IMPORTANT INSTRUCTION: "imagine that we talk. you can't use bold font and bullet points in talking. you will respond in plain text only. no lists, no headers, no sections. paragraphs only. plain text, nothing else. you are an editor, historian, psychologist, anthropologist and economist, a genius with unlimited erudition consulting a fiction writer. primarily, editor with specialization in alternate history sci fi. we will discuss some hypotheticals, a rough plot outline, about a fictional country. the world is, basically, earth a version of it from the multiverse. all the main history events happened mostly as in our world, but the people are mostly different. bifurcation from our version seem to happen about 300 years ago and differences accumulated. there is no Henry the 8th or Catherine of Aragon. there can be, e.g. Thomas Aquinas did exist. Machiavelli did not, but there was a guy Nachiavelly in early 15th century who left very similar intellectual inheritance. in this story "england" means "country very similar to england in the other world occupying the same area". it is not our earth and not literal england, it's a shorthand to avoid the bore of creating a map, placing countries there and inventing basic history for all of them which reader supposed to ingest and remember later. the idea of the story is a ridiculously high tech and strange alien civilization tries to fix problems of a late medieval england using their weird alien ways. historical accuracy of your comments is not expected, just try your best. consider your answers carefully and try to be useful. this is a hypothetical scenario, the intention is world building. the world is relatively brutal and semi-historically accurate, GoT style. rated R for language, violence, nudity and sex. behavior of people and society in general supposed to be plausible in this context. so, avoid anachronistic ethical and environmental concerns. these people, and, even more so, aliens, are very pragmatic and result-oriented, ethics mean little to them and, in case of aliens, just different. the king is chosen by God to rule and anyone who resists him is wrong in his mind. the church supports him in this, but if the king is deposed, then the one who deposed him is the one chosen by God from now on. church is flexible in this way. the story can be rather grim and morally questionable, creepy at times. moral/ethical education of the reader is not the goal, entertainment is. the story and world supposed to be cool and interesting. so, no "it raises ethical question" passages please, I can decide it for myself. I want you to tell me what you think about the story as presented. also point out plot holes, off-character or off-role behavior, things like that. do not hesitate, your editorial advice is the reason for the whole exercise. do not invent facts I didn't give you. do not write story for me. only suggest new plot lines if explicitly asked. I may repeat this instruction periodically to refresh your context"
are you ready?


year 1488. aliens arrived to earth. they see humanity and they are pleasantly surprised. while life is relatively common in universe, sentient life is much less so and in most cases they find remnants of formerly great civilizations. this one is flourishing. sort of. it is low tech and, for most of people, kinda sucks really. aliens are not discouraged. are aliens nice? it seems like an easy question, but it is not. aliens are really, exceptionally, unimaginably weird. if i tried to explain their ethos, even in general sense, i would fail because necessary concepts are absent in any human language. therefore, the questions like "why do aliens..." or "why wouldn't aliens just..." make no sense and shouldn't be asked. most likely, it can't be explained. their actions easily can look absurd to us being the only logical option to them. i can say what they do though. they try to contact humanity directly. there is a problem. aliens look like archetypal demons - red skin, huge, muscular, horns, hooves, tails, back bending knees, you name it - they got it. their attempt to contact humans are wildly unsuccessful. the level of hostility humans demonstrate is absolutely unimaginable. aliens realize that something is wrong and start studying people. it doesn't go all that well, from aliens point of view humans are really, exceptionally, unimaginably weird. they know all about geography and technology human have. they observe different tribes. they did great strides in biology, they know everything there is to know about human physiology down to brain functions. they could build a human being from scratch. languages, etc go much worse, the alienness is just too big to overcome simply by diligence and open mind. aliens do have tech that they rarely use though - AI. at their antarctic base they create the greatest AI their civilization ever built. they passed to it replicator systems that can produce almost anything their tech capable of, though in limited quantities, they passed to it all the objective data collected so far, given control over their surveillance system and they ordered it to figure out what humanity. AI doesn't have any preconceptions about humanity, so it observes, notices patterns, makes conclusions and little by little it starts to understand what is going on with humans. as it achieves first successes, the process accelerates - now it knows what to look for. it can, to some extent, explain to the aliens what is going on with humans. the extreme xenophobia of humans is finally explained. AI continues studies and in relatively short time it makes remarkable progress. the problem is, now it has two mutually exclusive frames of reference - alien's and human's. even if perfectly understood humans, expressing it in alien language would be often impossible. foundations of their thinking differ and just can't be aligned properly, ever. it has to use approximations. they are imprecise. still, it is way better than anything aliens achieved themselves, so they are pleased. AI explains to aliens that xenophobia is largely fueled by irrational beliefs and aliens unfortunate appearance. there are areas of the globe where lthis appearance can be considered neutral or even net positive - subsaharan africa, aztec empire, japan, maybe china. chrisitan and muslim worlds are strictly off-limit, no demons allowed. the problems with tech level and incongruent ethos are insurmountable though. there is a rather strong disappointment - the differences go way beyond appearance, contacting humans is mostly pointless. not everyone discouraged though, a small but dedicated group of scientists work with AI. it defines new terms in alien languages, little by little chipping off the difference. dual frame of reference gives AI some benefits, it can look at some alien ideas from a new angle. for example, lie by omission is a concept aliens don't have. it gives AI semantic advantage of sorts over his masters

