⚠️Some spoilers for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic ahead, on the off-chance that still matters after 20-something years.⚠️

The parallel I would put forth:

As many of you may know, the central character to KotOR is the Jedi-turned-Sith-turned-Jedi-again Revan, who turned to the dark side after the grueling Mandalorian Wars. In so doing, he sparked the Jedi Civil War, drawing many a Jedi to his cause. See the plot of KotOR for how that all turns out.

What’s important here is Revan’s rationale; in his view, the previous half-century of conflict & strife in the galaxy had left the Jedi Order in an irreversibly less-than-fit state to safeguard peace & justice in the equally doomed Republic, and the coming war with the Sith Empire would destroy the Order, by forcing some Jedi to the dark side & exterminating the rest. As I’ve heard it put elsewhere: “Because it was seemingly inevitable that the Jedi would be forced to become Sith, Revan wanted to ensure that they became his Sith.”

I think this is how tech giants & governments alike view the artificial intelligence arms race; it’s not a matter of if AI will advance beyond the point of no return, but when, and who reaches that point first. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently said something similar to the previous quote about Revan & the Sith: “If there are gonna be killer robots, I’d rather they be our killer robots.” Essentially the logic is: if an entity of great destructive potential will come to exist, everyone would rather it be under their control, not merely to wield its power, but to be affected by that very power themselves the least. In that way, I suppose it’s somewhat similar to the philosophy of the Founders from Star Trek: “What you control can’t hurt you.”

Opinions?