Technological singularity

[JadussD]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularityJust in case you weren't aware of the concept, the world is about to get very different very soon.</a>
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[Reaper man]

> Just in case you weren't aware of the concept, the world is
> about to get very different very soon.


I, for one welcome our new AI driven robotic overlords.
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[shawn]

> I, for one welcome our new AI driven robotic overlords.

Probably more compassionate than the bastards in charge at the moment. <img src=smilies/magbiggrin.gif>
<P ID="signature">(Place all intelligent thought here) Wait, gimme a second, I know, ummmm, aww hell fuckit.......</P>

[The 9th Sage]

> Just in case you weren't aware of the concept, the world is
> about to get very different very soon.

Very soon?
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[coolie]

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"We got Skynet by the balls now, don't we?"</p>
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[JadussD]

> Very soon?
>

Very soon meaning that I think it will be very noticable. If you look at the way technology has transformed socialization and the retrieval of information, it's amazing.

What you can do now that most couldn't 12 years ago:

- Find out most facts with several keystrokes on a keyboard (or a cell phone even)
- Find out who most of your friends' friends are, and expand social horizons.
- Keep on your harddrive and play every video game ever released during your childhood.
- Find out the quickest way to get from one place to another without getting lost.
- Have a computer generate a map and audio driving directions on the fly based on a GPS receiver.

In addition, more and more is being learned about the human brain.

Google has some of the most advanced AI technology on the planet, due to AdSense...

We're getting there. I can spend all day, and do so, teaching myself about any subject common or highly esoteric, and I have almost limitless resources to get my information on the subject from. I bet this is being taken advantage of by other loafers as well, and soon I can apply all this knowledge, literally more facts, concepts, and ideas than most scholars would cram into their brains in their entire lives. With wikis, for better or worse, information evolves like a genetic organism, being selected for fitness. Just wait until a computer can read and comprehend sentences, and test them in complicated ways to determine their truth value. I think that'll be part of the next shift, computers which scour the internet and interpret as much data as possible.

30 years from now this planet will probably be fucking unrecognizable due to the advances in technology.
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[Mikey]

> Just in case you weren't aware of the concept, the world is
> about to get very different very soon.
>

I'm just curious, how long have you been interested in the concept, and are you as interested in any of the other posthumanism/tranhumanism literature out there?

The ideas presented in each seem to be inching closer and closer towards the mainstream as of late, which was pretty much an inevitability, but a welcome one at that.

And it should be noted that most people would put it at around (at least) 30 years off, though we really have no way to know for sure yet. It all depends on the rate of advancement in the fields of artifical intelligence and nanotechnology.

I highly recommend that anyone who isn't familiar with the concept should read up on it. This really could happen within our lifetimes, and it's likely to change everything.
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[icenine0]

Call me back when something passes the Turing Test (http://members.aol.com/lshauser/turingho.html). The most recent results show (http://loebner.net/Prizef/2005_Contest/Transcripts.html) that we're still making things that act like SantaBot (http://www.santabot.com).

Seriously, I think we're a long ways off from producing a machine that has capabilities near human thought.

> Just in case you weren't aware of the concept, the world is
> about to get very different very soon.
>

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[coolie]

> Seriously, I think we're a long ways off from producing a
> machine that has capabilities near human thought.

I agree, but it's never too late to start making a tinfoil hat
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[JadussD]

> Seriously, I think we're a long ways off from producing a
> machine that has capabilities near human thought.

Yes, but machines don't have to think as well as humans. There's ~7 billion human beings who already exist, and the interactions between technology and humans could prove far more revolutionary than AI by itself.

Stuff like Wikipedia is a primitive, flawed realization of the seemingly impossible things that await us. As it exists now, its like reading an encyclopedia written by one person with a really bad case of multiple personality disorder, but for scientific things its pretty good. I've learned a LOT due to autodidactic learning that wouldn't have been possible without it, although I scoff at most articles on "sensitive" or esoteric subjects, as it quickly turns into every side trying to drown out the other via subtle means, as if the text I'm reading is at war with itself.
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[Noctifero]

> Call me back when something passes the Turing Test. The
> most recent results show that we're still making things that
> act like SantaBot.

I never heard of santabot, I think I'll give it a try.

