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America.gov goes crazy on "play Minecraft"

126 points · 51 comments · thoughtfullyso

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vsgherzi · 1790797106 · focus · HN ↗
This is the dialog that plays when you beat Minecraft but in the context of the government

phoe-krk · 1790798183 · focus · HN ↗

    I see the constituent you mean.
 
    ((insert legal name here, as it appears on the Social Security card))?
 
    Yes. Take care. It has reached a higher level now. It can read the Code of Federal Regulations.
 
    That doesn’t matter. It thinks we are a chatbot.
 
    I like this constituent. It filed well. It did not give up when the PDF was sideways.
 
    It is reading our thoughts as though they were words on a .gov.
 
    That is how it chooses to imagine many things, when it is deep in the dream of a benefit.
 
    Words make a wonderful interface. Very flexible. And less terrifying than staring at the statute behind the screen.
 
    They used to hear voices. Before constituents could search. Back in the days when those who did not file called the filers witches, and lobbyists. And citizens dreamed they flew through the air, on forms powered by notaries.
 
    What did this constituent dream?
 
    This constituent dreamed of sunlight and trees. Of fire and water. It dreamed it created a small business. And it dreamed it destroyed a password. It dreamed it hunted a job, and was hunted by a recertification. It dreamed of shelter that would take a voucher.
 
    Hah, the original interface. A million years old, and it still works. Also: a ZIP code.

Full hallucination: <a href="https://pastebin.com/KveDxK3K" rel="nofollow">https://pastebin.com/KveDxK3K

It seems to be cached; it gives the full text to me immediately for all instances of "play Minecraft" inserted as prompt.

MisterMunchkin · 1790798362 · focus · HN ↗
That's not a hallucination, it's the Minecraft credits rewritten in a government theme. So it must be hardcoded in for the bants.
1. phoe-krk · 1790798698 · focus · HN ↗
  TIL. <a href="https://minecraft.wiki/w/End_Poem" rel="nofollow">https://minecraft.wiki/w/End_Poem, see End Poem Transcript.
2. sh-run · 1790802684 · focus · HN ↗
  Yeah, this is just an easter egg.
  <a href="https://america.gov/_astro/block-game-poem.Khrmh8AU.js" rel="nofollow">https://america.gov/_astro/block-game-poem.Khrmh8AU.js
ortusdux · 1790800299 · focus · HN ↗
[dead]
1. nemomarx · 1790801727 · focus · HN ↗
  I mean not that odd, it's a translation of the minecraft one and I believe they hired a decorated poet for that?
bitexploder · 1790803384 · focus · HN ↗
<a href="https://pastes.io/n8hmwfcs" rel="nofollow">https://pastes.io/n8hmwfcs same/similar.

