When plotted on a logarithmic graph, 15 separate lists of paradigm shifts for key events in human history show an exponential trend. Lists prepared by, among others, Carl Sagan, Paul D. Boyer, Encyclopædia Britannica, American Museum of Natural History and University of Arizona, compiled by Ray Kurzweil.

The Technological Singularity is the hypothesized creation, usually via AI or brain-computer interfaces, of smarter-than-human entities that rapidly accelerate technological progress. Futurists have varying opinions regarding the time, consequences, and plausibility of such an event. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1189x924, 162 KB) Courtesy of Ray Kurzweil and Kurzweil Technologies, Inc. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1189x924, 162 KB) Courtesy of Ray Kurzweil and Kurzweil Technologies, Inc. ... A logarithmic scale is a scale of measurement that uses the logarithm of a physical quantity instead of the quantity itself. ... Paradigm shift is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to describe a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. ... History is often used as a generic term for information about the past, such as in geologic history of the Earth. When used as the name of a field of study, history refers to the study and interpretation of the record of human societies. ... In mathematics, exponential growth (or geometric growth) occurs when the growth rate of a function is always proportional to the functions current size. ... Insert non-formatted text here Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer and astrobiologist and a highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics, and other natural sciences. ... Paul Delos Boyer (born July 31, 1918) is an American biochemist. ... The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general encyclopedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The University of Arizona (UA or U of A) is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. ... Dr. Raymond Kurzweil (born February 12, 1948) is a pioneer in the fields of optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic musical keyboards. ... Garry Kasparov playing against Deep Blue, the first machine to win a chess game against a reigning world champion. ... // A brain-computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a direct neural interface or a brain-machine interface, is a direct communication pathway between a human or animal brain (or brain cell culture) and an external device. ... Intelligence is a property of mind that encompasses many related mental abilities, such as the capacities to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn. ... Future studies reflects on how today’s changes (or the lack thereof) become tomorrow’s reality. ...

I. J. Good first explored the idea of an "intelligence explosion", arguing that machines that surpass human intellect should be capable of recursively augmenting their own mental abilities until they vastly exceed those of their creators. Vernor Vinge later popularized the Singularity in the 1980s with lectures, essays, and science fiction. More recently, some AI researchers have voiced concern over its potential dangers. Irving John (Jack) Good (born 9 December 1916) is a British statistician who worked also as a cryptographer and developer of the Colossus computer at Bletchley Park. ... A visual form of recursion known as the Droste effect. ... Vernor Steffen Vinge (IPA: ) (born February 10, 1944) is a mathematician, computer scientist and science fiction author who is best known for his Hugo award-winning novels A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, as well as for his 1993 essay The Technological Singularity, in which... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...

Some futurists, such as Ray Kurzweil, consider the Singularity part of a long-term pattern of accelerating change that generalizes Moore's law to technologies predating the integrated circuit. Critics of this interpretation consider it an example of static analysis. Dr. Raymond Kurzweil (born February 12, 1948) is a pioneer in the fields of optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic musical keyboards. ... When plotted on a logarithmic graph, 15 separate lists of paradigm shifts for key events in human history show an exponential trend. ... Gordon Moores original graph from 1965 Growth of transistor counts for Intel processors (dots) and Moores Law (upper line=18 months; lower line=24 months) For the observation regarding information retrieval, see Mooers Law. ... Integrated circuit showing memory blocks, logic and input/output pads around the periphery Microchips with a transparent window, showing the integrated circuit inside. ... This article is about the statistical technique. ...

The Singularity has also been featured in science fiction works by authors such as Isaac Asimov, William Gibson, and Charles Stross. Isaac Asimov (January 2?, 1920? – April 6, 1992, IPA: , originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as Айзек Азимов) was a Russian-born American author and professor of biochemistry, a highly successful and exceptionally prolific writer best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. ... There are a number of people who have been (or are) named William Gibson. ... Charles David George Charlie Stross (born Leeds, October 18, 1964) is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. ...

Intelligence explosion

In 1965, statistician I. J. Good wrote: 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... A graph of a Normal bell curve showing statistics used in educational assessment and comparing various grading methods. ... Irving John (Jack) Good (born 9 December 1916) is a British statistician who worked also as a cryptographer and developer of the Colossus computer at Bletchley Park. ...

