Falling Walls, WWW, Modern AI, and the Future of the Universe

Around 1990, the Berlin Wall came down, the WWW was born at CERN, mobile phones became popular, self-driving cars appeared in traffic, and modern AI based on very deep artificial neural networks emerged, including the principles behind the G, P, and T in ChatGPT. I place these events in the history of the universe since the Big Bang, and discuss what's next: not just AI behind the screen in the virtual world, but real AI for real robots in the real world, connected through a WWW of machines. Intelligent (but not necessarily super-intelligent) robots that can learn to operate the tools and machines operated by humans can also build (and repair when needed) more of their own kind. This will culminate in life-like, self-replicating and self-improving machine civilisations, which represent the ultimate form of upscaling, and will shape the long-term future of the entire cosmos. The wonderful short-term side effect is that our AI will continue to make people's lives longer, healthier and easier.