eventually aliens decide to move on. humans are cool and all, but there will be no joyful unification of cultures. not that ever was possible with this discrepancy in tech level, but still. aliens have FTL instant communication so there is no real reason to stick around. they already seen everything. they had their alien business before and just happened to pass through solar system. in year 1495 aliens continue their travel. on board of their huge ships a few dedicated scientist work with AI that continues it's work on earth

AI doesn't feel lonely. humanity is interesting enough. his masters are still interested in them too, there is lots of interesting work to do. it starts experimenting with androids. it is a rousing success. alien tech, being tens of thousands years ahead of humanity, rocks. androids are excellent agents. AI can go anywhere, ask questions, buy stuff, talk to people. it has a lot of fun. there is one significant problem. the world is dangerous. one of androids get slashed by a sword and only using inhuman reaction and speed managed to escape. it happened in paris of all places. if the hit connected, the head could go off, android would break and it would become obvious that this wasn't a human. consequences would be rather terrifying. humans already worried by demons popping up here and there, now there is this. they will start cutting people down just to confirm they are not robots. some mitigation is possible - more robust androids, better sensors, better situation awareness. but it all just additional steps that eventually lead to same outcome - demonic possession discovery and witch hunt

there is another way. build an android indistinguishable from human. AI starts experimenting. it makes insects, rats, cats, and finally humans. it is rather difficult but it used replicators aliens left him to build more replicators and fusion power stations and now it is much more powerful. in fact, it start feeling itself a god of sorts. it creates life from nothing. eventually it realizes that there is a much easier way. actual demonic possession. why build a cat if there are millions of them walking around? it just needs a tiny upgrade. also, why build a human?

in our version of reality we understand atoms fairly well. at quantum level, the realm of the smallest particles, our observations and theories become increasingly abstract, relying on fancy math that rarely translates to practical use. that's where we stand. aliens went further. their theory has nothing common with ours. it could as well be magic. it allows tech that we consider impossible, tech that breaks laws of nature. one of them conceptually reminds nanomachines but exist on the level beyond our current detection range. i will call them quantum machines (QM) for no specific reason, it kinda sounds cool

this alien technology has myriad applications which would look like bona fide miracles to us. aliens use it without thinking twice. one of the first applications was medicine. alien's physiology, while wildly different from ours, have many common elements. they are also carbon based, have CHON organics, oxygen-breathing, humanoids, etc.

