Robots could be binge-watching Netflix in the next few decades

pulse

February 28, 2017 2:53 PM

As soon as 20 years from now, Netflix could be making shows for robots to binge-watch instead of humans, according to CEO Reed Hastings.

In a few decades, Netflix could be making shows for robots to binge-watch instead of humans, according to CEO Reed Hastings.

“Over twenty to fifty years, you get into some serious debate over humans,” Hastings said during a talk at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. “I don’t know if you can really talk about entertaining at that point. I’m not sure if in twenty to fifty years we are going to be entertaining you, or entertaining A.I.s.”

This isn't the first time Hastings has talked about the future of A.I. and humans, and his vision of it would make an epic Netflix show.

Hastings believes that in just 5 to 15 years, we won’t be able to tell if we are talking to a human or a robot, he said last year. And that's when the story gets really intriguing.

“Future of intelligence is a race brewing between carbon-based lifeforms and silicon-based lifeforms,” Hastings said last year. “Both are rapidly evolving. It’s unclear which type of intelligence will emerge dominant in 100, 150 years.” Hastings believes that as the power of AI increases, we'll also start to change our genetic code to make humanity smarter, faster, stronger, and so on. The race will be on.

If Hastings was pitching the next Netflix series, it definitely has potential. Imagine a world where robots and humans are fighting for dominance, each editing the very building blocks of their beings to outcompete the other. There could be star-crossed romance, ethical dilemmas, a struggle to find true happiness even as we build ourselves into super-beings.

The question will be who is watching the show: A.I., humans, or both.

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