Anyone else think Technological Singularity is a joke?

[Uberjager]

Basically, for those of you that don't know, there's a theory called Technological Singularity in which the future will advance so fast, that normal people can't comprehend what's going on because technology will be changing so fast, and the only way to understand what's going will be to adapt by getting cybernetic enhancements done to the brain.

There's this fruit-loop programmer named Ray Kurzweil, who asserts this idea, and basically last year computers were supposed to be in unrecognizable forms from what they were in 2005. And if you're quasi observant it's obvious that the ye olde atx form factor is alive and kicking. And in 2040, humans will have cybernetic organs, nano-transforming bodies, and we will have computers in our brains.

Just think of how absurd this is, if you were to take a well educated man from 20th century America and put him in Denver, he would adapt damn fast. Now imagine us 30 years in the future, will we be unable to adapt because technology will be way too advanced?

[DeusExMachina]

You have a gross misunderstanding of what the Singularity is, as a concept.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity

In summation, it is a point in which technology becomes so advanced that it rapidly perpetuates itself until it is beyond comprehension. Basically, a computer becomes so smart it invents new technologies, which invents new technologies, etc and this compounds to the point where advances become unpredictable (meaning, we cannot predict the outcome).

There are many, many theories of what this outcome could be but they are just guesses. My guess is either complete artificial takeover or final evolution of man (which could be the exact same thing).

[Uberjager]

You have a gross misunderstanding of what the Singularity is, as a concept.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity

In summation, it is a point in which technology becomes so advanced that it rapidly perpetuates itself until it is beyond comprehension. Basically, a computer becomes so smart it invents new technologies, which invents new technologies, etc and this compounds to the point where advances become unpredictable (meaning, we cannot predict the outcome).

There are many, many theories of what this outcome could be but they are just guesses. My guess is either complete artificial takeover or final evolution of man (which could be the exact same thing).

I reiterated my statement slightly, but I don't have a gross misunderstanding of it.

[Irving]

It's just something made up so they can run the same old show about how in the future, robots will ruin everything. They've been doing it for like 60 years now.

[DFBrews]

Place marker/

Had an awesome response written up with H.G. Wells involved etc. Realized you guys where talking robots not aliens.
Have not slept since Thursday morning will give approprite response in the AM.

[mcantar18c]

Place marker/

Had an awesome response written up with H.G. Wells involved etc. Realized you guys where talking robots not aliens.
Have not slept since Thursday morning will give approprite response in the AM.

[BPTactical]

Coming soon-Terminator

[SideShow Bob]

Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated...

[Hoosier]

The core of the Singularity concept is really looking at what happens in the elbow of an exponential graph.

I think Kurzweil is overly optimistic in his timeframe, but the concept has some merit.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ray_kurzwei...nsform_us.html

This video is from 2005.

This guy is a bit odd, no doubt. He has an employee who's job is to manage all the pills he takes, trying to extend his lifespan past the "singularity", which he expects will happen circa 2040.

We continue to see new ways that computers feed back on themselves. For example, it wouldn't be possible to make current computer chips without using previous computer chips.

Genetic Algorithms can be applied to any design that can be modeled. For example, a computer can model the radiation pattern from an arbitrary antenna design. A GA can then take an antenna design, randomly modify it, and model that -- take the results from that modeling to randomly make other adjustments and test them, iterating over the loop. It's evolution for your product design, done by a computer and randomness. NASA used this technique to develop very small all-axis high gain antenna for some microsats recently.

The ATX form factor is alive and well, but physical package standards have long life spans. We have flipped machines so the power supplies are at the bottom. We routinely have double-width video cards, even two video cards bonded with SLI/Xfire. GPU's can crunch math like nobodies business anymore. SATA pushing 6Bps, USB 3, DVI-D, HDMI, everywhere you look the technology is getting faster, better, easier, and cheaper. I just build a machine for $500 that is an order of magnitude faster than my $4500 machine from five years ago.

So like I said, Kurzweil is ambitious on his timeline, and over-reaching on some stuff (bio-informatics is slower than he thinks) -- but I think we will get to where the rate-of-change is almost incomprehensible. The social aspect of technology has gotten very interesting, from 20 years ago with very few people using computers or networks, to today where everyones parents are on Facebook.

It's all about Δv.

H.

[spyder]

I think it is an easy concept to get actually. There is already tech out there that most people don't understand, some kinda know what it's about, and few actually know how it works. You build new technology on top of that technology and your margins of understanding go down, keep doing that again and again and again. There is already so much new tech out there that is just amazing when you learn about it, and a lot of it is old stuff. This is already taking place, it's just in small quantities and no one pays attention to it, or knows it's out there. I'm not saying it is going to happen any time soon on some vast scale like stated originally, but, eventually I see something along those lines happening.