I was ADD-ing furiously at work the other day when I suddenly realized that I hadn't even looked up what movies were coming out this year (the horror) and whether any of them were good thoughtful sci-fi movies and I came across this potential gem: Transcendence, directed by Wally Pfister (cinematographer who's worked with Christopher Nolan) and has Nolan himself as the executive producer. But looking past the talent on board it was the topic that interested me the most.
The technological singularity...
The above graph depicts the exponential rate that computing power has been increasing relative to computing power of various brains of animals including humans. This chart was put together by Ray Kurzweil and his work called The Singularity Is Near. As you can see the extrapolated path is on a collision course with human brain power...
The singularity is understood as a point in the not too distant future where the computing power and ability of artificial Intelligence will surpass that of the collective ability of the human mind. It's predicted to happen within the next 50-100 years. That's not that far folks.
And when it happens it will apparently cause a shift in the way we go about out our existence. Imagine, knowing that we, the human species are no longer the most intelligent and powerful thinking entity on earth.
Transcendence is actually the second major film to focus on this concept, last year`s surprise success Her also explored this idea.
Despite the fact that this is just a theory at this point and is not without it's detractors, it is a uniquely powerful dilemma that could have huge ramifications for mankind.
We're living in very interesting times, let's just hope it continues to be a positive (sort of) influence on society!
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