Mathematician and author Vernor Vinge greatly popularized Good’s notion of an intelligence explosion in the 1980s, calling the creation of the first ultraintelligent machine the Singularity. Vinge first addressed the topic in print in the January 1983 issue of Omni magazine. He later collected his thoughts in the 1993 essay "The Coming Technological Singularity," which contains the oft-quoted statement "Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly thereafter, the human era will be ended." Vinge clarifies his estimate of the time scales involved, adding, "I'll be surprised if this event occurs before 2005 or after 2030." Vernor Steffen Vinge (IPA: ) (born February 10, 1944) is a mathematician, computer scientist and science fiction author who is best known for his Hugo award-winning novels A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, as well as for his 1993 essay The Technological Singularity, in which... The cover of the January 1991 issue of Omni. ...

Vinge writes that superhuman intelligences, however created, will be even more able to enhance their own minds faster than the humans that created them. “When greater-than-human intelligence drives progress,” Vinge writes, “that progress will be much more rapid.” This feedback loop of self-improving intelligence, he predicts, will cause large amounts of technological progress within a short period of time.

Most proposed methods for creating smarter-than-human or transhuman minds fall into one of two categories: intelligence amplification of human brains and artificial intelligence. The means speculated to produce intelligence augmentation are numerous, and include bio- and genetic engineering, nootropic drugs, AI assistants, direct brain-computer interfaces, and mind transfer. Despite the numerous speculated means for amplifying human intelligence, non-human artificial intelligence (specifically seed AI) is the most popular option for organizations trying to directly initiate the Singularity, a choice the Singularity Institute addresses in its publication “Why Artificial Intelligence?” (2005).[2] Robin Hanson is also skeptical of human intelligence augmentation, writing that once one has exhausted the “low-hanging fruit” of easy methods for increasing human intelligence, further improvements will become increasingly difficult to find.[3] Transhuman is a term that refers to an intermediary form between the human and the posthuman. ... Intelligence amplification (IA) refers to the process of enhancing human intelligence through the use of technology. ... Garry Kasparov playing against Deep Blue, the first machine to win a chess game against a reigning world champion. ... Biological engineering (also biosystems engineering and bioengineering) is a broad-based engineering discipline that deals with bio-molecular and molecular processes, product design, sustainability and analysis of biological systems. ... An iconic image of genetic engineering; this autoluminograph from 1986 of a glowing transgenic tobacco plant bearing the luciferase gene, illustrating the possibilities of genetic engineering. ... Nootropics, popularly referred to as smart drugs and smart nutrients, are substances which boost human cognitive abilities (the functions and capacities of the brain). ... // A brain-computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a direct neural interface or a brain-machine interface, is a direct communication pathway between a human or animal brain (or brain cell culture) and an external device. ... In transhumanism and science fiction, mind transfer (also referred to as mind uploading or mind downloading, depending on ones point of reference), whole body emulation, or electronic transcendence refers to the hypothetical transfer of a human mind to an artificial substrate. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Eliezer Yudkowsky. ... The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization whose mission statement is as follows: SIAI was founded for the pursuit of ethically enhanced cognition by creating Friendly AI. We expect the ethical and significant enhancement of cognition will help solve contemporary challenges &#8211... Robin Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University. ...

Potential dangers

Some speculate superhuman intelligences may have goals inconsistent with human survival and prosperity. AI researcher Hugo de Garis suggests AIs may simply eliminate the human race, and humans would be powerless to stop them. Other oft-cited dangers include those commonly associated with molecular nanotechnology and genetic engineering. These threats are major issues for both Singularity advocates and critics, and were the subject of a Wired magazine article by Bill Joy, Why the future doesn’t need us (2000). Hugo de Garis (born 1947, Sydney, Australia) became an associate professor of computer science at Utah State University. ... It has been suggested that Molecular engineering be merged into this article or section. ... An iconic image of genetic engineering; this autoluminograph from 1986 of a glowing transgenic tobacco plant bearing the luciferase gene, illustrating the possibilities of genetic engineering. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Bill Joy (left) with Paul Saffo. ...

In an essay on human extinction scenarios, Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom (2002) lists superintelligence as a possible cause: The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Nick Bostrom (Boström in the original Swedish) is a philosopher at the University of Oxford, and known for his work on the anthropic principle. ...

Some AI researchers have made efforts to diminish what they view as potential dangers associated with the Singularity. The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence is a nonprofit research institute for the study and advancement of Friendly Artificial Intelligence, a method proposed by SIAI research fellow Eliezer Yudkowsky for ensuring the stability and safety of AIs that experience Good's "intelligence explosion". AI researcher Bill Hibbard also addresses issues of AI safety and morality in his book Super-Intelligent Machines. The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence is a non-profit organization with the goal of developing a theory of Friendly artificial intelligence and implementing that theory as a software system. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Eliezer Yudkowsky. ... It has been suggested that Seed AI be merged into this article or section. ... Bill Hibbard is a scientist at the University of Wisconsin - Madison working on visualization and machine intelligence. ... Super-Intelligent Machines is a book by Bill Hibbard. ...

Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics are one of the earliest examples of proposed safety measures for AI. The laws are intended to prevent artificially intelligent robots from harming humans. In Asimov’s stories, any perceived problems with the laws tend to arise as a result of a misunderstanding on the part of some human operator; the robots themselves shut down in the case of a real conflict. On the other hand, in works such as the film I, Robot, which was based very loosely on Asimov's stories, a possibility is explored in which AI take complete control over humanity for the purpose of protecting it from itself. In 2004, the Singularity Institute launched an Internet campaign called 3 Laws Unsafe to raise awareness of AI safety issues and the inadequacy of Asimov’s laws in particular. Isaac Asimov (January 2?, 1920? – April 6, 1992, IPA: , originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as Айзек Азимов) was a Russian-born American author and professor of biochemistry, a highly successful and exceptionally prolific writer best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. ... This cover of I, Robot illustrates the story Runaround, the first to list all Three Laws of Robotics. ... I, Robot is a collection of nine English language science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov, first published by Gnome Press in 1950 in an edition of 5,000 copies. ... shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence is a non-profit organization with the goal of developing a theory of Friendly artificial intelligence and implementing that theory as a software system. ...

Many Singularitarians consider nanotechnology to be one of the greatest dangers facing humanity. For this reason, they often believe seed AI should precede nanotechnology. Others, such as the Foresight Institute, advocate efforts to create molecular nanotechnology, claiming nanotechnology can be made safe for pre-Singularity use or can expedite the arrival of a beneficial Singularity. Singularitarianism is a moral philosophy based upon the belief that a technological singularity — the technological creation of smarter-than-human intelligence — is possible, and advocating deliberate action to bring it into effect and ensure its safety. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Eliezer Yudkowsky. ... This article reads like an advertisement, and therefore is not neutral in tone. ...

Accelerating change

Kurzweil writes that, due to paradigm shifts, a trend of exponential growth extends from integrated circuits to earlier transistors, vacuum tubes, relays and electromechanical computers.

Main article: Accelerating change

Some Singularity proponents argue its inevitability through extrapolation of past trends, especially those pertaining to shortening gaps between improvements to technology. In one of the first uses of the term singularity in the context of technological progress, Stanislaw Ulam cites accelerating change: Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1020x1026, 134 KB) Coutesy of Ray Kurzweil and Kurzweil Technologies, Inc. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1020x1026, 134 KB) Coutesy of Ray Kurzweil and Kurzweil Technologies, Inc. ... Paradigm shift is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to describe a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. ... An integrated circuit (IC) is a thin chip consisting of at least two interconnected semiconductor devices, mainly transistors, as well as passive components like resistors. ... Assorted discrete transistors A transistor is a semiconductor device, commonly used as an amplifier. ... In electronics, a vacuum tube or (outside North America) thermionic valve or just valve, is a device generally used to amplify, switch or otherwise modify, a signal by controlling the movement of electrons in an evacuated space. ... Automotive style miniature relay A relay is an electrical switch that opens and closes under the control of another electrical circuit. ... In engineering, electromechanics combines the sciences of electromagnetism of electrical engineering and mechanics. ... When plotted on a logarithmic graph, 15 separate lists of paradigm shifts for key events in human history show an exponential trend. ... Stanisław Ulam in the 1950s. ...

—May 1958, referring to a conversation with John von Neumann

In Mindsteps to the Cosmos (HarperCollins, August 1983), Gerald S. Hawkins writes that "mindsteps", dramatic and irreversible changes to paradigms or world views, are accelerating in frequency as quantified in his mindstep equation. He cites the inventions of writing, mathematics, and the computer as examples of such changes. John von Neumann (Hungarian Margittai Neumann János Lajos) (born December 28, 1903 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary; died February 8, 1957 in Washington D.C., United States) was a Hungarian-born American mathematician who made contributions to quantum physics, functional analysis, set theory, topology, economics, computer science, numerical analysis, hydrodynamics... Gerald S. Hawkins (April 20, 1928 - May 26, 2003) was an astronomer whose major popular work was the concept of Stonehenge as a primitive observatory. ...

Ray Kurzweil's analysis of history concludes that technological progress follows a pattern of exponential growth, following what he calls The Law of Accelerating Returns. He generalizes Moore's law, which describes geometric growth in integrated semiconductor complexity, to include technologies from far before the integrated circuit. Dr. Raymond Kurzweil (born February 12, 1948) is a pioneer in the fields of optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic musical keyboards. ... History studies the past in human terms. ... In mathematics, exponential growth (or geometric growth) occurs when the growth rate of a function is always proportional to the functions current size. ... Gordon Moores original graph from 1965 Growth of transistor counts for Intel processors (dots) and Moores Law (upper line=18 months; lower line=24 months) For the observation regarding information retrieval, see Mooers Law. ...

