Hey Davetheslave
Futurist Ray Kurztwell might very well agree with you. Pick up his
book "The Age of Spiritual Machines".
Here's a few interesting ideas/predictions in his book:
1. by 2020 a $1000 computer will have the same computing speed as the
human brain.
2. by 2060 a personal computer will be able to simulate the brain
power of a trillion human brains (he suggests that after 2020
computers will design the next generation of computers, doubling the
computational capacity at a factor of 2 to the 10
3. by 2099 "Human thinking is merging with the world of machine
intelligence that the human species initially created. The reverse
engineering of the human brain appears to be complete." He continues
saying that machines, based on the human model, claim to be human.
It's easy to assume that at this point humanity isn't relevant
anymore. What's relevant is simply the collective consciousness and
intelligence that is now present on earth (or in space, since once we
leave our carbon bodies, we are no longer bound to food and water, all
we need is a reactor in space linked to other intelligent and
conscious machines).
So judging on these predictions, you could assume that by 2199 there
would be at least one cluster of machines that merged their
consciousness and intelligence into one and formed a being that has an
IQ of 30,000. It might take a whole galaxy to power a machine that
powerful, or maybe just a wristwatch, but regardless, I don't doubt
that at such a point, no other force in the universe would parallel to
that entity, and it could in fact be considered a virtual god.
But like the writers of the television show Star Trek thought (with
regards to the character 'Q'), an omniscient and omnipotent entity is
still considered a 'race', mainly because it is still bound to this
universe (rather then being above it). I could see conscious and
vastly intelligent machines one day becoming a new form of life in
that regard. But they would still be bound to this universe, and could
never be considered true Gods. (although based on your idea of dim10,
yes, Im sure our children will be live happily there :) |