2057:06:01 08:12:48 Ante Meridian, Moon Time.
Location: Clavius Technology Institute.
18 days to singularity.
There's not much time left now.
The more technical guys in Dome 3 have got the exact date worked out to the last second. We trust their predictions, because no-one else has a clue what's about to happen. They've analysed global markets, the rate of change of technology, even the intelligence of AIs. They compiled it all into the main quantum processors of CTI, and they spat out the result.
June 19, 2057.
The Singularity, as they are calling it, is apparently the point at which machine intelligence exceeds human intelligence, resulting in a explosion of technological progress the likes of which have never been seen before. The techs are expecting space travel to be rapidly accelerated with post-human technology. Assuming, of course, that nothing goes wrong.
Some of the more pessimistic members of the staff reckon that a war will break out on Earth over this, between the countries that accept the Singularity and the countries that reject it. Their suggestions may be accurate; after all, nuclear stockpiles from the old Cold War still exist in bunkers. And who could forget the dramatic first detonation of the antimatter bomb in the Mongolian desert?
Meybe they're right. Maybe they're wrong. There are 30 million people on the Moon right now, and each one has their own opinion. The pessimists see themselves as critiquers of human nature, of the natural tendency to reject change. The technical staff see themselves doctors, perhaps, monitoring the birth of a new world from a light-second away. Some say they're playing God.
About time.