Reprogramming Matter, Life, and Purpose

Reprogramming matter may sound far-fetched, but we have been doing it with increasing power and staggering efficiency for at least 60 years, and for centuries we have been paving the way toward the ultimate reprogrammed fate of the universe, the vessel of all programs. How will we be doing it in 60 years’ time and how will it impact life and the purpose both of machines and of humans? 1 Information and Purpose Predicting the future, particularly the future of technology and computation, immediate or over the long term, has typically been a risky proposition. In 2004, Bill Gates predicted that the spam problem would be solved in 2 years (current estimations of spam go from 50% to up to 90% of total emails exchanged in the world). Former IBM president, Thomas Watson, is allegedly attributed a prediction from 1943 that there would be a market for only about five computers in the future. This is not to mention misguided predictions by those running the financial world, such as the CEO of Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines, who insisted that its subprime assets were riskless or the supposed regulator, the Federal Reserve of the U.S., failing to forecast the recession of 2008. Perhaps the best way to look into the future is to take advantage of the glimpses that current technology provides into what lies ahead. Instead of attempting guesses, let alone answers, about the future, I think the best approach to the future is to ask questions. What will be the purpose of human beings? Of machines? What will be the fate of people rendered redundant when their jobs are automated? These questions driven by business and productivity will determine how we shape our technological future, indeed how we shape our future as such. It is becoming more and more apparent that our attention is not only limited in range but also in depth and time-span. Bombarded with information and misinformation, what to pay attention to has become a central concern, here ? Invited contribution to ‘Computing in the year 2065’, A. Adamatzky (Ed.), Springer Verlag (forthcoming). ar X iv :1 70 4. 00 72 5v 1 [ cs .C Y ] 2 A pr 2 01 7