{"id":212429,"date":"2025-04-25T14:07:03","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T19:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/the-ontology-of-war-and-machine-consciousness-in-philip-k-dicks-second-variety"},"modified":"2025-04-25T14:07:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T19:07:03","slug":"the-ontology-of-war-and-machine-consciousness-in-philip-k-dicks-second-variety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/the-ontology-of-war-and-machine-consciousness-in-philip-k-dicks-second-variety","title":{"rendered":"The Ontology of War and Machine Consciousness in Philip K. Dick\u2019s Second Variety"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nk3YBeOSdvg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSecond Variety\u201d is a science fiction novelette by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in Space Science Fiction magazine, in May 1953. Set in a world where war between the Soviet Union and United Nations has reduced most of the world to a barren wasteland, the story concerns the discovery, by the few remaining soldiers left, that self-replicating robots originally built to assassinate Soviet agents have gained sentience and are now plotting against both sides. It is one of many stories by Dick to examine the implications of nuclear war, particularly after it has destroyed much or all of the planet. The story was adapted into the movie Screamers in 1995. 00:00 Intro 01:03 Peek into the plot 03:33 Self-Replication and Technological Autonomy 06:51 Current Autonomous Warfare Capabilities 10:30 Space Warfare and the Projection of Terrestrial Conflict 13:14 Current State of Space Warfare 15:22 Wrapping Up =============== \ud83c\udfac Loitering munitions system WARMATE <img alt=\"\" class=\"\"> \u2022 Loitering munitions system WARMATE \ud83d\udcd9 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/98861\/97801987\">https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/98861\/97801987<\/a>\u2026 The Human Terrain Project \u2014 PENTAGON\u2019S attempt to understand The Enemy | ENDEVR Documentary <img alt=\"\" class=\"\"> \u2022 The Human Terrain Project \u2014 PENTAGON\u2019\u2026 \ud83d\udcd9 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 War in the Age of Intelligent Machines <a href=\"https:\/\/monoskop.org\/images\/c\/c0\/DeLa\">https:\/\/monoskop.org\/images\/c\/c0\/DeLa<\/a>\u2026 =============== Buy the book featured in this video: \ud83d\udcd9 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Buy the book Second Variety <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/98861\/97988883\">https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/98861\/97988883<\/a>\u2026 \ud83c\udfa7 Free Audiobook <img alt=\"\" class=\"\"> \u2022 Post-Apocalyptic Story \u201cSecond Variet\u2026 =============== You can find my take on things summarised in the books I wrote. \ud83d\udcd9\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8Chronicles of the Machine \u2014 Simulated conversations with Philip K. Dick <a href=\"https:\/\/buchshop.bod.ch\/chronicles-of\">https:\/\/buchshop.bod.ch\/chronicles-of<\/a>\u2026 \ud83d\udcd9\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8Zero Person: Reframing Autistic Cognition Beyond the Self <a href=\"https:\/\/buchshop.bod.ch\/zero-person-e\">https:\/\/buchshop.bod.ch\/zero-person-e<\/a>\u2026 \ud83d\udcd9\ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddeaZero Person: Autistische Kognition jenseits des Selbst <a href=\"https:\/\/buchshop.bod.ch\/zero-person-e\">https:\/\/buchshop.bod.ch\/zero-person-e<\/a>\u2026 \ud83d\udcd9\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8Book order: The end of the I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bod.ch\/buchshop\/the-end-o\">https:\/\/www.bod.ch\/buchshop\/the-end-o<\/a>\u2026 \ud83d\udcd9\ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddeaBook order: Das Ende des Ichs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bod.ch\/buchshop\/das-ende-\">https:\/\/www.bod.ch\/buchshop\/das-ende\u2013<\/a>\u2026 \ud83d\udcd9\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 #actuallyautistic \u2014 Living with Autism \u2013 A Poetic Exploration of the Spectrum <a href=\"https:\/\/buchshop.bod.ch\/actuallyautis\">https:\/\/buchshop.bod.ch\/actuallyautis<\/a>\u2026 =============== Image credits: Freepik.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cSecond Variety\u201d is a science fiction novelette by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in Space Science Fiction magazine, in May 1953. Set in a world where war between the Soviet Union and United Nations has reduced most of the world to a barren wasteland, the story concerns the discovery, by the few remaining [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,9,873,6,1514],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-existential-risks","category-military","category-nuclear-energy","category-robotics-ai","category-space-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}