singularity

No Illusions Podcast: Cameron Reilly Puts Socrates in the Spotlight

by Socrates
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It is only fair that every once-in-a-while Socrates - i.e. “the man with the questions,” ought to get the table turned on him, take the other side of the microphone and answer a few questions himself. So, when Cameron Reilly asked me to be the next guest on his popular and long-running No Illusions Podcast I was honored and agreed without hesitation. In 2004 Cameron co-founded the Podcast Network – Australia’s first social media company, which he built into one of the largest independent Australian media sites. In 2007, Reilly was called one of the “40 Biggest Players Of Australia’s Digital Age.” Currently he is a regular speaker on issues surrounding social media, social networking and the future of media in addition to consulting for a number of Brisbane-based companies as their digital strategist. During my conversation with Cameron we discuss issues such as: [...]

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Robopocalypse: Daniel H. Wilson’s Novel To Become Steven Spielberg’s Film

by Socrates
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I was in the middle of scheduling an interview with Daniel H. Wilson‘s agent when I got a last minute acceptance to Singularity University. I had to delay our interview and rush to NASA’s Ames Campus in Mountain View, California. As soon as I was back home I got in touch again with Willson’s representative but, unfortunately, was told that Daniel was not doing any more interivews. Daniel H. Wilson is the author of The New York Times best selling science fiction novel Robopocalypse and a columnist and contributing editor for Popular Mechanics magazine. He has also written: How To Survive a Robot Uprising, How to Build a Robot Army, A Boy and His Bot and Where’s My Jetpack?. Robopocalypse is not only one of Amazon’s top books for 2011 but, most notably, Steven Spielberg is directing a film based on the novel, scheduled for release on July 4, 2013. I [...]

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Will the “Geek Rapture” Nonsense Ever Stop?

by Singularity Utopia
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Recently I stumbled across an article about William Gibson’s Geek Rapture and Other Technological Musings. I’m not sure why alleged technological aficionados denigrate the Singularity but I often read about their hostility. It’s an odd situation where their notion of the Singularity is so provocative, so contentious.Some critics insist the Singularity constitutes a new religion for geeks, which is ironic because for me the Singularity is the opposite of religion. Instead of having faith in supernatural powers to create miracles, the Singularity is about having confidence in the powers of humans. Confidence in our human ability entails our skills in science and technology making our world a better place without Godly intervention. The Singularity makes Gods and religions redundant; it is the enlightenment of logic, intellectualism, the end of superstitions, prayers, and mystical incantations. If the Singularity must be categorised philosophically then it should [...]

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Vernor Vinge on Singularity 1 on 1: We Can Surpass the Wildest Dreams of Optimism

by Socrates
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Today my guest on Singularity 1 on 1 is Vernor Vinge — the very person who coined the technological singularity as a term. Currently Vernor Vinge is putting the final touches on the sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep. The new book is titled The Children of the Sky and is already available for pre-order on Amazon, though it is not expected to ship until October 2011. Despite his busy schedule Prof. Vinge still managed to give us over an hour of his time and during our conversation I ask him to discuss issues such as: his childhood and early interest in science fiction; his desire to make sense of the universe; his definition of the technological singularity and the story behind the term; his now classic 1993 NASA paper; his favorite science fiction books and authors; major milestones [...]

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The Singularity is Near! What’s Next?

by Nikki Olson
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Those who look ahead three or four decades and see a technological singularity taking place confront a future in which time appears to stand still. However, few look beyond 2045 because it is near-impossible to foresee what happens post-Singularity. So although we may be certain that the Singularity is Near, we are uncertain about what’s next. This reality differentiates Singularitarians from every other major worldview to shape human history: other groups, in looking out into the future, have always had some kind of ‘destination’, or ‘endpoint’ in mind. Religious groups originating in the West have tended to envision ‘heaven’, or ‘hell’, as endpoints, while those in the East anticipate ‘rebirth’, and eventual nirvana. Some mythologies envision an ‘underworld’, while those not believing in an afterlife do their best to imagine death as their ultimate destination. Even those drinking Kool-Aid in [...]

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Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ Five Stages of the Singularity

by Socrates
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After the release of a major documentary such as Transcendent Man, our very public and well publicized defeat at Jeopardy by IBM’s Watson, and a growing mainstream coverage of the technological singularity, I started wondering about the potential stages of humanity’s collective emotional and other reaction towards the concept of the singularity. Arthur Schopenhauer claims that “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” So does this relate well to the singularity? Let’s see. Firstly, is the singularity often ridiculed? It seems to me that so far it has been predominantly ignored, though that observation is increasingly inaccurate as we get more and more coverage in the media. Secondly, has it been violently opposed? Well, we did have the Unabomber, even though Richard Clarke’s Breakpoint-type of [...]

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The Singularity and UFOs: Can ET Teach Us Anything about the Singularity?

by Nikki Olson
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The connections between extraterrestrial life and future technology are numerous, and have been widely discussed in science fiction literature and by physicists such as Michio Kaku. There is basic logic to the connection: if life in other galaxies is able to travel to our galaxy, it is thought, then we should assume their technology is more advanced than our own and that they have already reached their ‘Singularity.’ Recently I attended the 20th Anniversary International UFO Congress in Scottsdale, AZ, which included 5 full days of presentations, special events, and films, attracting over 700 attendants. Various theorists, physicists, former military personnel, many of whom claim to have witnessed extraterrestrial life, presented ideas and stories on a wide range of topics. I was surprised by the lack of discussion of the technological singularity at the conference. However many of the presentations [...]

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The Technological Singularity Goes Mainstream (Again)

by Socrates
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The technological singularity goes mainstream again (and again). The last 12 months or so we have witnessed an unparalleled growth of mainstream coverage of transhumanism, the singularity, artificial intelligence and Ray Kurzweil. Some of the more notable mentions include: PBS on Ray Kurzweil and the Singularity; the NY Times’ Humans are so Yesterday; Ray Kurzweil on the Daily Show with John Stewart and New Zeland TV features Singularity University. (Yeah, it does seem that Michael Anissimov is right to say that Transhumanism Has Already Won.) Yesterday, Time Magazine’s cover story was about Ray Kurzweil and Barry Ptolemy‘s long anticipated feature documentary Transcendent Man. It is hard to get any more mainstream than that. I hope that people will go to watch the film en masse, listen to what Ray has to say and start thinking about the vital issues stemming [...]

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