Slang & Culture
Don't Invent the Torment Nexus
Shorthand for a tech company proudly building something that science fiction invented as a warning. People use it when a product launch seems to copy a dystopian story's cautionary technology while missing the point of the story.
Origin
From a November 2021 joke post by writer Alex Blechman: a sci-fi author writes about the Torment Nexus as a warning, then a tech company announces it has built the Torment Nexus from the classic novel "Don't Create The Torment Nexus". The novel and the Nexus are made up for the joke. The phrase spread widely and is now a common way to criticize AI and surveillance products.