James Harvey: The Singularity is Just the Tip of the Iceberg

Posted on: April 20, 2012 / Last Modified: July 9, 2024

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A couple of days ago, I interviewed Australian James Harvey.

James is unique among my guests because he was the first interviewee whose willingness to take a chance on a brand-new podcast helped me kick off Singularity 1 on 1.

However, this is not the only thing that makes him different; James is also “a musician, a poet, a mystic and learned observer of Life…”

Most notably, in 2009, Harvey published his thought-provoking book Singularia: Being at an Edge of Time, which was my reason for inviting him the first time.

This time around, I asked James to share and discuss his unique Both/And point of view of singularity, which eludes the traditional dichotomy of the struggle of opposites but stresses their unity as parts of a whole.

In our first conversation, two quotes stood out for me:

1. I respect science and think it is a marvelous tool but I do not worship it!

2. We are Singularia

This time, my favorite quote is Harvey’s observation:

Our analog universe has an infinite resolution both zooming in and zooming out.

In addition, during our second conversation with James, we discussed a variety of other topics, such as the importance and differences of digital and analog worlds (e.g., mp3 files and live music); his book Singularia and why the singularity is a lot more than just technology; Jaron Lanier’s view that the singularity is rapture for geeks; and art, creativity, love, and the fear of death.

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