I was forwarded this article that will appear tomorrow on the globe and mail (the only national newspaper here in canada) entitled “What happens when our machines get smarter than we are? (No, don’t ask Siri)” by Geoff Pevere.
It introduces the theme of the festival and of course the subtheme of (insert drums and fireworks) singularity.
I don’t want to add any commentary that might anticipate some of the (I am sure) juicy discussions that we’ll have on saturday night at the film screening, but I cannot resist quoting from the concluding paragraph of his article:
Will they take us over and make prophets of Mary Shelley, Isaac Asimov, Stanley Kubrick, James Cameron or anyone else who has told tales of getting burned by our own fire? Or will they lead us to hitherto unimaginable heights of experience, knowledge and even spiritual fulfilment? Most importantly, will they laugh when the Coyote finally looks down and realizes he’s screwed things up yet again, and get the joke?