Whenever technology approaches a barrier, Kurzweil writes, new technologies will cross it. He predicts paradigm shifts will become increasingly common, leading to “technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history” (Kurzweil 2001). Kurzweil believes the Singularity will occur before the end of the 21st century, setting the date at 2035 (Kurzweil 2005). His predictions differ from Vinge’s in that he predicts a gradual ascent to the Singularity, rather than Vinge’s rapidly self-improving superhuman intelligence. Paradigm shift is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to describe a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. ...

The Acceleration Studies Foundation, an educational nonprofit founded by John Smart, engages in outreach, education, research and advocacy concerning accelerating change.[4] It produces the Accelerating Change conference at Stanford University, and maintains the educational site Acceleration Watch. the foundations website ... John Smart is a developmental systems theorist whose interests include accelerating change, computational autonomy, evolutionary development, and the technological singularity. ...

Criticism of accelerating change

An article in The Economist [1] spoofs predictions of accelerating progress, arguing through static analysis that disposable razors will have infinitely many blades by 2015.(Though a laser razor would esentialy be this)

Theodore Modis and Jonathan Huebner argue, from different perspectives, that the rate of technological innovation has not only ceased to rise, but is actually now declining. John Smart has criticized Huebner's analysis. Others propose that other "singularities" can be found through analysis of trends in world population, world GDP, and other indices. Andrey Korotayev and others argue that historical hyperbolic growth curves can be attributed to feedback loops that ceased to affect global trends in the 1970s, and thus hyperbolic growth should not be expected in the future. Image File history File links Infini-T.jpg‎ Summary Analyzing trends using the method applied to global warming and population growth, safety razors should have infinite blades by 2015 Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Infini-T.jpg‎ Summary Analyzing trends using the method applied to global warming and population growth, safety razors should have infinite blades by 2015 Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This article is about the statistical technique. ... Theodore Modis is a strategic business analyst, futurist, physicist, and international consultant. ... Jonathan Huebner is a physicist working at the Pentagons Naval Air Warfare Center, in China Lake, California. ... John Smart is a developmental systems theorist whose interests include accelerating change, computational autonomy, evolutionary development, and the technological singularity. ... Map of countries by population —showing the population of the Peoples Republic of China and India, the only two countries to have a population greater than a billion. ... Andrey Korotayev (born in 1961) is an anthropologist, economic historian, and sociologist. ... When a quantity grows towards a singularity under a finite variation it is said to undergo hyperbolic growth. ... In cybernetics and control theory, feedback is a process whereby some proportion or in general, function, of the output signal of a system is passed (fed back) to the input. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ...

In "The Progress of Computing", William Nordhaus argues that prior to 1940, computers followed the much slower growth of a traditional industrial economy, thus rejecting extrapolations of Moore's Law to 19th century computers. Schmidhuber (2006) suggests differences in memory of recent and distant events create an illusion of accelerating change, and that such phenomena may be responsible for past apocalyptic predictions. William D. Nordhaus (born May 31, 1941 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) is the Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Gordon Moores original graph from 1965 Growth of transistor counts for Intel processors (dots) and Moores Law (upper line=18 months; lower line=24 months) For the observation regarding information retrieval, see Mooers Law. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jürgen Schmidhuber (born 1963 in Munich) is a computer scientist and artist known for his work on machine learning, universal Artificial Intelligence (AI), artificial neural networks, digital physics, and low-complexity art. ...

Some anarcho-primitivism and eco-anarchism advocates, such as John Zerzan and Derrick Jensen, see the Singularity as an orgy of machine control, and a loss of free existence outside of civilization. Author James John Bell expresses a cautionary environmentalist perspective on the Singularity in his essays Exploring The “Singularity” and Technotopia and the Death of Nature: Clones, Supercomputers, and Robots. Anarcho-primitivism is an anarchist critique of the origins and progress of civilization. ... Eco-anarchism argues that small eco-villages (of no more than a few hundred people) are a scale of human living preferable to civilization, and that infrastructure and political systems should be re-organized to ensure that these are created. ... John Zerzan (born 1943) is an American anarchist and primitivist philosopher and author. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... James John Bell is currently an award winning advocacy advertising writer and producer for print, television, radio and the web for the non-profit communications firm smartMeme that he co-founded in 2003. ...

