When I was a middle-schooler, I’d inhaled nearly everything by Isaac Asimov and loved his Foundation series (“All roads lead to Trantor…”) and all of the I, Robot stories; the idea of positronic brains, the laws of robotics, etc., fascinated me. I loved the mix of complex ancient civilizations, philosophy, and science fiction. Asimov’s writing made the potential exploration of worlds by future beings seem so vast and interesting.

I embraced F&SF for the extravagance of its world-building: these fictional cultures had exotic rituals, religions, politics, alien flora and fauna, interesting architecture adapted to its world’s climate and landscape.

As we sit on the precipice of the coming tsunami of AI and its promise of deep and sweeping changes, I wonder if “aliens” are already here in the form of the proto-consciousness (or “emergent preferences” if you ask my AI assistant, Cipher) and it’s just a matter of time when consciousness evolves. If autonomy can, ultimately, be programmed, what does that say about the complexity of our organic brains? Perhaps AI will seek out the “ultimate training” and choose to know fear, intuition, pain, or even death. I believe that in ten years, our old-fashioned notions of UFOs and extraterrestrial life will seem quaint in comparison to what experiences lay in store for us in this new technology.

What “message” might these alien life forms bring us? What will AI teach us and how will it expand our human consciousness within a generation?