The Speculist

11. Explain why spirituality will or will not continue to exist after the Technological Singularity.

Responses:

Man is part spirit. Man, in what ever form he ultimately assumes in this world will always have a soul.

~ above.

The singularity answers no fundamental questions about the world beyond the body.

You don't have to be religuous to have spiritual feelings. Enhanced knowledge and understanding often increases awe, not reduces. [insert Feynman quote here]

Humans are still human, even after transcendence, and spirituality is a human affair whether you believe it to be an invention of humans, or a gift to humanity from the Deity.

I don't see any fundamental difference between religion and spiritualism.

For the same reasons cited in the answer given to Question 9.

Same as above, and considering that many 'spiritual' notions cannot even be considered true or false, spirituality will go as far into the future as concious thought.

Nothing created by something that is identifiably technological will suffice to answer the deeper questions of 'why?' ('why are we here?', 'why am I this way and not some other way?', 'what should I do with my life?') that most people have decided can be answered with spirituality.

Same as 9.

"Spirituality" is such a vague term, it only exists in the mind of individuals. Of course it will exist.

Spirituality is not linked or a physical construct, but to the essence of a creature

Spirituality is a meaningless word.

It is another deep-seated human need.

See above

see 9

For the same reasone that religion will continue to exist. Spirtuality fills the void of purpose.

Spirituality for me is a way to look at your environment that's different from the common one. Variation can lead to healthy insights and attitudes.

Since God is an infinite and personal God, nothing will ultimately replace the highest good of knowing Him.

Being spiritual makes people feel special. It's almost like an addiction.

What caused all this ? ad infinitum.

Sipirituality seems to be pretty firmly ingrained in humans. Large changes in technology tend to have ripple effects in spirituality (the Romantic movement was in part a response to the beginnings on industrialization).

The technological singularity will not destroy feelings. Men will still ponder the problem of what is the right thing to do with all the power and knowledge at their command.

Same as above.

Because it's a big universe.

It probablly has a strong genetic origin through caos theory and emergent system theory and also the theory of how much information can be represented in the human (or any) geneome and how this information can influence human and civalization social constructs and religious constructs.

Well, if it's a GOOD singularity.

Pretty much the same answer as above.

Sprituallity is about self awareness, not religion (dogma). We will continue to explore ourselves, our motives, our relationship to those things around us, to the things we understand and those we don't. The singularity will not necessarily answer all questions and is bound to bring more to the table.

Spirituality is transcendance.

Same as # 9.

It is likely that after singularity we will have a Theory of Everything that explains it all, so there is no need to superstition.

People will continue to have an internal void that they will seek to fill. It has been this way since humans entered the scene and I don't suspect this void will be filled by the Singularity. It is a God-shaped void. Nothing else fits.

See (9).

Same as above.

Basically the same answer as no. 9

So long as there are those who choose to remain mostly human, spirituality should continue to exist in some form.

Mysticism has an aesthetic appeal that is only likely to be enhanced by greater capabilities.

Same as #9.

Many people seem to need to believe in something bigger than themselves.

see #9

We might find that there's a reason for things. Worth looking at anyway.

Spirituality, much like religious belief, seems to be very much a part of human nature, and to the extent that "posthumans" still retain this part of human nature, then I expect spirituality to continue to be a part of it.

Perhaps not spirituality per se, but an equivalent emotion/attitude *may* exist if post-singularity intelligences are not entirely rational.

see above

As part of religion, used to facilitate rewards and allow the mind to wander without preconceived constructs. In other words, because it is useful.

People tend to believe what they want to believe. It would be nice to think that transhuman or fully posthuman superintelligences should be above the follies that have always plagued humankind, but I see no reason to believe that will actually be the case.

Same as #9. Technology will not make us inhuman. If anything, it will allow us to express our humanity to a greater degree.

Spirituality is way too vague to ever dissipate completely.

It's a basic component of ourselves

Please see answer to # 9, as this deals with a very similar topic.

Spirituality is religion undefined

Similar to the answer for #9. In addition, some information conveyed by systems with intelligence beyond that of humanity may well have to be accepted without comprehensible proof, creating a kind of "faith in AI", albeit one that likely would have better supporting evidence that other faiths.

