Gigaom AI Minute – October 1

Transcript

"I wish it were possible... to invent a method of embalming drowned persons, in such a manner that they might be recalled to life at any period, however distant; for having a very ardent desire to see and observe the state of America a hundred years hence, I should prefer to an ordinary death, being immersed with a few friends in a cask of Madeira, until that time, then to be recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country! But... in all probability, we live in a century too little advanced, and too near the infancy of science, to see such an art brought in our time to its perfection." - Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Jacques Dubourg, April 1773

Isn't that a great quote? It is almost too good to be true, but old C-note really did say that. What would he say if we stumbled across that cask of Madeira, pried that lid off, and awakened him? The father of American science would marvel over his country's history, but I suspect he would have been far more interested in the progress of the sciences and be fascinated by artificial intelligence.