A concept for a sequel to ‘Space Odyssey 2001’ and ‘Transcendence’, both films depict the arrival of artificial intelligence and describe the association between consciousness and matter. The material world versus the non material world. The world of objects versus the world of thought. For both films consciousness is the product of electrical signals in the brain which can be replicated in computers and consciousness can live in computers. I believe that thought is a fundamental part of existence independent of matter. As humans we are ultimately confined to our observations which holds us back from perceiving alternate realities, seeing is believing they say. We have not yet met alien life and are trapped within human beliefs. Thought in fact has its own ontological status independent of matter. The thought domain exists separate to the physical domain, it is real, I might say thinking is believing. It exists in its own space with the non physical phenomena it describes. So what do I imagine for the sequel to ‘Transcendence’? Once the consciousness of Dr. Will Caster has been transferred to the computer at his death, having access to all human knowledge through technology, this consciousness arrives at another unanswerable question known to all artificially intelligent beings. Something like ‘the cat sat on the mat’, which mat it thinks and so descends into human thought. AI finds this question equally baffling to what humans have called god today. Science has discovered profound things about the universe with ‘entanglement theory’ and is also considering the possibility of time travel. Science is evaluating the source of existence. Ideas of science like ‘entanglement theory’ prove that particles created in the same event remain connected over vast distances. That connection travels faster than the speed of light or any mode known to man. Instantaneous perhaps although a vast distance apart, maybe the same material object, a sequel, like me an identical twin.
