The twists and turns of technological development are truly fascinating. Just a mere thought that a couple of decades ago, people were afraid of machines and artificial intelligence taking over the world seems ridiculous nowadays, and The future intelligence proves that the positive effect of the techno revolution is bound to be tremendous in several years from now.
The pictures of smart technology and the portrayals of the life that the people of the future are going to lead is, doubtlessly, one of the strongest elements of the movie. By showing the audience how far the future technologies can push the envelope, the movie displays the creative potential of the present-day science, as well as the opportunities that will appear as soon as the new technological advances have been made.
While how the moviemakers convey their message can be considered as clichéd overacting, the key idea behind the story is still very fascinating. Stating that the machines created by people have almost “human-like mentality” (Future intelligence, 2009), the authors of the movie make one think whether machines can truly replace human intelligence.
However, the given point also happens to lead to one of the inevitable questions, such as what people are going to do once they will leave the most tiresome, tedious and unbearable work to robots and latest technologies.
Another strong point of the movie is that it mentions the significance of media, as well as its future development, though rather briefly. Mass media shapes people’s lives, and the speed with which mass media reaches people defines its effect. Therefore, with the development of technology, people will be able to communicate even faster and with even better quality than nowadays.
The issue above, however, also picks several questions, the answers to which might bring the positive effect of the technological development a few notches down. Even nowadays, social networking, as well as other means of media that help people keep in touch 24/7, leads to people preferring virtual communication to the live one. As a result, the quality of interpersonal communication is slowly declining.
Eventually, people might lose the skill of live communication completely, and every single encounter with a live human being will result in stress. Moreover, people’s ability to cope with conflicts might also be reduced, since, in the virtual reality, it takes only a click of a mouse to stop the unpleasant conversation. Point being, technological progress hurts the quality of interpersonal communication (Bers, 2009).
Finally, the problem that the entire movie revolves around should be given proper mentioning. While the authors’ concerns for the safety of the humankind is quite understandable, it is still quite doubtful that people will be ever able to create something as perfect and at the same time so much flawed as a human brain.
The fear of artificial intelligence is rather legitimate since the latter can get out of control. However, it is absurd to consider that a machine can use abstract thinking and make decisions; these two are the privilege of humans, which is why the epic battle between people and machines will not happen any time soon.
Technological development must be encouraged since progress is an integral part of being a human. As long as there is some room for personal, professional, social, technological, or any other perfection, people will be able to evolve. However, people must also remember that the more they grow technologically, the ore responsible they should be. Once adopting the right approach towards the technology of the future, people will be able to use it efficiently instead of worshipping it.
Reference List
Bers, M. U. (2009). Beyond computer literacy: Supporting youth’s positive development through technology. New Media and Technology: New Directions for Youth Development, 128, 13–25.
Future intelligence (2009). Web.