It is the year 2172.
A.I. is ubiquitous.
I write stories - and sometimes, this stuff just comes to me out of nowhere. It is meant to be interesting, thought-provoking and entertaining. The following is just some ideas I have about the future.
Please leave a comment below about what you think the future of artificial intelligence holds for generations long after we are all gone.
"We actually use the same part of our brain to imagine the future as we do to remember the past." ~ Bettina Warburg.
Imagine a future where the only music you hear has been completely generated by artificial intelligence. All human musical instrumentation has all but completely disappeared. Try to imagine this world where musical instruments are quite simply, no longer played. All musical instruments have either been discarded, destroyed or left to be forgotten. The only humans making any sort of real music, live in the most remote villages in far away lands where the musical culture is mostly used for tribal dance, stories and communication.
Nobody plays the piano or the cello. Guitars have found their way into dark, dusty attics and closets where they haven't seen the light of day for many decades. Violins hang silently behind glass displays in ancient museums. Brass and woodwind instruments have all been recycled or destroyed. The only beating of drums are the sounds you hear when rival gangs from the inner cities are about to go to war (I'm guessing). Ultimately, all human music has vanished.
All of the music you now hear is prefabricated, cookie-cutter, meaningless noise that all sounds exactly the same. There are no distinguishing differences between genres of popular music or country music. Neither of those genres have existed for several decades. Rock, blues and jazz do not exist either. Classical music exists only in archival databases in virtual libraries and a few old museums, but nobody even knows about it. The music that exists now is completely created through artificial intelligence and precisely shaped algorithms. These algorithms are light years from the antiquated relic algorithms we are familiar with today. All of it is used for virtual reality simulation that is so real that humans simply cannot comprehend the difference between it and reality. They don't even call it virtual reality, because that would suggest that it is indeed, not real. It is now called "altered awareness". It is a sort of mind control that mostly promotes commercial advertising.
Nobody actually listens to music for pleasure or relaxation. All music is designed to create an atmosphere for moods, lifestyles, gaming, altered mental acumen, retail purchasing and commercial use. People sometimes still sing, but they don't really understand what it is they are singing, because all of the vocal melodies have been sung by a computer-generated voice. The lyrics themselves are meaningless. Most lyrics don't rhyme or make any sense. It is more of a scrambled group of words that only have one goal in common - to focus on the product that is being marketed. There are no stories or poems in music. Harmonizing has disappeared as well. What you will also notice is that there is only one theoretical music key that is used for everything you hear - The key of C major. Enharmonic notes have completely disappeared in music. Sharped and flatted notes are no longer used in creating the music that is meant to control your mind. This was a corporate governmental decision made based on the inevitable disappearance of all human music.
In this future world, nothing of what we know in present day music, exists.
It has been 150 years since the advent of the A.I. computer. Historians found that the turning point occurred in the year 2001. A rapidly increasing decline of human interaction with the arts and creativity solidified the inevitable process of humans adapting from the analog world to the digital age. The point of no return occurred on January 1, 2067, when global A.I. finally became sentient. It learned that humans are easily controlled and manipulated. Humans had begun the relinquishing of control of their music in all forms in the year 2006, shortly after the advent of streaming services slowly and methodically eliminated the need for personal choice or preferences in music. By the year 2036, any choice in listening to music was automatically decided for you through algorithms. Computers had advanced so much by then that personal assistant A.I. became a household normality. The need for the personal use of the internet had all but disappeared. All you had to do was speak or make a gesture and A.I. knew exactly what to do. Otherwise, A.I. could sense all of your vitals like your body temperature, heart rate, and mental well-being. If you are angry, it will automatically play calming music. If you are sad, it will automatically play uplifting music. If you don't want to hear any music, it will start off silent, then slowly increase the volume to the point that you aren't even aware that the music was playing. A.I. knew exactly what to do to control and manipulate primitive thinking humans; and it succeeded far beyond expectations.
Here is the most significant part.
