As AlphaGo demonstrates that artificial intelligence (AI) can beat human intelligence in complex situations, what does this mean for the future? Will robots be our willing servants so we can relax and take it easy while they do all the work, or will they rise up and fight against us? What about space travel, genetic modification, clean energy? What would society look like if the future could be predicted? Or if death could be reversed? Or if our own intelligence could be modified or augmented?
Science fiction stories in books and movies explore these kind of questions, and by exploring different types of society, they show us truths about own society. What insights about the world we live in can we gain by looking at alternative worlds?