What is the singularity?
When man uses technology to become God himself. A day where man breaks free from his biological shackle and becomes trans-human. Imagine living forever because you uploaded your mind on the Internet or living in a cyborg body.
Sounds like science fiction? Perhaps. Read more – because the singularity rabbit hole goes deep.
Who popularized the “singularity” meme?
Ray Kurzweil, an inventor and futurist. He wrote “The Singularity is Near” (highly recommended) where he talks how, in 2045, humanity will reach the singularity. Apparently, humanity reaches the singularity by developing strong artificial intelligence.
Imagine having a computer that is 10 times smarter than Albert Einstein. How about 1000x smarter than Albert Einstein? More on this later.
But first …
Near future technology:
01. Driverless cars
Using cameras and artifical intelligence, Google is able to create a driverless car. See for yourself:
Uber – a cheap alternative to state sanctioned taxi – is planning to buy 500,000+ driverless cars. This means that it’s cheaper for you to use Uber than to own a car. Experts predict that in the near future, people may completely ditch cars and just use Uber.
The taxi drivers are already mad that Uber is kicking their asses out of business.
02. Virtual reality head gear
People will no longer consume media by sitting in front of a TV, instead they will put on a headset and immerse themselves in virtual reality.
In 2025, video game graphic will become photo-realistic. When this happens, people will ignore the boring reality and live inside a virtual reality world most of the time.
03. Artificial intelligence
Driverless car and virtual reality are cool. What will blow your mind is strong artificial intelligence – a computer that thinks like a human. What about a computer that is 1000x smarter than the average human? This is when humanity reaches the singularity.
By the way, artificial intelligence and robots will replace your job. Experts predict that 50 percent of the population will be out of jobs in the near future. See video below:
Imagine living for 200 years because you’re able to 3D print a new heart or kidney. Advancement in technology will eventually allow you to upload your mind on to the Internet (or have a cyborg body)
Imagine leaving this crowded planet and exploring neighboring galaxies. Imagine living for thousands or millions of years, until you say “fuck it, I’m done living, just kill me.”
In conclusion …
The future is a bumpy road – what if artificial intelligence turns out to be evil and wipes out mankind? What if terrorists use nano-technology to kill more people? What happens when robots take all our jobs? But there is no denying that the singularity is coming.
The popular meme right now – popularized by Ray Kurzweil – the singularity is coming at 2045 when artificial intelligence becomes smarter than human intelligence. People like to debate if the timeline is correct – it doesn’t matter because strong AI is coming, sooner or later.
If the singularity really is happening at 2045, your best bet is to stay healthy for another 29 years – it’s your chance to experience immortality …
Next week blog post will be “An introduction to the singularity, Part 2”.
Until then, stay healthy, comrade.
– Max Uber
Recommended reading:
Great topic to explore!
I’m fascinated by the amount of resistance that people manifest towards Ray. And I honestly don’t get the hype about him. The only explanation I can come up with is that most people are too ignorant, blind or naive to understand where our world is moving to.
I was born 25 yrs ago and all my life I was observing the world change in front of my eyes. What makes people think that in another 25 yrs the world won’t change just as drastically, if not even more?
The rabbit hole goes deep, just like you said. Let’s not even talk about: Drones, Military technologies, Advancments in medicine, engineering and physics, the fucking Internet and what about Robots, like Atlas from Boston Dynamics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVlhMGQgDkY
Once everything Ray predicted does happen (and it will) those who were ignorant will be surprised, they will wonder “What happened, how did we get here? Should we do something about it?” Just like a fatty realizes that he’s fat only once it’s late.
These are exciting times and the future belongs to those who can adapt quickly to changes and who are willing to improve, evolve and become uber human! Get healthy and fit, rid yourself of social conditioning, become independant of the economy, connect with people who understand, learn how to learn and become creative. Evolution is cruel, it’s Adapt or get left behind.
We are moving upwards and the spiral is spinning faster and faster, until we reach the hightest point (singularity) and humanity will either transcend or obliterate itself.
ps. Check out this series of posts: http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html
Yeah, I read that series, its’ great.
Recommended reading for AI.
“How to create a mind” by Ray Kurzweil
“Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies” by Nick Bostrom