Luddites opposed the industrial revolution out of concern for its effects on employment, and some oppose the Singularity on the same grounds. After the industrial revolution, however, child labor and labor of the over-aged declined dramatically. Henry Hazlitt argues that only drops in voluntary employment, not absolute employment, should be of concern. The Luddites were a social movement of English textile artisans in the early nineteenth century who protested — often by destroying textile machines — against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt threatened their livelihood. ... A Watt steam engine. ... For the album by the Kaiser Chiefs see Employment (album) Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... Child laborers coming out of a dye factory, Dhaka, Bangladesh Child labor (or child labour) is the employment of children under an age determined by law or custom. ... Henry Hazlitt (November 28, 1894 - July 8, 1993) was a libertarian philosopher, economist and journalist for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Newsweek, among other publications. ... In economics, voluntary employment is unpaid employment. ... Absolute employment is a measure of the proportion of the total population that is employed. ...

Popular culture

In addition to the Vernor Vinge stories that pioneered Singularity ideas, several other science fiction authors have written stories that involve the Singularity as a central theme. Notable authors include William Gibson, Charles Stross, Karl Schroeder, Greg Egan, David Brin, Iain M. Banks, Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, Damien Broderick, Fredric Brown, Jacek Dukaj, Nagaru Tanigawa and Cory Doctorow. Ken MacLeod describes the Singularity as “the Rapture for nerds” in his 1998 novel The Cassini Division. Singularity themes are common in cyberpunk novels, such as the recursively self-improving AI Wintermute in William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer. A 1994 novel published on Kuro5hin called The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect depicts life after an AI-initiated Singularity. A more dystopian version is Harlan Ellison’s short story I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. Yet more examples are Accelerando by Charles Stross, and Warren Ellis’ ongoing comic book series newuniversal. Puppets All by James F. Milne explores the emotional and moral problems approaching Singularity. Vernor Steffen Vinge (IPA: ) (born February 10, 1944) is a mathematician, computer scientist and science fiction author who is best known for his Hugo award-winning novels A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, as well as for his 1993 essay The Technological Singularity, in which... William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948, Conway, South Carolina) is an American-born science fiction author resident in Canada since 1968. ... Charles David George Charlie Stross (born Leeds, October 18, 1964) is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... Karl Schroeder (born September 4, 1962) is a Canadian author. ... Greg Egan (August 20, 1961, Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian computer programmer and science fiction author. ... Glen David Brin, Ph. ... Iain Menzies Banks (born on February 16, 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland) writes mainstream novels as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks. ... Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer, known primarily for his science fiction works in the postcyberpunk genre with a penchant for explorations of society, mathematics, currency, and the history of science. ... Bruce Sterling at the Ars Electronica Festival Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his seminal work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which defined the cyberpunk genre. ... pic: Barbara Lamar Damien Broderick (born 1944) is an Australian science fiction and popular science writer. ... Fredric Brown (October 29, 1906, Cincinnati – March 11, 1972) was a science fiction and mystery writer. ... Jacek Dukaj Jacek Dukaj (born July 30, 1974 in Tarnów, Poland) is a Polish science fiction writer. ... Nagaru Tanigawa ) was born in 1970 and is a Japanese author from Hyougo prefecture, in the Kinki region of Japan. ... Cory Doctorow (born July 17, 1971) is a blogger, journalist and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. ... Ken MacLeod (born August 2, 1954), an award-winning Scottish science fiction writer, lives near Edinburgh. ... In conservative Protestant Christian eschatology, the rapture (harpazo in Greek in 1 Thessalonians 4:17) is the name given to the event in which all Christians living on earth are simultaneously transported to Heaven to be with Jesus Christ. ... “Nerds” redirects here. ... Berlins Sony Center reflects the global reach of a Japanese corporation. ... William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948, Conway, South Carolina) is an American-born science fiction author resident in Canada since 1968. ... For the 1988 video game, see Neuromancer (video game). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... Kuro5hin (K5) (pronounced corrosion) is a community discussion website (sometimes known as an example of Commons-based peer production) focused on technology and culture. ... The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect is a 1994 novel by Roger Williams. ... A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος, alternatively, cacotopia[1], kakotopia or anti-utopia) is a fictional society that is the antithesis of utopia. ... Harlan Jay Ellison (born May 27, 1934) is a prolific American writer of short stories, novellas, essays, and criticism. ... March 1967 issue of if I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream is a dystopian science fiction short story by Harlan Ellison. ... Accelerando (ISBN 0441012841) is a 2005 science fiction novel by British author Charles Stross. ... Warren Ellis Warren Girade Ellis (born February 16, 1968) is a British author of comic books and graphic novels, well known for his acerbic personality and sociocultural commentaries, both through his online presence and his writing. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... . The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions. ...

