The Singularity is coming...

 

Shit! The singularity looks like it's real, it's going to happen in my lifetime, I will experience it.

I have just read Ray Kurzweils' article in my book on the science, religion, and philoshpy in the Matrix film. He predicts that given current technology trends; by 2030 the singularity will exist.

 

A quick summary of what the singularity is; The name itself is a bit missleading and something like infinite would be more appropriate name as the theory behind it is that technology is exponentially getting better. The Exponential curve showing the trend is itself increasing exponentially and its getting steeper and steeper, so eventually you have a point where change happens so fast and new technology is created so quickly that it will all happen at once. The line of progress on a graph will go straight up! When it occurs we will have the power to do anything we like in this universe or any other.

2030, that's not long. I honestly didn't think it could occur in my lifetime, I am starting to ask myself if this is the reason I am alive at this point in time, I am alive to witness the singularity. Maybe I chose this before being born, maybe I have created a world for myself where this happens. But this really seems like it's going to happen given current trends in technology.

 

I have recently learnt of two new technologies, one using light to make computer chips faster and the other using holographic principles to store 10 times the amount of information on chips, so it seems that the next step beyond the transistor is here now.

I'm going to be 54 years old in 2030 if I make it! There are predictions that consciousness will be understood and downloading your conciousness to hard disk will be possible for infinite storage. This is all a bit "BBC Tomorrows World" and given their predictions about the future it will not be as we think now. But certainly change is going to increase in our lives at an exponential rate along side technology, I hope I can keep up.

It almost feels like I am going to witness something incomprehensible and things will get so mad and so fast that my world will just explode in front of me. Ceratinly it could be seen that the Singularity could be the end of life, armageddon, the second coming of christ maybe?

 

01/03/04

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