. . . (half an hour later) . . .

I just had a nice long conversation with Mr. Claus. Needless to day, I think I'll be getting coal this year.
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[The 9th Sage]

> > Very soon?
> >
> snip

Well ok, granted, you make some good points. A lot of that stuff doesn't neccesarily lead to killer robots though. My hope is that sci-fi movies (and really, a lot of scientists probably have been inspired by these movies) have crammed into our brain by now that if we build robots, limits must be placed in them, or their growth must be somehow limited so that they can't manufacture super-bots.

Then again, stupidity kills intelligence far too often. :P Anyway, you are right about things being different than years past I guess...I hadn't thought about stuff like Wikis (and their easy to find and use stores of information)...I've often found myself reading up on stuff randomly on them.
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[JadussD]

How about this: if we can "emulate" the laws of physics down to the sub-atomic level, it would be possible to digitize down to the very last atom a human sperm cell and a human ova. This individual sperm and egg could be made to grow into a full, digital human being in a virtual world, and with genetic engineering, could become genetically engineered beings 10 times smarter than we are, existing in a virtual world with a computer that can read all of its thoughts and utilize the data therein to combine superhuman intelligence with digital processing power. It would be a fully realized virtual universe, with the computer as "God". Not to go all The Matrix on everyone but it would be fucked up if that's how our universe actually is :P
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[The 9th Sage]

I'm sure a system COULD be created that mimicked the laws of physics, etc, exactly, but that 'exactly' part is what is going to be the hard part about it. Since you're quoting the Matrix (ignoring for a second that we would need to know the exact everything about the physics of our world first), I don't think they even got it completely right since it was possible for people who were aware of the Matrix to bend it's rules, which obviously doesn't fit directly in with the laws of physics.

When was the last time you saw someone leap five stories straight up or run as fast as Superman?
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[Noctifero]

> When was the last time you saw someone leap five stories
> straight up or run as fast as Superman?
>
In the theaters a few days ago. <./movie>

Really, no one's done that yet because our matrix was simply programmed better. We still get the deja vu glitch, it's not perfect.
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[JadussD]

> I'm sure a system COULD be created that mimicked the laws of
> physics, etc, exactly, but that 'exactly' part is what is
> going to be the hard part about it. Since you're quoting
> the Matrix (ignoring for a second that we would need to know
> the exact everything about the physics of our world first),
> I don't think they even got it completely right since it was
> possible for people who were aware of the Matrix to bend
> it's rules, which obviously doesn't fit directly in with the
> laws of physics.

I wasn't saying our world was like the Matrix in that respect at all. I was saying the idea that we exist in a world within a world that is programmed as on a computer is interesting.
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[JadussD]

> I wasn't saying our world was like the Matrix in that
> respect at all. I was saying the idea that we exist in a
> world within a world that is programmed as on a computer is
> interesting.

Ultimately, I see the universe in a manner influenced by the philosophers F.W. Nietzsche and Arthur Schopenhauer: The universe is "Will", as everything does what it will, whether it be an asteroid floating through space, or a human being quenching his thirst by drinking water. All are made up of energy, which is the physical essence of Will.

The universe is objective, but we create a "representation" of the "Will" of everything in our brains, and thus create an imperfect approximation of the world in our mind. The more we know about the universe, and the more we understand the Will, the closer we get to a more perfect representation of the Will. Those who follow life will attempt to transcend their limitations in order to create ever better humans that follow them. Those who follow death will do the opposite.

The idea of the "ubermensch" or "superman" is that man must always attempt to transcend, to better himself, to strive for the absolute best, and only in being a part of what follows his existence rather than that which fades into the past does he gain immortality; not as a conscious entity, but as an influence. Man is not an endpoint, and our successors will probably view and treat us as mere animals, and rightfully so, but we must still strive to create our betters, as we are consciously able to do so.
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[The 9th Sage]

> I wasn't saying our world was like the Matrix in that
> respect at all. I was saying the idea that we exist in a
> world within a world that is programmed as on a computer is
> interesting.

I dunno, I was just saying I thought it might be possible, but whoever created the simulation would probably have to have knowledge way more advanced than we currently do. Although, if we are in that simulation and they are from (dun dun) 'the future'...maybe that wouldn't be a problem.

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