Popular movies in which computers become intelligent and overpower the human race include Colossus: The Forbin Project, the Terminator series, I Robot and The Matrix. See also List of fictional computers. Colossus was a fictional computer featured in the 1969 apocalyptic science fiction movie, Colossus: The Forbin Project loosely based on the 1967 novel Colossus by Dennis Feltham Jones. ... The Terminator (also known as Terminator in some early trailers and posters) is a 1984 science fiction/action film featuring former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger in what would become his best-known role, and also starred Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn. ... I, Robot is a collection of science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov, first published in 1950. ... The Matrix is a science fiction/action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski and starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano and Hugo Weaving. ... This page is intended to be a list of computers in fiction and science fiction. ...

Isaac Asimov expressed ideas similar to a post-Kurzweilian Singularity in his short story The Last Question. Asimov's future envisions a reality where a combination of strong artificial intelligence and post-humans consume the cosmos, during a time Kurzweil describes as when "the universe wakes up", the last of his six stages of cosmic evolution as described in The Singularity is Near. Post-human entities throughout various time periods of the story inquire of the artificial intelligence within the story as to how entropy death will be avoided. The AI responds that it lacks sufficient information to come to a conclusion, until the end of the story when the AI does indeed arrive at a solution, and demonstrates it by re-creating the universe, in godlike speech and fashion, from scratch. Notably, it does so in order to fulfill its duty to answer the humans' question. Isaac Asimov (January 2?, 1920? – April 6, 1992, IPA: , originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as Айзек Азимов) was a Russian-born American author and professor of biochemistry, a highly successful and exceptionally prolific writer best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. ... The Last Question is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. ... In the philosophy of artificial intelligence, strong AI is the claim that some forms of artificial intelligence can truly reason and solve problems; strong AI states that it is possible for machines to becomes sapient, or self-aware, but may or may not exhibit human-like thought processes. ... Posthuman Future by Michael Gibbs A posthuman or post-human is a hypothetical future being whose capabilities so radically exceed those of present humans as to be no longer human by current standards. ... Cover of the book The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (Viking Books, ISBN 0-670-03384-7) is a 2005 update of Raymond Kurzweils 1999 book, The Age of Spiritual Machines and his 1987 book The Age of Intelligent Machines. ... Ice melting - classic example of entropy increasing[1] described in 1862 by Rudolf Clausius as an increase in the disgregation of the molecules of the body of ice. ... This cover of I, Robot illustrates the story Runaround, the first to list all Three Laws of Robotics. ...

St. Edward’s University chemist Eamonn Healy provides his own take on the Singularity concept in the film Waking Life. He describes the acceleration of evolution by breaking it down into “two billion years for life, six million years for the hominid, a hundred-thousand years for mankind as we know it” then describes the acceleration of human cultural evolution as being ten thousand years for agriculture, four hundred years for the scientific revolution, and one hundred fifty years for the industrial revolution. Information is emphasized as providing the basis for the new evolutionary paradigm, with artificial intelligence its culmination. He concludes we will eventually create “neohumans” which will usurp humanity’s present role in scientific and technological progress and allow the exponential trend of accelerating change to continue past the limits of human ability. This article is about the university in Texas. ... Dr. Eamonn F. Healy is a professor of chemistry at St. ... Waking Life is a digitally rotoscoped and animated film, directed by Richard Linklater and made in 2001. ...

In his book The Artilect War, Hugo de Garis predicts a coming conflict between supporters of the creation of artificial intellects (or artilects), whom he refers to as "cosmists", and those who oppose the idea, who he refers to as "terrans". De Garis envisions a coming battle between these groups over the creation of artilects as being the last great struggle mankind will face before the Singularity. THE ARTILECT WAR [[1]] (precis version, 4 pages) Prof. ... Hugo de Garis (born 1947, Sydney, Australia) became an associate professor of computer science at Utah State University. ... Hondas humanoid robot AI redirects here. ... Hugo de Garis (born 1947, Sydney, Australia) is an associate professor of computer science at Utah State University. ...

Neal Asher's Gridlinked series features a future where humans living in the Polity are governed by AIs and while some are resentful, most believe that they are far better governors than any human. In the fourth novel, Polity Agent, it is mentioned that the singularity is far overdue yet most AIs have decided not to partake in it for reasons that only they know. Neal Asher (b. ... Gridlinked is Neal Ashers first novel. ... Polity Agent is a 2006 science fiction novel by Neal Asher. ...

