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24 August 2015

The Entertainment Age

Is it odd that video games have grown in appeal? Perhaps they offer a clue to humanity's future.

Imagine, optimistically, that computers of some sort, endowed with artificial intelligence, will at some point exceed human capacity. Imagine, however, that they never rebel nor desire to protect us from ourselves, because they never desire anything at all.

Imagine, in this incredible scenario, that humanity has engineered perfectly obedient slaves with virtually infinite capacity. And, these machines merely serve us: nothing more, indefinitely.

What then? Is this scenario ideal?

Perhaps entertainment holds the key. Technology has successfully and continually eased human labor. It is not unreasonable to assume this trend will continue until a majority of the population need not work at all. At least, they need not work in the sense that work is now perceived.

It may very well be that human society will come to be defined not by the problems it yet faces but by the quality of its entertainment.

Artists of all sorts may become the only sorts of producers should we avert the apocalypse.