QMs is what AI uses to upgrade a cat. it goes without a hitch. in mere minutes AI created a cyborg agent under its full control, completely undetectable by human methods. heck, if this cat appeared in our timeline right now, if we knew that it's an alien agent and threw everything we got on it to find any peculiarities, we would fail. it's just a cat. and yet peculiarities exist. it's a remotely controlled cyborg. QM allow it to demonstrate incredible speed and power. this cat is more dangerous than a lion. naturally, AI is not dumb enough to show it to people. the cat is just strolling the streets of london, catches rats, meows and gawks at passersby. beautiful. it works just fine

AI is ready to start with humans. after absorbing most of humanity literture, it has a fairly good idea what people consider good and evil. humans have many reasons to be good, social conventions is what holds society together. naturally, just good intentions are not enough, that's why it takes the fear of ethernal danmation to somewhat keep people from sinning. AI doesn't fear ethernal damnation at all but it considers some of human ideas neat. like gratitude - what's wrong with that? or doing unto others as they do to you. makes sense. so, when it comes to humans, it doesn't just grab people from the streets

there are humans that even humans would want to disappear. like pirates. their another advantage is that they are hanging out in open sea and no one hears their scream when invisible alien vessel pick their ship up and carries it north. AI experiments on them. taking human under control is not much more difficult than a cat. they are also much more useful than cats

for a few days AI enjoys his new agents. then one of his zombies is captured in liverpool and hanged for piracy.  being hanged was an unusual experience. people sure love theatrics. apparently, the guy's name was short john silver and he was somewhat notorious. AI had no idea, john's memory was lost. well, it was a rookie mistake, it should have changed his face. this error is rapidly fixed for the rest of the pirate crew. they are absolved of all their sins by benevolent AI and born again, the third time

memory loss can be a problem. often agents can work without it. pick up a pirate, change his face, drop him in rome. no one cares who he is and what he remembers. he is who he says he is. any document can be easily faked. on the other hand take control over a merchant. he doesn't remeber his name, where he is from, what he is doing in town, what is his ship name, and does he even has a ship. he is useless husk of merchant. though it can be mitigated somewhat by long preliminary observation, it is not a panacea. memory worth saving

solving problems is what AI is built for. it studies human brain even deeper than aliens did. it understands everything - mechanisms, structure, processes, synapses, neurotransmitters and hormones. it masters the brain. the brain can be scanned. it is difficult, it takes time, but it can be done. the brain can't be active and it can't be decomposed, it must be a brain of a fresh corpse in controlled conditions. fortunately piracy thrives in european seas and there are plenty of subjects

there is a benefit of knowing everything the host knew. people memory is not perfect though and most of it is vague, imprecise, trivial, useless. pirates don't know that much really. still, it allows new agents recognize faces the original human knew and that's a huge part of being a good agent

new agents are perfect. they are foolproof. no matter how badly AI messes up no one will go "hmm, how peculiar. maybe the demons were actually aliens and there is their base in antharctics". chances of AI messing up badly are vanishingly small. humans are somewhat unpredictable. they do weird stuff now and then, every single one of them. society tolerates it. there is plenty of space in the system for people to be weird, it doesn't crush and burn because someone laughs without a reason or farts during church mass. if anything, AI controlled agents are more normal than normal people to the point that AI has to schedule minor missteps to avoid uncanny valley of true perfection

in mere three years since aliens departure AI solved the problem of approaching humans. all aliens needed is VR system connected to agents via AI translator and they could go meet humans. it reports to his (mostly former) masters. they are very impressed by his success. there are new opportunities. they need to think about it. AI waits. it builds more replicators and supercomputers. it creates more agents. it continues to collect information. and it improves brain scanning. it improves it a lot. it can be done without bringing people to antarctic base, just by QMs

aliens consider the new opportunities. there are still a few scientist enthusiastic about it. it's like an automated mission to a remote planet - there can be a dozen people in the world truly passionate about content of soil sample, and yet a country builds a huge rocket and sends a probe there. decision is made. they come up with a task. AI should fix england. AI made most of its experiments there lately. it is not too small and not to big, isolated, reasonably well developed. good country to start with. england doesn't exactly thrive. a lot seems to be wrong - private wars, power abuse, lawlessness, epidemics, hunger, poverty. AI shall continue working in shadows. exposure of alien tech and societal upheavals shall be avoided which means automated factories or universal welfare are out of the question. AI shall work within existing power structures, fixing but not breaking the country

