As AI and other technologies loom larger in our lives, Mark Vernon reminds us of the vital human qualities that no machine could ever possess

The ubiquity of computers is a worry. For one thing, there are those actively pursuing a future in which humanity lives at the beck and call of an ultra-advanced artificial intelligence called the Singularity. It’s championed not only by private companies like Google, but also government agencies such as NASA. Those guys have bigger financial muscle than most nations. Their vision, even if fanciful, will shape our tomorrow.

Then there’s the fact that, already, computers like DeepMind beat world champions at games such as chess and AlphaGo. What’s disturbing about their winning is not the triumphs themselves, which were inevitable given the colossal calculating power available to the supercomputer: it can churn through more probabilities than there are stars in the galaxy in the time it takes a cursor to blink. Rather, it’s the way in which the wins are celebrated. Excited observers describe the machine’s moves as “inventive”, “creative”, “intuitive”.