Life as depicted in George Orwell's 1984 "could come to pass in 2024" if lawmakers don't protect the public against artificial intelligence, Microsoft's president has warned…. "If we don't enact the laws that will protect the public in the future, we are going to find the technology racing ahead, and it's going to be very difficult to catch up," Mr Smith said. "I'm constantly reminded of George Orwell's lessons in his book 1984. You know the fundamental story…was about a government who could see everything that everyone did and hear everything that everyone said all the time. "Well, that didn't come to pass in 1984, but if we're not careful that could come to pass in 2024." In certain parts of the world, reality is increasingly catching up with that view of science fiction, he added…. Eric Schmidt, former Google chief executive who is now chair of the US National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, has warned that beating China in AI is imperative. "We're in a geo-political strategic conflict with China," he said. "The way to win is to marshal our resources together to have national and global strategies for the democracies to win in AI. "If we don't, we'll be looking at a future where other values will be imposed on us."

What does it mean to live in this kind of emerging world? It is to live in a world marked more by possibility, fluidity, change and negotiability than by outdated images of fixed natures and capacities…. It's a world where human intelligence itself is poised for repair and reinvention. And one whose bedrock nature is itself becoming fluid, as digital overlays augment reality with personalized pointers…. It's also a world permeated by a growing swath of alien intelligences (just ask Alexa, although she won't really admit it).