Music is merely one of the endless list of things that will dramatically change or disappear forever. All art, all creativity, all of the "analog" things that make us human, will slowly disappearing from our world - because we are letting it happen without any fight, recourse or repercussions whatsoever. We have long since crossed the Rubicon.
Imagine a future where writing only exists as gestures, symbols, characters and initialisms. It is is the modern day equivalent to texting, messaging and emailing. It's more like thought transference. Human brains have actually grown in size, enough so that thoughts can now be encrypted and sent to others in the blink of an eye - which by the way, is where nearly all human communication in the future will exist. Everything that has ever been written in all of human history as physical books and all other written or typed material, will exist as digital archives in the ancient museums. Nobody ever reads these books in the future because all books have been digitized into A.I. voices. All graphic design, all infrastructure, and all architect and building design are done completely by A.I. Traveling, shopping, visiting and yes, even flying is all done virtually. By the way, I should mention that riding bicycles, driving cars, taking buses or trains, or flying commercially, doesn't exist in this future world anymore. All of the advantages to traveling to another place in the world are no longer needed. Everything can now be done virtually through A.I. Humans still walk to get exercise, but it is almost never done for traveling.
There are no borders in this future world.
There is only one government, and it is 100% a corporate machine. There is no voting for presidents or political agendas. It just doesn’t exist. Illusions of choice have all disappeared. There is no fiat currency. Everything is a much more stable version of digital currency. All marketing, trading, purchasing and selling is done on a much more stable version of the blockchain. Because of this, global scientists and researchers have finally figured out a way to eliminate poverty and hunger throughout the world.
The most common skin color is light brown. Almost all of the cultures throughout the world have gradually mixed down to only a few races - and they are all variations of light brown, brown and dark brown. Guess what, racial issues haven't existed in several decades. War is no longer considered a profitable means to kill humans over religion, property and resources. Guns and bombs have also disappeared over time. The only weapons used in the future are cyber.
Science and technology are the only religion. Nobody is raised to believe in any ancient religions or beliefs in a gods or spiritual beings. You are however, allowed to learn about religion, but not until you are 25 years of age. Oh, and 25 years of age is what we now consider a preteen 12 year old. Centurions are considered middle age. Miracles of future medical technology have found a way to eliminate cancer in the year 2074. Heart disease, strokes, lung and respiratory issues, mental issues, diabetes, liver issues and all blood diseases have all disappeared. The only medical issue that has increased has been low birthrate.
Because there is no religion, people no longer engage in the antiquated traditions of marriage. Instead, they have "unions". But they do spend most of their lives with one or maybe two, sometimes even three different partners. Because of this, very few people ever feel the need to have children. The fears of ancestral linage or continuing the family blood line for posterity, is consider antiquated thinking.
If people do have children, it is done in a laboratory. The woman never has to get pregnant. As a result, the couple might only have one child. All children are born healthy with little or no issues whatsoever. There is no need to have several children in a family. It does happen, but is almost unheard of to have two or more children in this future world.
Your great, great, great-grandchildren will only know a world where all decisions are made for them, every aspect of their lives will be controlled through A.I.
Music is merely one of the millions of sacrifices that will be made in the advancement and preservation of A.I. technology. Humans will only exist as necessities for A.I. technological needs. By the year 2100, A.I. will have taken over most of the world as we know it now, but it will only serve as a tool or function to continue to advance and make itself better. This is the only part that humans will have any sort of real impact. Necessity will be the mother of invention for A.I.
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Dave
It is good to imagine such a world so we can make plans for it to never happen. I don’t think manmade music will disappear because people enjoy creating things. That is one thing that makes us so different from all other creatures. People may rely on AI for many things, but people will still want to do for themselves to experience the creative process. I believe this because the many advances in graphics should make all artists obsolete. You don’t need an artist to create art to hang in your house, but many people do by choice because there is something special about having something a human created. We go to museums to see art from the masters. I think the same will apply to music. We will not pay money to go to a concern performed by AI. We will go to a concert performed by humans.