See also

• Clarke’s three laws
• Doomsday argument
• Fermi's Paradox
• Genetic engineering
• Hans Moravec
• Indefinite lifespan
• Lifeboat Foundation
• Logarithmic timeline, and Detailed logarithmic timeline
• Max More
• Molecular engineering
• Marvin Minsky
• Neo-luddism
• Omega point
• Outside Context Problem
• Risks to civilization, humans and planet Earth
• Simulated reality
• Technological evolution
• Techno-utopianism
• Tipping point
• Transhumanism
• Development criticism

Arthur C. Clarke formulated the following three laws of prediction: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. ... The Doomsday argument (DA) is a probabilistic argument that claims to predict the future lifetime of the human race given only an estimate of the total number of humans born so far. ... A graphical representation of the Arecibo message - Humanitys first attempt to communicate its existence to alien civilizations The Fermi paradox is the apparent contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence of contact with such civilizations. ... An iconic image of genetic engineering; this autoluminograph from 1986 of a glowing transgenic tobacco plant bearing the luciferase gene, illustrating the possibilities of genetic engineering. ... Hans Moravec (born November 30, 1948 in Austria) is a research professor at the Robotics Institute (Carnegie Mellon) of Carnegie Mellon University. ... Indefinite lifespan is a term used in the life extension movement to refer to the longevity of humans (and other lifeforms) under conditions in which aging can be effectively and completely prevented and treated. ... The Lifeboat Foundation is a nonprofit organization, devoted to researching the possibilities of existential risk from powerful modern technologies, such as those based on genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics, and proposing policy options to avert or minimise the risks. ... A logarithmic timeline, based on logarithmic scale, was developed by Heinz von Foerster, the philosopher and physicist. ... In this table each row is defined in years ago, that is, years before the present date, with the earliest times at the top of the chart. ... Max More (born January 1964, Bristol, England formerly known as Max OConnor) is a philosopher and futurist who writes, speaks, and consults on advanced decision making and foresight methods for handling the impact of emerging technologies. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Marvin Lee Minsky (born August 9, 1927), sometimes affectionately known as Old Man Minsky, is an American cognitive scientist in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), co-founder of MITs AI laboratory, and author of several texts on AI and philosophy. ... The term luddite is both a political/historical term relating to a political movement during the Industrial Revolution and a pejorative used to attack those who are perceived as being uncompromisingly or unnecessarily opposed to one or more technological innovations. ... Omega point is a term invented by French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to describe the ultimate maximum level of complexity-consciousness, considered by him the aim towards which consciousness evolves. ... An Outside Context Problem or an OCP is any problem outside a given organisation or societys experience, with an immediate, ubiquitous and lasting impact upon an entire culture or civilisation. ... Risks to civilization, humans and planet Earth are existential risks that would imperil humankind as a whole and/or have major adverse consequences for the course of human civilization, human extinction or even the end of planet Earth. ... Simulated reality is the idea that reality could be simulated — usually computer-simulated — to a degree indistinguishable from true reality. ... Origins of theory According to Czech philosopher Radovan Richta, in his 1967 publication “Man and Technology in the Revolution of Our Day”, technology (which he defines as “a material entity created by the application of mental and physical effort to nature in order to achieve some value... Techno-utopianism refers to any ideology based on the belief that advanced science and technology will eventually bring about a techno-utopia, a future society with ideal living conditions for all its citizens. ... The phrase tipping point or angle of repose is a sociology term that refers to that dramatic moment when something unique becomes common. ... Natasha Vita-Mores Primo is an artistic depiction of a hypothetical posthuman of transhumanist speculation. ... Development criticism refers to far-reaching criticisms of modernization and its central aspects : modern technology, industrialization, capitalism and economic globalization . ...

References

pic: Barbara Lamar Damien Broderick (born 1944) is an Australian science fiction and popular science writer. ... Nick Bostrom (Boström in the original Swedish) is a philosopher at the University of Oxford, and known for his work on the anthropic principle. ... Nick Bostrom (Boström in the original Swedish) is a philosopher at the University of Oxford, and known for his work on the anthropic principle. ... Irving John (Jack) Good (born 9 December 1916) is a British statistician who worked also as a cryptographer and developer of the Colossus computer at Bletchley Park. ... Francis Heylighen (born 1960) is a Belgian cyberneticist. ... Bill Joy (left) with Paul Saffo. ... Raymond Kurzweil (pronounced: ) (born February 12, 1948) is a pioneer in the fields of optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments. ... Raymond Kurzweil (pronounced: ) (born February 12, 1948) is a pioneer in the fields of optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments. ... Cover of the book The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (Viking Books, ISBN 0-670-03384-7) is a 2005 update of Raymond Kurzweils 1999 book, The Age of Spiritual Machines and his 1987 book The Age of Intelligent Machines. ... Jürgen Schmidhuber (born 1963 in Munich) is a computer scientist and artist known for his work on machine learning, universal Artificial Intelligence (AI), artificial neural networks, digital physics, and low-complexity art. ... The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence is a non-profit organization with the goal of developing a theory of Friendly artificial intelligence and implementing that theory as a software system. ... February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... StanisÅ‚aw Ulam in the 1950s. ... Vernor Steffen Vinge (IPA: ) (born February 10, 1944) is a mathematician, computer scientist and science fiction author who is best known for his Hugo award-winning novels A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, as well as for his 1993 essay The Technological Singularity, in which...

