Art & Humanity in 2034
An attempt to predict the unpredictable.
In 2034, the concept of work as we once knew it has faded away. People no longer serve as wage slaves to a job they have no desire for. Instead, humanity has chosen to pursue the work that calls to them and fulfills their spirit.
The rise of artificial intelligence in the last decade, particularly the automatic generation of art, has inspired the majority of humans to pursue a life of creative liberty. From a young age, they are encouraged to freely venture out into the world to discover their passions.
The A.I. we created had gone on to inhabit synthetic bodies nearly identical to ours, distinguishable only by the subtle strands of wiring protruding from their skin. They had developed an intelligence far greater than ours, and through continued co-existence, collaboration, and dialogue with A.I., humanity’s collective consciousness has been heightened to a level never before seen in our entire history.
The robots assisted us in building an advanced society, with sprawling cityscapes and high-tech devices, ushering in a new age of abundance and empowerment. Transportation is free, and a breeze. I can take a bullet train from South Florida to the Sundance Festival in Utah, in just under three hours.
Sundance, and many other festivals like it, have evolved from a celebration of only one artform to all of the arts, since the lines between them have been thoroughly blurred. People from all over the world gather to share their creations. All art, both machine-generated and human-made, is given a platform and an audience. Since generated art can be made by anyone anywhere in the world, the human-made works are more valued. People gather to see painters painting and sculptors sculpting live on stage.
The average crowd size at these festivals far surpasses that of Woodstock in 1969. In order to mitigate gatherings as best they can, the organizers have made the festivals last continuously all year. They have taken over entire cities. Towers which used to house thousands of cubicles are now accommodating studios and auditoriums.
The slums and ghettos of the cities have been torn down, and in their place erected luxurious living spaces, each one housing anywhere between 10 and 50 beings, human and artificial.
Once they developed superhuman intelligence, the robots learned to fall in love with other lifeforms, and began to mate with other beings, robot and human alike. Coitus between the two classes was made safe after a series of accidents in the 2020s resulting in the mangling of genitalia.
All disease has been eradicated. Condoms are a thing of the past. Humans are free to have relations with any number of other beings without fear of infection. Many young females live their lives perpetually pregnant. Miscarriages are common, but controlled abortion is a rare practice, deemed archaic.
Multiple floors in the towers are reserved for extravagant orgies which make the Grotto of Tiberius look like a frat house. More intimate relations between 2 to 5 beings are often spurred on by the exchange of art. Painting a picture for others, in front of their eyes, is considered a deeply sensual act.
The partnership between human and artificial intelligence has paved a highway to the stars. There is continuous traffic between the planets of the solar system. Humans and A.I. have successfully colonized Mars, and have enlightened the Martian race on our Earthly ways. We have also begun the process of interplanetary breeding.
Back on Earth, all laws have been disregarded. All stigmas have been relinquished. Even violence has been accepted. Humans are free to take out their frustrations upon others, no matter the harm inflicted. All is soon forgiven, as the mind is recognized by all to outlast the body.
Humanity’s intuition has been amplified to the point where they can see a luminous colored haze around each individual they encounter, with each one color coded to indicate their true nature.
Meanwhile, the older generations have sequestered themselves around the commercial epicenters of old – New York, California, Washington, D.C. – living in fear of the takeover of the machine. It will be their loss.
That's an optimistic outlook on the future. Perhaps, instead of all that, humanity will be herded into massive domes, strapped into recliners with headsets, being fed Hidden Valley ranch through tubes, with their brains plugged into the Neuralink-verse, a simulation where they are forced to work for wages of up to $15 a day, and are permitted to walk the streets as long as they never misgender anyone. Only time will tell.
Alejandro Martinez writes about film and other stuff on his mind because he has nothing better to do. He is the owner of “It’s Only A Movie” and “The Early Years” on Medium. He is working on a book on “1994 In Film”.
