At the core of the firstTalos Principlegame was a simple question: can a robot be a human?The Talos Principle 2has given an equally simple answer: yes. Of course, in the years between the games, the cultural understanding ofartificial intelligencehas dramatically changed. That, however, had no impact on the game.
There were a number of reasons the growth oflarge language models like ChatGPTdidn’t impact the narrative for the AI-optimisticTalos Principle 2, not the least of which is the fact that writing for the script was completed before generative AI was a major factor in the cultural zeitgeist. Another major factor is the world of difference between things like Stable Diffusion and true artificial intelligence–often called general artificial intelligence or GAI. But there’s a deeper reason behind the continued optimism in Croteam’s puzzler. In a recent interview with Game Rant, writers Jonas and Verena Kyratzes explained that more than anything specific to generative AI, their optimism comes from a place rooted in humanism and a certain classical view of science fiction’s role in media.
That role, one of inspiring hope and awe, is one they feel is lacking in today’s media landscape. Verena, whose work has included writing everything from first-person shooters to Christmas pantomimes, characterized science fiction as having been relentlessly pessimistic about the future over decades. That framesTalos Principle 2’s belief that a robot can be a human, the core optimism about artificial intelligence baked into the game both by its synthetic life and by the first game’s Alexandra Drennen, as a stark contrast to the narratives in more pessimistic fiction likeTerminator,The Matrix, or even the schism betweensynthetic and organic found inMass Effect.
We’ve been telling ourselves as a species for the last 60 years, or longer even than that, that no matter what we do, it’ll always end in tears. Cure for cancer? Yeah, okay, but probably, I don’t know, it makes people’s arms fall off in 20 years, and we didn’t know. No, we don’t have arms anymore … Against this ongoing, relentless narrative of no matter what we try, it’s not going to work, just give up, just sit in a corner, and do your job until you die. And that will probably be for the best. Because if you save that puppy, how do you know that the puppy isn’t going to kill somebody in 10 years?
Verena in particular hates nihilistic narratives. Pointedly, she called outStar Trekas having abdicated its role as standard-bearer for optimistic science fiction, starting with thedarker tone ofDeep Space 9in the ‘90s but exemplified most clearly in shows likePicardandDiscoveryin the modern era of the franchise. The idea of a utopian future, she argued, is important for society, and the presence of elements like the clandestine Section 31 or drug-addicted Starfleet members diminishes the utopian aims of the franchise.
As a result, the game’s optimism hews closer to Ian Banks’Culturebooks than to the modern version of the quintessential utopian science fiction franchise, a fact that clearly deeply frustrated Verena. That has a real-world influence on society, the Kyratzes argue. And the example of a medical cure was a poignant one, Jonas argued, in light of the amount ofconspiratorial thinking that surrounded the COVID-19 pandemic. He cited the very real phenomenon of the 2007 movieI Am Legendserving as an argument against vaccination during the pandemic, with Jonas also adding,
We can’t actually imagine any outcome that’s not negative. We look at anything, and we think that’s going to explode, that’s going to mutate us all, that’s it going to do this. We just can’t imagine that could actually just work. A lot of things that we have that allow us to live with some kind of quality of life, they just work, and they’ve worked for centuries or decades and have made our lives a lot better. We don’t die of certain horrible diseases anymore.
It’s against that backdrop thatThe Talos Principle 2makes its optimistic philosophical arguments about the nature of humanism, whether in organic or electronic forms. Even specific fears about the future of artificial intelligence–theoretical Skynets and the like–don’t move the Kyratzes to be any less bullish about the potential for harmony with artificial life.
Jonas called AI a mirror for concerns about ourselves. Fears about AI warring against humanity are mirrors of fears about modern military industry and conflict. Fears about AI replacing human workers are mirrors of fears about the shifting economic priorities of the past several decades. Fears about AI being disconnected with humans mirror fears about humanity’s own growing disconnection. Fears aboutthe movieHerplaying out in real lifemirror humanity’s disconnection as well.
Verena shared a story about how her father couldn’t imagine a world where true, sentient AI was developed by anyone outside a military, with an end goal of anything aside from destruction. When she prompted him with the question of it coming from another source, he couldn’t imagine it. She explained that what makes AI a threat or not is how its makers treat it.
Whatever this will be, this proper sentience that recreates, it will depend incredibly on who creates it. I think, especially in the scientific community, there’s a lot of people who share our optimism for the world and for what humanity can achieve, given enough time, and that we don’t wipe ourselves out. I just, I really hope that the right people are going to do it, and that they’re going to share that faith in humanity.
In this way, the Kyratzes believe that AI will become what humans will make it. Nothing more, and nothing less. And without a positive, hopeful view of the future, it may feel more likely that AI will endanger human civilization, but that ultimately is a failure of imagination.
The Talos Principle 2is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
The Talos Principle 2
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The Talos Principle 2 is a thought-provoking first-person puzzle experience that greatly expands on the first game’s philosophical themes and stunning environments with increasingly mind-bending challenges.
