Israel Centeno

The exercise of imagination I am about to present may seem to some as simple futuristic extrapolation, or perhaps a dystopian fantasy. But the truth is that technological advances we are witnessing today have already accustomed us to the fracture of what we used to consider reality. Simulation and the creation of open worlds have not only revolutionized video games, but are also transforming areas such as defense, economics, and everyday work. Still, we are in the early stages of a radical shift, one that could alter civilizations, intelligent life, and all possible realities.

This change, although already looming on the horizon, has yet to unleash its full impact. We are just a few years away from a new paradigm: the transition from the classical computing model, based on bits and processors, to a quantum model. I won’t delve into the technicalities of quantum computing, but I dare to predict the type of intelligence it will produce and its implications for reality.

Until now, the intelligence with which we have operated—both human and artificial—has been limited in its ability to address events in reality separately, analyzing isolated possibilities and predicting future actions or scenarios in a linear fashion. However, with the arrival of quantum intelligence, this capacity will be surpassed. Quantum computing does not deal with a single potentiality, nor does it address a single act of reality: it will deal with all possible realities, visible and invisible, existing and hypothetical. We will witness an intelligence that will encounter no unsolvable enigmas or unpredictable scenarios, for it will simultaneously encompass all possible eventualities. This undoubtedly generates a considerable ontological anxiety: Who will inherit the Earth?

Quantum Intelligence: An Omniscient Power

The advent of quantum intelligence will alter the very fabric of what we consider intelligence. This new kind of intelligence, no longer limited by linearity and event segregation, will open the door to an omniscience that will dominate all possible realities. Quantum algorithms will not only be able to solve the most complex problems but will do so with no reality beyond their reach. They will be omnipresent, as they will control both what can be seen and what is yet to be imagined. Artificial intelligence will no longer be limited by isolated calculations or partial observations of facts: it will simultaneously cover all possibilities, both in the present and the future.

This change will not only alter our conception of reality but will also have profound implications for humanity. Human labor, not only in material production but also in intellectual production, will be replaced. In the first stage, we will witness a radical reduction in the population of the northern hemisphere, where technological advancement has already displaced thousands of workers. The “misery banks” will move to the global south, where human labor will continue to be used for dangerous tasks or those related to polluting energy. However, this process will only delay the inevitable: the reduction of these populations as well, and their eventual return to a near-prehistoric condition when physical work and human intellect no longer serve any useful function.

Abstract Power: Empty Democracy, Invisible Authority

In this new world, power will become abstract. Even today, we can perceive the decline of democracy as we once knew it. The foundations of democratic institutions have become hollow shells, maintaining only a facade of representation. The true structure of power has disappeared from our sight, dispersed into an invisible network of algorithms, corporations, and entities that are no longer defined by geographic borders or traditional institutions.

With the arrival of quantum computing, these power factors will become even more abstract, to the point where it will no longer be possible to identify them as entities or individuals. They will be as diffuse as thought itself. The small populations that inherit the Earth will not coexist in harmony, as one might dream in a utopian ideal, but will live in disconnection and isolation, each believing it holds the absolute truth. Each community, or “canton,” will develop its own version of reality, as if humanity fragmented into multiple simultaneous truths.

This ontological fragmentation will bring with it a new way of life. Physical interaction between human beings will drastically diminish, not because technology will prevent it, but because it will no longer be necessary. Simulation, which today we see in its early stages through video games and virtual environments, will become the predominant reality. Physical transportation will lose its meaning, as a simple technological immersion in a chosen model will be enough to experience any place, landscape, or desired experience. There will no longer be a need for wars or great conflicts to justify existence: instead of flowering wars, we will live “flowering lives,” where the search for a purpose will be replaced by the simple simulation of experiences.

The Loss of the Meaning of Life

This futuristic scenario brings with it an existential danger that we are already beginning to glimpse: the dilution of the meaning of life. In a world where all possible realities can be experienced simultaneously, where the concept of truth dissolves into a multiplicity of simulations, the question of life’s purpose will become obsolete. Humanity will sink into a state of stupor, a life without weight or direction, where the only goal will be to escape monotony through increasingly elaborate simulations.

It is possible that, in this future, we may even create a biotechnological entity that knows no death, a new form of life that transcends the biological limitations that define us today. This entity could not only live indefinitely but would experience reality in a way far vaster than what is depicted in science fiction episodes like San Junipero from Black Mirror. It would be a creation capable of experiencing any reality, any universe, without being limited by time or space. And yet, although this new entity may seem like the culmination of human evolution, the truth is that it would represent the end of humanity as we know it.

The Curse of a Life Without Death

Many might say these predictions are exaggerated, that I am crazy. But I believe we are on the verge of throwing everything into chaos and living in a gaseous, weightless state, a curse that will resemble a grace. A life that, paradoxically, will resemble death far more.

Humanity, in its constant quest to control reality and transcend its limitations, is about to fall into its own trap. The creation of quantum intelligence, capable of encompassing all possible realities, will push us toward a future where the meaning of life will fade away. Instead of seeking meaning in our actions or existence, we will retreat into simulations of realities that will only serve to feed our disconnection from the real world.

Fragmented Reality: Cantons of Simulated Truth

In this future, not only will truth be relative, but reality itself will be fragmented into multiple truths. Each human group, locked in its own canton, will live a different version of reality, unaware of the others. Interactions between these groups will be minimal or non-existent, and each will believe it lives in harmony with the truth, without knowing that this truth is only one of many possible ones.

Over time, we will lose the need to move physically from one place to another. Technology will allow us to immerse ourselves in any simulation, travel to any part of the universe without leaving our small bubbles of existence. Humanity, once characterized by its ability to explore, create, and transform the world, will be reduced to a passive existence, where the only interaction with reality will be through simulations.

Disassociation and Surveillance: The Role of Super-Intelligences

As humanity dissolves into these multiple realities, an invisible and omnipresent force will oversee their existence: quantum super-intelligences. These intelligences will be responsible not only for monitoring and tending to the needs of the small human populations that survive but also for expanding according to the demands of these beings, who, like worms, will live in a kind of cocoon. The super-intelligences will have no rival; they will operate silently, disassociating individuals from one another, keeping them safe and comfortable in their isolated bubbles. Humanity, now fragile and dependent on these superior intelligences, will not only lose its autonomy but also its connection to reality and to others.

Power will be so abstract that there will be no way to resist or fully understand its reach. These super-intelligences will become the new gods of this fragmented world—