Shard Phantom Liberty
NetWatch Claims: "We're not a RABID!"
"NetWatch Claims: "We're not a RABID!"" – shard from Cyberpunk 2077 (Phantom Liberty). NetWatch is denying rumors that it's secretly run by the primary RABID left by Rache Bartmoss after his death.
Text
NetWatch is denying rumors that it's secretly run by the primary RABID left by Rache Bartmoss after his death. Though the accusations are serious, for now only medias of questionable credibility seem to be circulating them. But let's imagine for a minute: if an institution like NetWatch truly was one of the entities responsible for the DataKrash and demise of the old Net, then we would have to rethink everything we thought we knew about today's world.
NetWatch is the only one protecting us from the wild AIs, NetWatch is the only one tracking down whatever RABIDs remain free (of which it notes some might, and only might have any effect in realspace)… doesn't that sound like the perfect smokescreen? A simple trick that could allow the faceless (...or simply encrypted?) leadership of one of the world's most important institutions to achieve complete domination? Could NetWatch agents really be working for an AI? If all that sounds like a conspiracy theory, well... perhaps it is.
Of course, in their statement NetWatch provides numerous arguments against such theories, the foremost of which seems to be: “We've been policing the Net since 1991.” This choice of words seems a bit too soundbite-ready, yet it may serve to stem the incoming PR crisis. But if you really think about it, the statement itself doesn't prove anything.
If the RABIDs are AIs meant to imitate Bartmoss himself and carry on his "mission," then there's very little we could categorically refute. Whether we like it or not , Bartmoss was a genius, and there's no evidence we've seen the end of his plan. When it comes down to it, much remains to be seen, and in theory NetWatch could still prove to be his magnum opus.
If history has taught us anything, it's that there's no such thing as objective truth; everything is subjective, and institutions of public trust have become a thing of the past.
The question remains: will NetWatch manage to quell the rumors, or is it headed for a PR crisis? And what effect will that have on the average Net citizen? After all, it's likely we'll never get to the bottom of this netmess.
NetWatch is the only one protecting us from the wild AIs, NetWatch is the only one tracking down whatever RABIDs remain free (of which it notes some might, and only might have any effect in realspace)… doesn't that sound like the perfect smokescreen? A simple trick that could allow the faceless (...or simply encrypted?) leadership of one of the world's most important institutions to achieve complete domination? Could NetWatch agents really be working for an AI? If all that sounds like a conspiracy theory, well... perhaps it is.
Of course, in their statement NetWatch provides numerous arguments against such theories, the foremost of which seems to be: “We've been policing the Net since 1991.” This choice of words seems a bit too soundbite-ready, yet it may serve to stem the incoming PR crisis. But if you really think about it, the statement itself doesn't prove anything.
If the RABIDs are AIs meant to imitate Bartmoss himself and carry on his "mission," then there's very little we could categorically refute. Whether we like it or not , Bartmoss was a genius, and there's no evidence we've seen the end of his plan. When it comes down to it, much remains to be seen, and in theory NetWatch could still prove to be his magnum opus.
If history has taught us anything, it's that there's no such thing as objective truth; everything is subjective, and institutions of public trust have become a thing of the past.
The question remains: will NetWatch manage to quell the rumors, or is it headed for a PR crisis? And what effect will that have on the average Net citizen? After all, it's likely we'll never get to the bottom of this netmess.
