elomnusk

You make several bad assumptions. First, the AI could be in another location that would not be affected by the power outage. If it's operating off self-preservation, that would be a given. If it's working on behalf of a foreign power, it might be local and affected, but the damage would already be done. Which brings me to point two, why do you think you would be able to get the power back up and running? A Stuxnet type attack could make plants inoperable for months.

We usually have had less than 30% participation for the local Democratic primary in off years (Republican primary in off-years is not much better). The complete lack of civic-mindedness is why the only strategy that works at the general election is "vote for the lesser evil." Note: that only include 2 viable candidates, a third party will never win the Presidential election without elimination of the parties themselves or implementation of rank-choice voting by a majority of states to counteract the anti-democratic (that's small "d") bias of the Electoral College.

All the AI has to do is attack power generation/distribution nationwide, water treatment, etc., and wait a week.

Is that the fault of mechanization or the fault of capitalistic greed?

Universities need to get better at rounding out one-dimensional tech bros so they have some semblance of a conscience, ethical backbone or creativity. How many more slimy purveyors of disinformation bot farms do we need run by billionaires intent on killing the internet, "disruptive" businesses that break laws and destroy jobs until their ubiquity makes them de facto quasi-legal and yet more AI slop served to us in a subscription web app?