by Annalee Newitz
What Is The Singularity And Will You Live To See It
“If you read any science fiction or futurism, you’ve probably heard people using the term “singularity” to describe the world of tomorrow. But what exactly does it mean, and where does the idea come from? We answer in today’s backgrounder.
What is the singularity?
The term singularity describes the moment when a civilization changes so much that its rules and technologies are incomprehensible to previous generations. Think of it as a point-of-no-return in history.
Most thinkers believe the singularity will be jump-started by extremely rapid technological and scientific changes. These changes will be so fast, and so profound, that every aspect of our society will be transformed, from our bodies and families to our governments and economies.
A good way to understand the singularity is to imagine explaining the internet to somebody living in the year 1200. Your frames of reference would be so different that it would be almost impossible to convey how the internet works, let alone what it means to our society. You are on the other side of what seems like a singularity to our person from the Middle Ages. But from the perspective of a future singularity, we are the medieval ones. Advances in science and technology mean that singularities might happen over periods much shorter than 800 years. And nobody knows for sure what the hell they’ll bring.
Talking about the singularity is a paradox, because it is an attempt to imagine something that is by definition unimaginable to people in the present day. But that hasn’t stopped hundreds of science fiction writers and futurists from doing it.”
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- The Singularity won’t be heaven: Annalee Newitz (boingboing.net)
- The Singularity Thang (blogcritics.org)
- Justin Rattner on the Singularity (singularityblog.singularitysymposium.com)
- The Singularity’s Branding Problem (bigthink.com)
- The Singularity Summit 2010 (laughingsquid.com)
- Singularity Weblog Gets A New Thesis Custom Design (singularityblog.singularitysymposium.com)
- The World Technology Network (WTN) in association with TIME magazine presents the New York Premiere of Ray Kurzweil’s documentary film “The Singularity is Near” June 24 (eon.businesswire.com)