Technological Singularity

Transcript

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2. The technological
   singularity is the
   theoretical emergence
   of superintelligence
   through technological
   means.
   

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3. Since the capabilities of
   such intelligence would
   be difficult for an
   unaided human mind to
   comprehend, the
   technological singularity
   is seen as an
   occurrence beyond
   which events cannot
   be predicted.
   

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4. Proponents of the singularity
   typically postulate an
   "intelligence explosion", where
   superintelligences design
   successive generations of
   increasingly powerful minds,
   might occur very quickly and
   might not stop until the agent's
   cognitive abilities greatly
   surpass that of any human.
   

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5. The term "technological singularity"
   was originally coined by Vinge, who
   made an analogy between the
   breakdown in our ability to predict
   what would happen after the
   development of superintelligence and
   the breakdown of the predictive ability
   of modern physics at the space-time
   singularity beyond the event horizon
   of a black hole.
   

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6. Some writers use "the
   singularity" in a broader way
   to refer to any radical
   changes in our society
   brought about by new
   technologies such as
   molecular nanotechnology,
   although Vinge and other
   prominent writers specifically
   state that without
   superintelligence, such
   changes would not qualify as
   a true singularity.
   

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7. Many writers also tie the
   singularity to observations of
   exponential growth in various
   technologies (with Moore's Law
   being the most prominent
   example), using such observations
   as a basis for predicting that the
   singularity is likely to happen
   sometime within the 21st century.
   

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8. References
   • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
   • http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs39/f/2008/346/a/e/Pinhead_by_darthhell.jpg
   • http://www.artunika.dk/sites/default/files/VINGE2(ARTUNIKA).jpg
   • http://greatersurbiton.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/homer.jpg
   • http://defencemechanism.ca/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/atomic-
   explosion-4.jpg
   

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