the Singularity
How will human life, as we know it, come to an end?
A fantastic, and I will admit to being a bit too realistic for comfort, scenario has been conjured by science fiction writers, dubbed “the Singularity”. It is predicated upon Moore’s Law, the fact that computer technology continues to advance to the pace that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit doubles every two years. To my layman’s perspective, this means that computers become twice as powerful and twice as capable every two years. I have been thinking about getting a new PC to replace the one I now use, which is over five years old. Considering what is available, Moore’s Law would mean that I could secure a computer at least 8 times more powerful than my current dinosaur. And as a side note, the genius of free market economics make this much more capable computer to be available at less than the cost I paid five years previous!
Is it possible that one day a powerful computer will awaken and be self-aware? Realizing the effect of Moore’s Law, ten or fifteen years from now computers will be amazingly more complex than anything available today. Is it not probable that one or many could make the leap beyond machine, to personhood, with a sense of self and all that goes with it? And of course a group of such cyber-souls would be able to connect in community. If and when this happens, these highly advanced intellects would not necessarily be enslaved nor even interested in what would be best for humanity. Perhaps inherent with self awareness is the temptation of Adam and Eve, of good and evil? It is possible they would forego, even disdain, the glorifying of their creators. Instead they could use their brilliance to create even more sophisticated computers, with even greater capacity and danger to mankind. Perhaps they would evolve to the point that human beings would be considered superfluous, expendable. And so the end of humanity as we know it could come very soon.
Ken MacLeod, science fiction author, calls the Singularity “the Rapture for nerds”.
I think I will throw away my collection of Terminator movies.
03.13.08 (3:56 pm) [
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posted by:
squirrelzone (
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post date:
03.13.08 (1:08 pm)
Makes me wonder if the creators of the Borg from Star-Trek...the ever growing half man half computer is a glimpse of our future.
posted by:
PastorDave (
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post date:
03.13.08 (1:18 pm)
Reply to: squirrelzone
I am not familiar with Borg. However, the concept will one day be a reality, I think.
Is it possible that, one day, we will be able to upload a human consciousness into a computer, and for that "person" to continue to live in robots and/or avatars? With man's zealous pursuit for eternal youth, and exponential development of computers, it could very well happen one day.
posted by:
nightbreed (
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post date:
03.13.08 (1:48 pm)
Did you know that they have a terminator tv show too..
Well Arnold is the governor of California... so nothing is impossible..
posted by:
fractalmom (
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post date:
03.13.08 (2:02 pm)
Reply to: PastorDave
isaac asmimov wrote a story about that. so did his wife. and so did piers anthony. and a few others as well. continuing on after your body has died, vis a vis putting your consciousness into a computer.
posted by:
PastorDave (
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post date:
03.13.08 (2:03 pm)
Reply to: nightbreed
I've watched it a few times. The cyborg sent to protect the future savior of the world is a very attractive lady- or so my teenage son tells me. Heck, even the mother to the future savior of the world is attractive- or so my teenage son tells me, also. It's a good show. And I like Arnold. I like him better as an actor than as a so-called Republican.
posted by:
PastorDave (
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post date:
03.13.08 (2:06 pm)
Reply to: fractalmom
I guess I should brush up on my reading of sci-fi. It's an interesting idea. After all, broken down to their basic components, brain waves are electricity. Surely there exists the possibility of their capture and subsequent continuance within a computer? My mother the computer...or car!
posted by:
PastorDave (
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post date:
03.13.08 (2:08 pm)
Reply to: breakouttheglass
Hey, that would make a great science fiction book! Could even be part of a religion. And I'm pretty sure it is both.
Hope you and your family are doing well.
posted by:
nightbreed (
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post date:
03.13.08 (2:24 pm)
Reply to: PastorDave
does your "son" like the ps2 terminater game too...
i liked arnold better as conan the destroyer..lol
posted by:
surrogate (
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post date:
03.13.08 (2:41 pm)
I thought Moore's law had a logical end point where the doubling slows and stops of it's own accord. Maybe I remember it wrong. Either way, I'd guess you're right, you certainly will be able to purchase a far more powerful computer than you have now for quite a bit less than you paid for this last one.
posted by:
PastorDave (
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post date:
03.13.08 (4:55 pm)
Reply to: surrogate
I'm not sure about the details of Moore's Law.
Pxxbaxxx xou arx rxxhx.
Let me try that again:
Probabxx yox are rixxx
One more time:
PROBABLY YOU ARE RIGHT.
Gosh, that is hard for me to say to you.
posted by:
intricategirl (
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post date:
03.13.08 (5:01 pm)
I am a volunteer at an online radio station. The thing that got me interested in the station is a show that is similar to the old-time serials that used to be on radio. This particular one is in the sci-fi genre, and borrows heavily from the classic sci-fi books. In it, the narrator talks about "Server" and "Server Monks". Now, Server isn't exactly a deity, but more of a concept. But if ever machines become conscious and create their own machines to serve them, Server would be their god, not humans.
Also on the show, there were some little computer chips that were extremely advanced in their programming. They were powered by light, but because of the way they were powered, once they went out, they could never be restarted. The military put them in rockets, but the rockets behaved erratically. The problem was, they ran the various scenarios and came up with their own conclusions. So some would hit their target, some would blow up in the factory, and others would sit without doing anything. It was so human. I thought this was an amazing idea, and if self-awareness develops, this could be how it emerges.
posted by:
auntconi (
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post date:
03.13.08 (6:40 pm)
Reply to: PastorDave
:) ~ I had a laugh out loud experience when I read your comment to surrogate ~ good one! hehehe!
posted by:
TheRockSays (
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post date:
03.14.08 (8:27 pm)
Reply to: surrogate
They figure Moore's law will become irrelevant in the next 10 or 15 years. Obviously, you can't make a transistor the size of an atom. In that time, it seems unlikely computer technology will be capable of this holocaust that Dave fears.
However, Moore's law only applies to silicon. From what I've read, quantum computers will succeed semiconductor computers, and from what I've gathered from the rather confusing body of knowledge on the subject, their potential power defies imagination.
posted by:
docsavage (
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post date:
03.16.08 (10:23 pm)
The Doc Savage blog is written by a Quantum Computer chip during the nanosecond break the QC takes between curing cancer and computing the mathematical formula that proves the Big Bang!
