids spirits up, he gets introduced to The Custodian. He asks the old woman who wants to be his new mommy “how does the custodian work? What’s its main power source?” And Grandma Mommy rolls her eyes and says “Wesley, the Custodian takes care of all our needs. It always has. Why does it matter how it works?” Wesley responds “well, what if it breaks?” and Grandma Mommy kind of shrugs and says “well it’s never broken before”
And we realize that this whole race of people’s entire existence hinges on a massive AI that’s slowly running out of power, and nobody on the planet has any clue that there’s even anything wrong, let alone how to repair it. They’re just floating through space living like a bunch of spoiled toddlers. If the Custodian shut down, none of them would even know how to tie their space shoelaces, let alone cook a meal or grow crops or find clean drinking water or build a shelter.
So, yeah. Use those brains, kids. Learn skills you can use. The computers might break someday.
dailybridgerton
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