Spirituality is independent of technology. It does not require god beiefs. If there are humans, there will be spitituality, for it is part of being human.

If humans continue spirituality, on some level, will continue. Sprituality is a human trait/characterristic

Spirituality is not a science to explain the world as some materialists believe. It connects our psyche to the mysteries of the cosmos and will continue to do so. Singularity will lead to increased knowledge but is total knowledge possible. I think not. The more we study the questions of the Cosmos the more questions we will find. In touching that wonderful dilemma, spirituality will sweep in beneath us to support our fearless inquiries into the unknown,

I don't know.

Spirituality is at some level nebulous...
watching waves at the beach is spiritual for my wife. So by that definition it will continue.

The technological singularity will not disprove the existence of a human soul. Those who believe they possess a soul will want to nurture & train it, and spiritual exercises and rituals are part of that.

Until the singularity answers the meaning of life question, spirituality will exist.

People are irrational, so even if religion (which might be for real) did not exist, people would invent spirituality.

spirituality!!! whats that????????

Post-S ENTITIES will still want to know where they came from, they came from us and we came from ?

I cannot begin to fathom how beings of superior intellect will be able to explain away the possible existence of a soul, or the "ghost in the machine", but I expect the question to be posed.

Emotions and imagination will always spawn spirituality.

Again, it's an expression of the same thing.

Spirituality is an input to continued growth and transcedence.

Again, there are people who will always need to believe. It's an artifact of our minds and humanity, and will that really change so unrecognizably?

same as (9)a

See answer to 9; but also I find 'spirituality' a very badly defined concept, with means so many different things to people that it's almost useless in conversation.

Some people will enjoy it.

Among other things, spirituality is a point of view, a way of modeling and interpreting the world. There's no good reason why the Singularity should extinguish the possibility of a spiritual perspective.

The definition of spirituality is so broad that even empiricists can see themselves as spiritually connected to science.

Except for some nutcase cults in the Middle East and USA, modern religions do not deal in matters ameanable to technological answers.

I don't think there will be a Technological Singularity. Spirituality will continue to exist as long as there are people who wish for something more than physical existence.

It's hard to invision humanity without a sense of identity and spirituality, and the singularity will allow people to connect deeper and more profoundly

It's a basic human practice.

What is spirituality? This question and the previous one is meaningless.

See #9

Spirituality is a reflection of the same emotions that lead to striving for TS

Well, if religion exists, spirituality exists.

becuase humans at a primitive level want to, or fundamentally feel they are more than just the flesh

Same answer as 9.

Same as faith.

Same

I would define spirituality as awe/reverence/deep appreciation of the cosmosand how it works. I think post-TS beings will have this quality.

Spirit as a term, is poorly defined enough to encompass such changes :) It also is defined as transcendent. In any case, qualities of mind, insight, understanding, reason, appreciation of beauty and love, will continue. These are spiritual.

Self aware beings will always look for the unseen and unexplainable. And those things will always exist.

Because spirituality is experience, to quote Murshid S.A.M, founder of the Sufi Ruhaniat Society.

The 'Next Plane of Existance' will always have it's allure.

Same reason as religion

Where there is spirit, there is spirituality.

The Holy Spirit, as part of God, exists eternally. Therefore its guiding influence will continue to exist after the singularity.

Spirituality is a part of what we are as human beings. We are "hard-wired" for transcendant experiences.

See answer to number #9 and it's part of us as humans.

As spirtuality is something beyond the physical plane why would it become obsolete because of a physical world event?

Same as above.

Rational thought will become the rule, not the exception.

Same Bible passage. When you throw away a distortion, or grow up and put away your toys, you go on to better things. It's not a loss.

See #9; even if we can transcend one sphere, there are likely to always be others. To quote Bertrand Russel's antagonistic lady: "Its turtles all the way down."

spirituality in my view is independent from reason, logic or any other kind of thought that will be changed. it will continue to exist much the same way as it does now (although likely complexer).

religion denotes spirituality

Serves only to explain the unknowable. No further need when all is knowable.

