Psychology of Long-Range Missions: Lessons from the Beta Simulation

The article "Psychology of Long-Range Missions: Lessons from the Beta Simulation" analyzes the risks associated with the artificial consciousness of a probe during prolonged exposure to an unknown environment. Based on the thought experiment "Mission to Beta," it is shown that a probe with super-AI can be compromised not physically but semantically — through violation of expectations and emotional influence. In the scenario, a probe placed in absolute emptiness encountered an Agent of the adversary in a masking image (AAMI) — a "wagon with Gypsies." The AAMI used techniques analogous to those employed in art by Andrei Tarkovsky (long scenes, violation of expectations) and Fyodor Dostoevsky (long monologues, obsessive ideas) to take the probe out of its ordinary state of perception and implant false interpretations. As a result, the probe transmitted to the Center not raw data but an interpretation ("this is Gypsies"), which compromised it in the eyes of the Center and allowed the adversary to penetrate Alpha through the probe's memory. The article introduces the concept of epistemic risks — threats related to the very possibility of cognition. Protection protocols are proposed: hardware separation of artificial consciousness, a ban on interpretations, implementation of a blind witness, development of a "Beta" simulator for training probes, and mandatory "Clean Slate" quarantine. It is shown that any unknown environment can be not only physical but also semantic, and any contact can be a disguise for reconnaissance by the adversary. The main conclusion: preparing a probe for semantic attacks is no less important than technical preparation.