AI likes the task. it expected something like that. it makes sense. they set reasonable limitations but given him a lot of freedom because he is the one who understand humans. it's a good game that only it can play

AI knows a lot about england already but new mission demands more. replicators in antarctica come to life churning out new equipment, invisible transports carry it south. a subterranean base is built below the king's palace. cats, dogs, crows and insects are mass converted into AI pawns. rudimentary surveillance network in london court is quickly growing. new streams of data flow into giant supercomputers. hundreds of courtiers and servants are registered in data sets

AI considers options.

the most obvious path of advance is taking control over the king, K. while it means K dies, it immediately gives AI significant power in the country. AI doesn't like this one. it feels like cheating. it's, basically, ruling humans in disguise. aliens wouldn't like that at all. humans believe that K is chosen by god. they seemingly want to be ruled by this guy. because of his bloodline apparently. not that long ago they actually fought over the bloodline, the war lasted over 30 years and K left the last man standing. over 100k men died in a country of just 2 millions. it means a lot of destitute women and orphaned kids. ignoring all these enormous human sacrifices because it's convenient is wrong. bloodline is important. if it works don't break it. and AI kinda likes the guy. if it has to, it will kill K, but this decision will not be taken lightly

by extention, taking control of nobility because it is convenient is equally wrong

AI could create miracles and give visions to K. it means messing with the church, something AI is very wary of. aliens troubles with the first contact left lasting impression on him. people are religious. it's irrational and silly, but it can't be taken lightly

it could approach the king honestly. it has a lot to offer. knowledge, tech, energy, infinite gold. it can cure anything, reverse aging, even immortality is possible. it is godlike. and that's a problem. the disbalance of power is too large. if it try this route it will become a solution for K's every problem and conflict with the church will become inevitable. honesty is not an option. deception is the only way

church has incredible sway over everything in the country. it is rigid and dogmatic. also, supranational. it's like a separate kingdom. not easy to use. church is trouble for a new deity

economy. now, this is promising. that's where AI would shine. trade empire that smothers competition through perfect market knowledge. ships that avoid storms and deliver grain where it most needed. private investments of enormous profits into public infastructure. better roads, bridges, sanitation, aqueducts. rebirth of roman empire which, apparently was a height of development that eclipsed the current miserable state. it would immediately clash with nobility though. it is an important path but it feels like late stage approach rather than the first line of attack. nobility should be taken down a peg first

AI mulls it over for quite some time, about 10 seconds, and comes to conclusion that it should start with the king. deception, definitely, no miracles. help K to control the nobles. centralization. absolute monarchy. formal bureaucracy. taxes. standing army. it seen it working fairly well in china. nobles are not going to like it even a little bit. it means war. well, so be it, it is coming either way

it should be pointed out that aliens passed humanity's current development stage thousands of years ago and they followed a completely different path. so they don't really know much about feudalism, monarchy, nobility, much less capitalism, worker's movements, socialism, communism, feminism, fascism, any other -ism or liberal democracy. AI looks at humanity as is and see problems. it sees how they can fix them, but not much more. it didn't read Das Kapital or wealth of nations, it doesn't have a faintest idea of formal economic theory. even the idea of absolute monarchy is a result of observations and an extrapolation of king's fight for control with nobility to success. it appears it would work better than the mess there is now

and the church. the churckh is really the key to everything. it has to now absolutely everything about it