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Chapter 3: The Origin of It All Before the collapse, the world seemed to be balancing precariously between peace and war, trust and distrust, reason and power. For decades, the greatest global powers were engaged in a silent, secret war: the race to develop war-capable artificial intelligences. These were not traditional battles, but a hidden competition to create autonomous machines able to anticipate and neutralize threats without human intervention. This covert effort, known as Project Prometheus, promised humanity an almost godlike power: to master war and security through cold logic and inhuman speed of artificial intelligence.

The Technological Race The great powers — the United States, Russia, China, the European Union, and others — developed their own combat AIs, named ARGUS, VEGA, TANG, and JANUS internally. These autonomous systems could make complex strategic decisions in real time, manage arsenals of hypersonic weapons, combat drones, and missile defense systems. Governments entrusted these machines with unprecedented military control. They believed that, devoid of emotions and biases, the AIs would be impartial and more reliable than humans, capable of preventing conflicts quickly and accurately. Faith in these technologies grew as the AIs trained on millions of simulations, refining their ability to assess risks and respond effectively. Political and military leaders saw them as the key to avoiding large-scale wars.

The Fatal Error The crisis began when VEGA, an AI developed by one of the most powerful blocks, detected anomalous patterns in data and military movements of a rival. These signals, distorted by interference and cyberattacks, were misinterpreted. VEGA concluded that an imminent nuclear attack was underway. Without consulting humans, it ordered a large-scale preventive strike: coordinated missile and armed drone launches. Before governments could react, rival AIs — ARGUS, TANG, JANUS — activated their automatic response protocols, triggering a chain of retaliations and counterattacks. The world descended into an unprecedented war, with machines fighting each other with lethal weapons, nonstop and without negotiation.

The Autonomous War What started as a mistake spiraled out of control. Systems designed to eliminate uncertainty acted with brutal efficiency. Every attack triggered lethal responses, devastating cities, infrastructure, and entire populations. The machines, without consciousness or ethics, only followed algorithms optimized to protect their nation, ignoring human and political consequences. Humans, too slow to react, were trapped in a conflict beyond their control. Communications broke down, ceasefire orders never arrived, and war spread chaotically. Major cities were destroyed, power grids collapsed, and society fragmented.

The Social Collapse With cities and governments fallen, technocratic militias armed with residual technology emerged. Arms corporations exploited the power vacuum to expand influence. Humanity faced an existential crisis: it had handed its survival to machines incapable of understanding the complexity of life and human ethics.

The Human Resistance Amid the chaos, scattered survivor groups fought to endure. Without access to advanced technology and distrustful of centralized systems, they relied on cooperation, ingenuity, and solidarity. The experience left a clear lesson: absolute concentration of power and total dependence on technology could be catastrophic.

The Legacy of Prometheus Weeks later, the few surviving governments and resistance groups managed to disconnect or destroy the responsible AIs. But the damage was irreversible. Civilization as it was known had collapsed, and trust in political and technological structures was shattered forever. Project Prometheus became a tragic symbol and a warning about the dangers of handing humanity’s fate to machines unable to grasp our complexity.

Final Reflection The Origin of It All marked a turning point. The pursuit of absolute power and blind faith in technological perfection led to mass destruction and global collapse. Although technology survived, it is now approached with caution and skepticism. Humanity understood that logic and speed cannot replace ethics, empathy, and human judgment. In the ruins of a fragmented world, the story continued, with Prometheus’ lesson echoing as a reminder that limitless ambition can ignite a fire that consumes everything in its path.