Abstract
Already, human society has much of its information processed and stored by machines. In the future, a new type of computational paradigm called “cognitive computing” will establish a system aware of everything and capable of reasoning about everything, in a world that will be urban, totally interconnected by electro-electronic devices and software, and where people will compete for work with intelligent machines in a service economy in which information is a high-value asset. Not suffering the physical and psychological limitations of humans, cognitive systems will evolve at unprecedented speeds and will have the ability to intervene in people’s lives in ways unimagined today. This will cause both positive and negative changes in human society and push people toward a world managed by machines where humans will be better able of enjoy leisure but, at the same time, may lose an important level of control.
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