The Future I imagine the future as a technological paradise where human and machine play on each other as fantastisc instruments. The distinction between user and tool is no longer applicable, perfect symbiosis prevails. Today, we tend to draw a line between human, emotionally charged, conscious thought on one hand and technological information processing (e.g. computers) on the other. This line will be erased by modern cognitive science. When we understand the components of consciousness, we will have the knowledge to create conscious, emotional artificial intelligence (AI). Classical Science Fiction often describes something percieved as a “uniquely human quality”, aimed to defend our superiority to an ever so clever technology. These qualities are supposedly purely human, thus impossible for any technology to replicate. But in the future, an advanced technological system could deepen the knowledge of human nature by orders of magnitude, and use this knowledge to stimulate all our abilities and peculiarities to the max. Beautiful music would steam out of our brains... “The Future” takes place in a time like that. It´s a tribute to thinkers, dreamers and visionaries who takes on the challenge to speak about the future, thereby maintaining some of our cultures most valueable tentacles If you want to know more about the future, I suggest you read Ray Kurzweils "The Age of the Spiritual Machines" or "The Singularity is Near". If you are interested in artificial intelligence, read Alan Turing, Marvin Minsky, Douglas Hofstadter (Gödel Escher Bach) or Daniel Dennett. Be careful with John Searle and chinese rooms...
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