Johnny Depp will be the first pioneer in what some scientists (or at least scientists in books, movies, and video games) call the Singularity. Johnny Depp, known here as Dr. Will Caster, is a scientist, but he is a rebel scientist, and likely also a quirky scientist. He calls it Transcendence, which is in fact the title of the movie in which he appears. His actions will be monitored by Wally Pfister and Christopher Nolan, his personage orbited by Morgan Freeman and other Nolan veterans. But all these blips of motion, of human agency, are only fleeting. Soon, an artificial intelligence will overcome the limits of biology. Its analytical quirkiness will be greater than the collective quirk of every person born in the history of the world. And from the precipice of quirk, displayed in ones and zeroes, there may be no return.
Johnny Depp waxes philosophical about the Singularity in ‘Transcendence’ teaser
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
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