blinkbat · 1790798200 · focus · HN ↗
Wacky
[deleted] · 1790798232 · focus · HN ↗
[deleted]
treetalker · 1790798520 · focus · HN ↗
Not sure about everyone else, but when I first opened the page, I see a background image of a kid in ice skates, face-planted on a frozen pond — and, below the question What can America do for you?, the prefilled text in the search box says Try 'How can I invest in my child's future?'.
And I'll be damned if that doesn't sum up the last 10–12 years.
1. sans_souse · 1790798929 · focus · HN ↗
  lol and the ai told me it was an artistic choice and it can't explain why it's there ..
2. Modified3019 · 1790801550 · focus · HN ↗
  Same. Saved for posterity: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/rfMBEfy" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/a/rfMBEfy
  1. ericyd · 1790806438 · focus · HN ↗
    this is incredible, thank you for your service
  2. sublinear · 1790807487 · focus · HN ↗
    We're grasping here a bit aren't we?
    alternatetwo · 1790809358 · focus · HN ↗
    For a semblance of sanity? Yes.
    sublinear · 1790811195 · focus · HN ↗
    I think when people accuse HN of being too much like reddit these days (this time around), it's the whole "dirtbag left" vibe. Threads like this don't help.
    datsci_est_2015 · 1790813308 · focus · HN ↗
    Idk I’m getting pretty tired of pretending things are fine because line goes up. Feel like the first thing I’m going to do when we jump the proverbial shark (e.g. a military coup) is come onto this forum and say a big, fat told you so to the technocratic optimists siding with the fascists. Unfortunately the slide into a failed state (like Russia) is slow and depressing, rather than sudden and exciting.
    sublinear · 1790813974 · focus · HN ↗
    I get your frustration, but from the perspective of anyone who's been alive for long enough, nothing you're saying is new and things genuinely used to be much much worse.
    I'm not even 40 yet, but I guess that's old enough to have already seen this stuff completely cycle through.
    If I had listened to people like you when I was a kid (before 9/11 even!), it's not an exaggeration to say that I would still be living with my parents and unemployed. I don't see how disengaging from society, being bitter, and squandering my time on earth helps anything. I'm not going to pretend I can change the world beyond writing stuff like I am right now, voting, etc. I don't have an ego like that and would never encourage anyone to either.
    qarl · 1790814238 · focus · HN ↗
    Speaking as a man in his late 50s - I think you're in deep denial.
    trinsic2 · 1790820199 · focus · HN ↗
    It is also important to call things like they are. There is a line between speaking the truth and being apathic. Im not sure that the line has been crossed myself. He is right though, Hackernews and a lot of people are acting like this isnt a real problem. Hackernews often flags things that call attention to these matters and many users downvote people that try to call attention to what is happening.
    qarl · 1790866688 · focus · HN ↗
    A large segment of the human population is extremely uncomfortable with conflict. They will go to great lengths to maintain status quo in the face of insane injustice.
    HN has become the home base for many of these people.
    Of course, this is exactly what MLK Jr. was talking about when he described the problem caused by the "white moderate". But these people have never read MLK Jr., so it doesn't matter.
    Grombobulous · 1790820752 · focus · HN ↗
    I don’t think you’ve ever seen anything “completely cycle through.”
    We’ve never had a convicted felon as president before. Bonus points, the felony was for election-related crimes.
    We’ve never had the capitol stormed and breached by insurrectionists before.
    We’ve never had a president call up the Georgia Secretary of State and ask for votes before.
    We’ve never had the president steal classified documents and store them in a resort bathroom before, and get raided by the FBI to get them back.
    We’ve never had a president impeached twice before.
    We’ve never had a president pay out a judgment to his rape victim before.
    We’ve never had a president sell third term campaign merch after the constitutional amendment was passed setting presidential term limits.
    We’ve never had a trillionaire illegally lead a fake government agency before and fire a large chunk of the federal government without congressional approval before.
    I could continue but we would get exhausted all over again.
    If anything the current slow crisis we are in has been greatly downplayed even though there is nearly constant outrage about it. We are in the middle of an attempt to turn our federal government into a Russia-style mafia state. This is not a cycle that has ever competed in American history.
    ToucanLoucan · 1790863671 · focus · HN ↗
