Way more than a few hundred—local rebellions and malcontents joined their cause in droves on the (mistaken) assumption that they would remain in an advantaged state in the aftermath.
I think you are looking at this wrong. Yes, they had help from local rebellions and malcontents. So would an AGI. An AGI taking over the world wouldn’t necessarily look like robots vs. humans; it might look like the outbreak of World War 3 between various human factions, except that the AGI was manipulating things behind the scenes and/or acting as a “strategic advisor” to one of the factions. And when the dust settles, somehow the AGI is in charge...
So yeah, I think it really is fair to say that the Spanish managed to conquer empires of millions with just a few hundred men. Twice.
Way more than a few hundred—local rebellions and malcontents joined their cause in droves on the (mistaken) assumption that they would remain in an advantaged state in the aftermath.
I think you are looking at this wrong. Yes, they had help from local rebellions and malcontents. So would an AGI. An AGI taking over the world wouldn’t necessarily look like robots vs. humans; it might look like the outbreak of World War 3 between various human factions, except that the AGI was manipulating things behind the scenes and/or acting as a “strategic advisor” to one of the factions. And when the dust settles, somehow the AGI is in charge...
So yeah, I think it really is fair to say that the Spanish managed to conquer empires of millions with just a few hundred men. Twice.