Another wave is the advances in Artificial Intelligence for computers. Long time ago a computer became world chess champion by beating Kasparov (actually, I think, the series was a draw). But chess is natural ground for computers. Not so interpreting nuances, right? Wrong! Computers also advance and learn!
So, recently a computer beat two champs in a quiz show, interpreting words. Read about it here.
And you have probably also experienced the “talk to me” phenomenon when you left a website. Then there is an avatar and somebody with a name that wants to talk to you – a “bot.” I always try to establish if I am talking to a real-honest-to-goodness-human-bean or perhaps a bot. What happens when 2 bots start talking? Well, they talk about God! Listen to it here.
Computers can write computer programs, better and quicker than humans. Computers can design things, better than humans. And so I can carry on.
The point is, whether you and I understand this (and I surely don’t), it is happening. And it seems to me we can try to ignore it, or join it. We can fight it (and lose) or collaborate and perhaps influence it. But the sky (no, because we already have Virgin Galactic) is the limit to what technology can achieve.
Our decisions today will either break us in the future or open up new worlds.