‘Matrix’ virtually frames the future

May 16, 2003 | Source: Star-Ledger

“Essentially, virtual reality at the level of realism portrayed in ‘The Matrix’ will happen, and we will spend most of our time in virtual environments” by the 2030s, says Ray Kurzweil.

“Thanks to wireless communications, future Neos won’t have to tether their brains to a computer. And despite the trilogy’s dark plot — and dire warnings from computer scientist Bill Joy of Sun Microsystems — technology won’t run amok.

“We’ll be able to ‘recreate the world’ according to our imaginations and enter environments as amazing as that of ‘The Matrix,’ but, hopefully, a world more open to creative human expression and experience.”

Computer are “evolving about 10 million times faster” than primordial creatures, “so they should overtake us within 50 years,” says roboticist Hans Moravec.

“At that point, anything biological humans can do, our artificial progeny will be able to do much better, faster and more economically. It will be time for old-style humans to wish these youngsters well in their astonishing future in the universe and retire.”