Just realized it…Cthaeh is AI on steroids (not really off-topic AI post)

The first time I read Kingkiller was years ago so it wasn’t on my mind, but now this talk of ai superintelligence has primed me, and now I realize it… the Cthaeh is literally a malicious ultra superintelligence.

Against something like that, you’re completely screwed. The best hope is to immediately be killed by the Sithe, so that any consequences are limited but as soon as you step out, like Kvothe did, you’re screwed.

Even if you think of, say, killing yourself, that won’t work. If you do it, the Cthaeh had foreseen it, which means it is the exact worst possible future. Maybe somebody stumbles across your body, which means he then tells someone, which means that person goes on to… and so on.

Against someone who foresees your every act, there is literally no way to contradict his will. Any attempt to do that would literally be the executing of his will. Your only hope is that the causal propagation from that point forward will be limited because as soon as the Sithe don’t kill you, the possibilities explode towards infinity.

Maybe if you’re some random peasant, the Cthaeh can’t do much with you, but if you’re Kvothe? A guy who’s pretty strong and influential and who travels all over the world? Shit, the Cthaeh hasn’t eaten so well in millenia.

What do you guys think about all this? Back when Rothfuss wrote this, AI wasn’t really so on our minds like it is now, so I’ve really gained a deeper appreciation for the Cthaeh as a character and concept.