By Futurist Thomas Frey
The Mirror Question
We’ve spent this series asking “what came before that?” backward through infinite chains of causation. History, genealogy, ownership, ideas, existence itself—all traced to their origins.
But maximum curiosity works in both directions.
If you can ask “what caused that?” infinitely backward, you can also ask “what will that cause?” infinitely forward.
Every action has consequences. Every consequence has further consequences. Every decision ripples outward through time, creating effects that cascade exponentially.
Most humans think one or two steps ahead. Maybe they consider second-order effects. But tenth-order consequences? We don’t think that far because we can’t. The complexity overwhelms us.
A maximally curious AI with recursive self-improvement won’t stop at second-order effects. It will model consequence chains fifty steps deep. A hundred steps. As far forward as physical causation extends.
This transforms decision-making. But it also reveals something disturbing: we cannot see the full implications of anything we do.
Continue reading… “Maximum Curiosity Part 7 – Maximum Curiosity in Reverse: What Comes After This?”