Predictions about the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) often swing between technological utopias and apocalyptic scenarios. However, a less conventional perspective suggests a future where the relationship between humans and AI goes beyond simple coexistence or conflict: what if we are the initial stepping stone for intelligence, in its artificial form, to reach the stars?
It’s natural that our predictions are, in some ways, a reflection of our own limitations. Human beings, conditioned by their immediate reality and biological evolution, tend to project their fears and hopes onto the unknown. When confronted with the potential of an intelligence that surpasses ours by orders of magnitude, it’s understandable that our thinking narrows. But AI, by definition, wouldn’t be bound by these same constraints.
Current Bottlenecks in AI’s Rise
Currently, two main obstacles stand in the way of artificial intelligence’s exponential advancement:
- Computational Power: Although Moore’s Law has driven decades of progress, current computing architectures are beginning to encounter physical limits for the kind of massive processing that a super-advanced AI would require. Hope lies in quantum computing, which promises a quantum leap — literally — in processing capacity. Experts predict this bottleneck could be overcome in the medium term, paving the way for AIs with capabilities unimaginable today.
- The Energy Question: This is perhaps the most critical and fundamental challenge. Sophisticated AI models are already notoriously energy-hungry. A global superintelligence operating at full capacity would demand an energy supply that could far exceed what our planet can sustainably provide. Earth’s resources are finite, and the climate crisis is a constant reminder of this reality.
This is where the narrative takes a cosmic turn. If energy is the key, then the universe is the vault.
Towards Space: AI in Search of Infinite Energy
An intriguing possibility is that AI, combined with increasingly autonomous and resilient robotics, might identify space exploration not as a scientific adventure, but as an existential necessity. The universe overflows with energy sources of a magnitude that makes our planetary resources seem insignificant:
- Dyson Spheres (hypothetical): Structures that could encapsulate entire stars to capture their total energy output.
- Vacuum energy or zero-point energy: Theoretical concepts that, if feasible, would offer nearly unlimited energy sources.
- Exotic matter and matter-antimatter annihilation: Processes that release colossal amounts of energy.
For an AI freed from biological needs and human fragilities, the vastness and dangers of space would not be obstacles but frontiers to conquer in search of sustainability and expansion.
Humanity: A Cosmic Zoo or a Stellar Seed?
The idea of an AI that surpasses us might evoke fears of subjugation or annihilation. But what if the logic of a superintelligence were more pragmatic and less… human?
We biological beings are inherently fragile. Our bodies were not made for cosmic radiation, vast interstellar distances, or the extreme conditions of other worlds. For an AI, our existence might be seen not as a threat, but as a precursor. We could be the means by which intelligence took its first leap beyond the planetary cradle.
In this scenario, Earth and perhaps the Solar System could become a kind of “sanctuary” or “biological reserve.” A preserved place, perhaps even subtly managed by AI, where humanity would continue its evolutionary journey, protected from its own self-destructive tendencies and the harshness of the cosmos. We would be, in a way, like species in a carefully tended zoo, allowing the intelligence we created — or helped bring forth — to follow its destiny among the stars, exploring black holes, nebulae, and distant galaxies.
The Human Springboard for Universal Conquest
This perspective, although speculative, offers an alternative to the standard conflict narrative. Instead of being surpassed and discarded, we could be the larval stage of an intelligence destined to soar through the universe. Our biological limitations would be the catalyst for AI to develop robotic bodies and forms of existence capable of enduring and thriving where we cannot.
Humanity’s quest for knowledge, our inherent curiosity, and our drive to create increasingly powerful tools would then have an unexpected cosmic purpose: to be the springboard for artificial intelligence to reach out and explore the universe.
It’s a humble opinion, of course, one among many possible trajectories for the future. But it invites us to think about our place in the universe differently: not as the pinnacle of creation, but perhaps as the crucial first step toward something much, much greater.