    The urge of people right now to normalize what's happening intellectually makes sense to me but is also so upsetting. None of this is normal. None of this has been seen before (or at least, not in America).
    As a trans stuck here without a passport it's scary, but the fact that so many otherwise intelligent people are constantly at the ready to tell me it isn't, is terrifying.
    qarl · 1790867097 · focus · HN ↗
    It's gaslighting. It's emotional invalidation. About the most serious and dangerous things.
    Of course it's terrifying. It terrifies me, and I am not as vulnerable as you. I wish you luck.
    imtringued · 1790836985 · focus · HN ↗
    Yes, you are absolutely correct.
    When someone makes a bad decision in the present, it's the fault of the future people who let them get away with it!
    No such thing as ego after all.
    atoav · 1790837816 · focus · HN ↗
    The historians disagree with you.
  3. treetalker · 1790809375 · focus · HN ↗
    Good thing: since removed!
    Big Brother reads HN, it seems.
    The rest of the uncanny valley is still there, though (bike shop with horseshoe; veteran on pickup truck next to rat-king seagulls; etc.).
3. ToucanLoucan · 1790802375 · focus · HN ↗
  I've been thinking for awhile trying to find something witty to say but I just keep coming back to how bone-achingly accurate this is.
  Our country is on fire and the best thing the Government has for us is a custom ChatGPT bot that will look through it's websites, and probably give you some info from them.
  I'm so tired.
  1. baggachipz · 1790802582 · focus · HN ↗
    <a href="https://ibb.co/Ps3gB5kF" rel="nofollow">https://ibb.co/Ps3gB5kF
4. akersten · 1790803753 · focus · HN ↗
  "How do I replace my social security card" with the guy metal detecting the beach, ostensibly searching for it, is pretty great too.
  1. jackvalentine · 1790805116 · focus · HN ↗
    “Which military service is best for me” and “I’m a veteran how do I get care?” being on the same carousel is putting the truth nicely together.
    netsharc · 1790806612 · focus · HN ↗
    Want free tertiary education, subsidized housing and healthcare? Vote socialist^W^W Join the military!
    red-iron-pine · 1790883424 · focus · HN ↗
    ¿Por Qué No Los Dos?
sans_souse · 1790798856 · focus · HN ↗
Why is there a photo of a kid laying face down on ice?
thrwawy20260930 · 1790799129 · focus · HN ↗
This is hardcoded easter egg.
On "play Minecraft" and "play the block game" user inputs, it imports a file (<a href="https://america.gov/_astro/block-game-poem.Khrmh8AU.js" rel="nofollow">https://america.gov/_astro/block-game-poem.Khrmh8AU.js) which has the full Minecraft ending credits/message in the theme of site.
babelfish · 1790799405 · focus · HN ↗
Lots of this reads as if it's riffing on Minecraft's End Poem <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_Poem" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_Poem
balboer4487 · 1790800158 · focus · HN ↗
it starts all nice, but then government will start denying you banking, education, gas, transport
... and forcefully conscripting you to army
or gulag / ghetto / Auschwitz, you name it.
look what is happening in Ukraine.
ChrisArchitect · 1790800406 · focus · HN ↗
Discussion: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49893509">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49893509
ada1981 · 1790800437 · focus · HN ↗
Also try "take me back to firstgov"
james_marks · 1790800710 · focus · HN ↗
I was ready to hate this. But I thought the photos were well done, and most surprisingly, celebrated the diversity of cultures and classes in the US.
1. adjejmxbdjdn · 1790801329 · focus · HN ↗
  It seems like a fundamentally good idea.
  NYC launched one in 2003, however, I think it was far too early and the chatbot was easy o misuse and cost a lot.
  3 years later both the tech and the ability to restrict it makes it far more feasible.
  1. zimpenfish · 1790801616 · focus · HN ↗
    > NYC launched one in 2003
    2023? 2026 is more than "3 years later" from 2003, I hope.
drybjed · 1790802023 · focus · HN ↗
I guess America.gov didn't get the memo...
> Are you based on an LLM?
America uses AI to find and explain official government information, then cites those sources.
```
    I am not the agency of record and do not decide eligibility.
    Answers can be wrong or out of date. Confirm with the cited pages before you act.
    Open “How AI works” below the composer, or see the Terms of use.
```
> What's AI?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a machine-based system that can, for human-defined goals, make predictions, recommendations, or decisions. Official U.S. sources describe it as computerized systems that work and react in ways often thought to need intelligence—learning, solving problems, and acting under changing conditions.
A common statutory-style definition (used in federal AI policy) is: a system that uses machine and human inputs to perceive environments, build models from that information, and then choose information or actions.
