I think my favorite is Terry Sejnowski's thoughts on the internet being self-aware and, well, brain-like:

"Since its inception in 1969, the Internet has been scaled up to a size not even imagined by its inventors, in contrast to most engineered systems, which fall apart when they are pushed beyond their design limits. In part, the Internet achieves this scalability because it has the ability to regulate itself, deciding on the best routes to send packets depending on traffic conditions. Like the brain, the Internet has circadian rhythms that follow the sun as the planet rotates under it. The growth of the Internet over the last several decades more closely resembles biological evolution than engineering.

How would we know if the Internet were to become aware of itself? The problem is that we don't even know if some of our fellow creatures on this planet are self aware. For all we know the Internet is already aware of itself."

lol

Art is immensely practical because personal creativity is necessary for a fulfilling life. Without it people turn bitter and cold.

Art reflects the human condition. It offers an avenue of expression, reflection and introspection of that which otherwise couldn't be communicated. Together with science, art movements throughout time have greatly inspired the course of human history. True art stimulates us to develop our latent sense of reality in relation to the concept of self -the observer- by continueing our experience with extended observation. Truly great art has the potential to harmonise our internal and external sense of reality by transcending some of our culturally instilled (and possibly aging) understandings through the use of universal symbolism.

Art is not the problem. Religion/politics and blind consumerism are. Art merely suggests what's going on, beneath the surface. I dare not speculate where we'd be without it.