Singularity

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2048138-1,00.html

Please read over this article if you have the time and just share your thoughts. Rather than try and summarize what the article is trying to say, I think it would be better if everyone skimmed it quickly before posting a comment so everyone has a thorough understanding of the issue.

This idea of a Singularity is something that has captivated me since I read this article a few weeks ago, and even more so after I finished reading a novel tonight, The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton.

A few broad questions to start discussion. Do you think that this point of Singularity is a realistic idea? Why or why not? If so, do you think the changes to humankind will be as drastic as those mentioned as possibilities in the article? What do you personally believe is the future relationship between man and technology?

I find this extremely difficult to evaluate.

I don't know that humans have ever truly been able to predict the future of technology accurately. I do believe, however, that the idea is quantifiable in terms of capability. My only question is, does technology have the capacity to reason? It seems to me that everything at this point, though it may seem decisive, is all executable. Everything is narrowed down to algorithms that process and send information in a very specific way. We have already created robots that can assemble vehicles, but this is all so systematic.

Having the capacity to surpass human intelligence requires a means for reasoning, and I think as long as technology remains reliant on the specificity of process for its behavior that it is incapable of that.

I also find that a timeline for AI to develop enough within 35 years is fairly arbitrary. Once again, our projections for advancement have rarely been correct.

Idk, just my two cents. I could keep rambling.

But I'm not ready to be controlled by the hive mind...



This technology is still pretty far away, I think. Much further than 35 years, assuredly. Let's just wait on things like the self-driving car first, then we can do some cybernetic modifications to ourselves.

There are still technological investments we're focusing on now that are going to be bigger in the future. I'm thinking Watson-style computing systems with Star Trek like control, and a bunch of other nifty things, of course.

But really, all I want is a robotic companion, preferably one that follows Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics.

But my first choice is without-a-doubt, Lt. Commander Data

whether talking specifically about AI or not. I think what the article is really trying to get across is the idea that once computing power reaches the point that it has surpassed the human brain, strictly in terms of computing power, humanity will be fundamentally changed. I also think that it's hard to disagree with that point.

When computing powers reach the point of being super-intelligent (how crazy is it that we are looking, realistically, at a future of super-intelligent computers?) humanity will have found some way to use these machines. It's just that you broaden the range of vision on the matter and add in the ideas of increasingly advanced prosthetic implants and increasingly smaller/faster computers. It's almost like the perfect storm for a fundamental change in humanity.

I just see the world we like in now as going through so many changes that it feels like the world, in general, is just working through some major transition. Toward what ends, who can say? I just believe that Singularity will be a factor, possibly more of one than the general public is even aware of as they become more attached to their smart phones, laptops/tablets, cars, homes, all synced to a global network, a kind of global processor with multiple outputs, all supplements to human ability.

Yes, I can understand that standpoint as more comprehensive than AI itself. I think it's probably more appropriate to label Singularity as a superb-technology process that has the potential to, as you said, supplement our lack of accessible capacity.