External links

Essays

• Singularities and Nightmares: Extremes of Optimism and Pessimism About the Human Future by David Brin
• “Meaning of Life FAQ” by Eliezer Yudkowsky
• A Critical Discussion of Vinge’s Singularity Concept
• Is a singularity just around the corner? by Robin Hanson
• Brief History of Intellectual Discussion of Accelerating Change by John Smart
• Encouraging a Positive Transcension
• Michael Anissimov’s Singularity articles
• One Half of a Manifesto by Jaron Lanier—a critique of “cybernetic totalism”
• One Half of an Argument—Kurzweil’s response to Lanier
• A Singular Rapture
• Singularity of AI by Paul “nEo” Martin

Glen David Brin, Ph. ... It has been suggested that Seed AI be merged into this article or section. ... Robin Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University. ... John Smart is a developmental systems theorist whose interests include accelerating change, computational autonomy, evolutionary development, and the technological singularity. ... Jaron Lanier (born 1960) is an American musician and virtual reality developer. ... Dr. Raymond Kurzweil (born February 12, 1948) is a pioneer in the fields of optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic musical keyboards. ...

Singularity AI projects

• The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
• The SSEC Machine Intelligence Project
• The Artificial General Intelligence Research Institute

Portals and wikis

• KurzweilAI.net
• Acceleration Watch
• Accelerating Future
• The SL4 Wiki
• Accelerating Technology
• Singularity! A Tough Guide to the Rapture of the Nerds

Fiction

• The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect—A 1994 novel by Roger Williams. It deals with the ramifications of a superpowerful computer that can alter reality after a technological singularity.

• After Life by Simon Funk uses a complex narrative structure to explore the relationships among uploaded minds in a technological singularity.

• [Message Contains No Recognizable Symbols] by Bill Hibbard is a story about a technological singularity subject to the constraint that natural human authors are unable to depict the actions and dialog of super-intelligent minds.

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect is a 1994 novel by Roger Williams. ... Bill Hibbard is a scientist at the University of Wisconsin - Madison working on visualization and machine intelligence. ...

Other links

• The Singularity Summit at Stanford
• Report on The Stanford Singularity Summit
• The Singularity FAQ
• Mar 2007 Congressional Report on the Singularity by ranking member Jim Saxton on the United States Congress Joint Economic Committee.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Waste For the company, see Waste Management, Inc. ... The living machine at Oberlin College with a settlement tank in the foreground and filtering tanks in the background The concept of living machines represents a particularly interesting variant on intelligent machines, and has mostly been associated with water treatment systems that make use of natural bioremediation processes such as... Mycoremediation is a form of bioremediation, the process of using microbes to return an environment (usually soil) contaminated by pollutants to a less contaminated state. ... Sustainable development has also been defined as the process of balancing the need of humans for economic and social development with the need to protect the natural and built environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but in the indefinite future. ... Contents // Categories: Stub | United Nations specialized agencies | Sustainability | Development ... Human development theory is an economic theory that merges older ideas from ecological economics, sustainable development, welfare economics, and feminist economics. ... Practical Action - the working name of Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) – is a charity registered in the United Kingdom which works directly in four regions of the developing world – Latin America, East Africa, Southern Africa and South Asia, with particular concentration on Peru, Kenya, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka... Maldevelopment is the state of an organism or an organisation that did not develop in the normal way (used in medicine, e. ... The precautionary principle is a moral and political principle which states that if an action or policy might cause severe or irreversible harm to the public, in the absence of a scientific consensus that harm would not ensue, the burden of proof falls on those who would advocate taking the... The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, often shortened to Rio Declaration, was a short document produced at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit. ... According to its web site, Rocky Mountain Institute is an entrepreneurial nonprofit organization that fosters the efficient and restorative use of natural, human and other capital to make the world more secure, just, prosperous, and life-sustaining. ... Sim Van der Ryn is acknowledged as a leader in sustainable architecture. ... Underdevelopment is the state of an organism or of an organisation (e. ... The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) brings together some 190 international companies in a shared commitment to sustainable development through economic growth, ecological balance and social progress. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Earth Summit 2002. ...