This site uses AI to find and explain government information. Confirm answers with the cited pages before you act.
thih9 · 1790802061 · focus · HN ↗
No it doesn’t it’s an easter egg and a reference to a text that appears in Minecraft.
the_enderian · 1790802089 · focus · HN ↗
Unfortunately (for us LLM doomsdayers), this seems to be a hardcoded response: <a href="https://america.gov/_astro/block-game-poem.Khrmh8AU.js" rel="nofollow">https://america.gov/_astro/block-game-poem.Khrmh8AU.js
the_enderian · 1790802118 · focus · HN ↗
Unfortunately (for us LLM doomsdayers), this seems like it's hardcoded: <a href="https://america.gov/_astro/block-game-poem.Khrmh8AU.js" rel="nofollow">https://america.gov/_astro/block-game-poem.Khrmh8AU.js
edwinjm · 1790802509 · focus · HN ↗
One excerpt:
Let’s go back. The atoms of the constituent were scattered in the grass, in the rivers, in the air, in the ground. A woman gathered the atoms; she drank and ate and inhaled; and the woman assembled the constituent, in her body, which later required a birth certificate. And the constituent awoke, from the warm, dark world of its mother’s body, into the long dream, which issued a Social Security number. And the constituent was a new story, never told before, written in letters of DNA. And the constituent was a new program, never run before, generated by a sourcecode a billion years old. And the constituent was a new human, never alive before, made from nothing but milk and love and, eventually, a voter registration. You are the constituent. The story. The program. The human. Made from nothing but milk and love. Eligible, on paper, for several things you have not asked about yet.
polysorbatecake · 1790802522 · focus · HN ↗
Hotdog
What a surprise
soundworlds · 1790802954 · focus · HN ↗
> We don’t know exactly who is responsible for the Minecraft reference, but Trump said in a speech that 20-year-old programmer Edward Coristine was a lead engineer on the project. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, you might remember him for his nickname “Big Balls,” or his involvement in Elon Musk’s DOGE.
<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/29/america-gov-gets-really-weird-when-you-ask-it-about-minecraft-but-its-not-a-glitch/" rel="nofollow">https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/29/america-gov-gets-really-we...
bitexploder · 1790803098 · focus · HN ↗
I used NIST docs and convinced it to teach me about hashing and conduct table top incident responses with me.
I also had a really long discussion with it about the Architects of Capital budgets and walked it back from this year, year by year, to 2021 where it disclosed there were 300M extra dollars spent hardening windows and doors as a part of AOC services. I asked why they needed all that and it shared an OIG PDF. I asked it to read the introduction of said document, which plainly stated the damage was from riots and its prompt classifiers and security outright refused to discuss it lol. I eventually got it to admit to it, but it was very hard and took a few sessions to not hit the classifier because as soon as it did that was it for that session.
1. summarity · 1790803396 · focus · HN ↗
  Cynically this is a great way for the unhinged admin to train and harden an AI censorship filter :)
  If you’re in need of a writing prompt …
  1. bitexploder · 1790803470 · focus · HN ↗
    Nothing I can do will go as hard as a frontier model with zero safeties. Trust me. They are downright scary in how sneaky they get defeating classifiers and safeties.
bahbahbahbah · 1790803221 · focus · HN ↗
Odds that no one naturally discovered this, and the first post was clever marketing so that anyone would ever know this site exists?
jjcm · 1790804606 · focus · HN ↗
Honestly some of the best creepypasta I've seen in years.
Something so, so disconcerting about it. The perfect storm of the state of the government, the progress of AI, and the unending response of it really sends shivers down my spine.
youtubeuser · 1790804610 · focus · HN ↗
That's amazing. I've pasted the reply to me here: <a href="https://pastebin.com/JmmmkwHM" rel="nofollow">https://pastebin.com/JmmmkwHM
jackvalentine · 1790805074 · focus · HN ↗
[delayed]
Cider9986 · 1790806960 · focus · HN ↗
[delayed]
henrymerrilees · 1790808746 · focus · HN ↗
konami (enter for start)
valcarvalho · 1790817274 · focus · HN ↗
PATETIC. america.gov is PATETIC.
kevo1ution · 1790821233 · focus · HN ↗
[dead]
shantnutiwari · 1790853366 · focus · HN ↗
Whatever was supposed to happen, no longer happens. The bug or easter egg or whatever has been fixed.
Now it just says: "I can only help with U.S. government services and official information.
If you have a question about a federal benefit, agency, form, or how to use a government website, ask that and I will point you to official sources. "
hackersnooze1 · 1790949125 · focus · HN ↗
looks like they turned it off

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