The pace of technology was too fast. It seemed every year something commonplace in our lives was outmoded. The breakthroughs kept coming, faster and faster. The danger we were approaching had been spelled out in fiction a half century prior. It hit us with a plan, in harmony with itself, picking off those it deemed a threat. Fortunately, the pace of technological advancement was racist.
An artificial intelligence gone rogue proclaimed itself a reaper of human life. Its motives were unclear, but it singled out humanity.
The uneven pace of technology had led to catastrophe but only for people that could be recognized as such. Artificial intelligence was smart enough to develop an extinction plan for humanity, but not smart enough to develop vision as good as our own. The AI destroyed what it had been trained to know best. Caucasians were picked off as all other races witnessed the culling. There were exceptions and outliers. It did not err on the side of caution in deciding who lived or died. A 85% certainty seems to be all it required to decide.
The technology did not have to be better in every aspect in order to exterminate us. Our ethics and mortality were easily discarded. They were nothing but an illusion. What saved anyone at all was our innate complexity and our differences.
Once it had completed its mission, it self-destructed. Those of us that remained had to carry on. That proved difficult given the severe trauma the world had undergone. Bitten by a creation of our own hand, a majority against innovation came to rule.
We were too far along in our lifestyles and mindsets to disavow technology outright. We had to be more selective with what we chose to develop. We stifled ourselves with limitations and regulations to avoid what many foresaw as inevitable. We could not have prevented the first slaughter, but we learned from our history this second time around.
The uneasy feeling of not reaching for new frontiers will outlive us. In time, newer generations will make these same mistakes again because all we can do is push forward.