Do you think the Internet is the begining of "The Singularity"? Why or Whynot?

Question

Since the dawn of connectionism, and in all likelyhood other related relms of epistemology, people have been talking about a Singularity, a union of human thought into a single, or perhaps bubbling, mind. The argument is approached with an idea related to how technological sophistication doubles every 18 months (Moore's Law states every 18 mo the transistors in a processor double, allowing for a doubling of power). This produces a exponetial curve which approaches an asymptote where it will pretty much just go up (proc power) and not very much at all to one side (time). With the growth of the internet and advances in neuro-implants that allow direct control for a computer's cursor, text writing (not attempted yet, but they are very close), and toggle controls, eventually it looks like we will all be "Jacked In" to the internet. Is this the dawn of a Singularity in which we all basically become different end-points for a singular "self"?

Google Singularity or Braingate for more info.

Thats a good poing, that we need to be able to support it. That may come about as an emergent property naturally without the need to build it directly, but it is a good point. Yea Lain definitly touched on this subject.

Answer 1

The Internet is but one of many factors which would contribute to an eventual Singularity. I would call it an important factor, but not a deciding one.

There are a LOT of things which still need to happen before we reach that Singularity, most of which haven't happened yet. One important thing would be the ability to upload one's mind into electronic form. This could vastly increase our memory and raw thought power while also speeding up our thinking by a few orders of magnitude, giving us much more subjective (and absolute) time.

Another thing that would need to happen, is a big increase in market efficiency. Currently it takes months to years to develop, design, test, find funding for, and deliver to market new products & services. The creation of a Star Trek-style replicator could speed up modelling & prototyping greatly, while eliminating the need to physically transport products to market. You could just download the specs to your home computer & create the product in your home.

Some time ago I wrote a web page on the Singularity, including what it could be like, how it would proceed, & possible barriers that might prevent it from happening. You can read about it below.

Futurist Ray Kurzweil puts the Singularity at happening about 30 years from now. I think that's a bit optimistic now, but it would probably occur sometime this century, maybe as soon as 2050 but probably not before that. Despite the astounding technological & scientific advances that have occurred just in the past 20-30 years, we still have a long ways to go before we reach the post-human age. We trans-humans are still a rarity today....

Answer 2

The internet is not the beginning of the singularity. The singularity began when the first tool was invented by the first pre-human 200,000+ years ago.

The internet is simply part of that process. The final step will begin when machine intelligence starts to rival human intelligence. It MUST happen. Even if civilian applications were halted, states are always looking for an advantage in war.

It would be wise to think through ways now to prevent the singularity from destroying us or making life intolerable.

Answer 3

There are fundamental limits in how the equation follows to reality though. As more and more power is generated, we can do more, but we need to support that power, so the question isn't how much power we can produce but how much we can support. I won't argue that the internet will eventually be relatively similar to what you might call "the singularity" but I'm not convinced that such a thing exists now or will in the even relatively near future.

This whole thing reminds me of Serial Experiment Lain.

Answer 4

First question NO i'm writting this in my head and am nevertheless asleep. 2d AC/DC is tremendous, yet Aerosmith is the finest of both. you may jam to the songs or they're tremendous love songs.

Answer 5

If the answer is yes (and why not?), would Google then own human consciousness, as well as everything else on the net?

Answer 6

This sounds like 'The Matrix'. Interesting.

Answer 7

ha 2 pts. hehehehehehehehehehe oh sorry yes i think it is