Kreechhttp://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html
Read this. It's very long and there's a part two. It'll probably take you a while to read but it's really really interesting and scary and will change the way you think about artificial intelligence and the future in general.
Kinda skimmed it, but it reminds me of the documentary "Transcendent Man" featuring Ray Kurzweil. If you/anyone hasn't seen it I highly recommend it. Mind blowing. Things are going to get strange, sooner than later, if your familiar with the term the "technological singularity" it seems to be much faster approaching than originally thought.
I'm looking forward to actual virtual reality - worlds of our own creation almost [if not] indistinguishable from reality. Whether its 'uploading your consciousness" to a computer, or some kind of neural to computer interface, (or humans become part machine themselves) it's going to me amazing. Things that would be otherwise be impossible become possible. You wouldnt have to play by the laws of physics. It would be like giving a video game developer having infinite resources and the ability to create anything. You could explore virtual deep space,other worlds, ski big mountains (never ending mountains of powder with no bottom?,) never die, hunt dinosaurs with a tie fighter - anything! This isn't fantasy either, this will happen if we don't blow ourselves up.
Another concept of virtual reality that I find really interesting is the idea of 'going deeper.' Imagine being in that virtual space (basically the Matrix) and than creating a computer that can also go into virtual reality. You would be two virtual worlds removed from reality (kinda like Inception) and theres nothing to say you would have to stop there - it could be fractal, and go on infinitely. This brings up question on the forefront of modern physicists and philosophers about the possibility that we are already living in a simulation (called "simulation theory.") and that we are already removed from reality. In fact, theres a highly accredited genius/physicist who claims he has found mathematical proof of both algorithms and computer code in the fabric of our universe. (I can probably dig up a link for those interested) fascinating stuff. I think with the exponential growth of technology, the human mind/imagination will be the only limiting factor to whats possible...until we get help from AI. Who's ready?