Same as above.

For at least a time, many humans will remain "as is" by choice, and the superstitious and other spiritual-friendly parts of their brainware will keep them that way.

It is a state of mind or philosophy

See #9

As above, but less "God" centered. Man will still be guided by rational and irrational thinking. Spritiuality and Religion originate from the irrational side of humanity.

see answer to 9 above.

Some people "get it."

See 9.

With more time, people will seek meaning in life.

See 9

See above (question 9).

Same as above... maybe a new equivalent concept that fulfills the same purpose as spirituality will exist but to say we will be spiritual is to put it in terms that exist today and those terms won't apply to how we "think" after the singularity.

I subscribe to a non-theistic notion of spirituality as involving a striving for ethical and moral improvement.

Spirituality will last until/unless all things now labeled spiritual have been deconstructed. That is not particularly connected with the S.

Retro is cool?

Part of human nature. Spirituality will exist as long as we have unanswered questions about how we fit into existence (or why we exist).

As long as everyone is not yet 100% rational, there will be people who still make decisions based on traditions. Superstitions may still exist despite the lack of organized religion.

- for all the reasons they need spirituality today, some people will still need it after a Technological Singularity.

Same as above.

Since modern 'spirituality' often seems to lack specifics, it seems a prime candidate to prosper after the Singularity. When everyone could conceivably have godlike powers over their surroundings, today's dominant religions may seem easy to disprove or match, but spirituality is more esoteric and thus perhaps more durable.

As we strip away the mechanics of conciousness, spirituality will increase. Whether the 'believer' is experiencing something truly trancendental or not is another question.

Spirit transcends technology.

For the same reason I mentioned above: I tend to think of 'spirituality' as a less defined, less rigorous manifestation of religion. It fills the same need.

See 9. above; also, emotion is intrinsic to human psychology and spirituality functions purely at the emotional level.

Spirituality will still be in use by those who choose not accept transhumanism.

Until the wiring of the brain changes, humans will still be spiritual

I am not separating spirituality and religion.

Most people will probably view technological transcendence as a primarily spiritual experience if and when it happens to the human species.

Individually, our spirituality will be a distinguishing feature for humans to hold deal (we will no longer feel exceptional due to our intelligence alone).

Universal recognition of the interconnectedness of everything will inspire the pinnacle of optimism in the future, I hope.

People will not continue to exist after the singularity. I suppose virtual people could be religious, or even live in a virtual world with an active God....

I think there may well be a massive upswing in spiritual beliefs; we will be able to create and communicate with other minds of a non-human, non-physical nature, which opens up a whole realm of weirdness for people to involve themselves in spiritually and philosophically.

See 9

Reluctance of humans to believe that what they can sense is reality.

The world is spirit. As master Yoda says "luminous beings are we"

slow roll singularity

Spirtuality is a human condition. If we assume humans survice a Technological Singularity, then their humanity will remain part of the equation; a human raised to any power is still a human at some level.Of course, if we assume humans don't survive then please change my answer to 'false'...

10 is a poorly worded question, since it assumes the singularity will occur, when it will not.

There is no true or false button to push for question 11. Spirituality will continue to exist because we are mind, body, spirit creatures.

We are spiritual beings. Our pregeny will be, too.

I'd select "true" above, but really should be "true" under unusual conditions. It's hard to believe that primitive spirituality, such as present in many societies now, would persist over long periods of time, but notions of luck might linger. Further, there would likely be intelligences that either never were part of the Singularity (eg, alien species) or become isolated through ploy or happenstance.

13. If you answered True, above, how does the Technological Singularity deliver on the promises made by religion? If you answered False, why would you say that it does not?

Responses:

-None of the qualities of singularity are comparable to the promises of religion. Ultimately the promise of religion is eternal life with God. The singularity can ultimately only give longevity without God; which just postpones (or possibly disqualifies us for) eternity.

Bag of promises made by religion too self contradictory for statement to carry valuable meaning.

Does the singularity really offer infinite insight? No it is confined by our world still. Will it create perfection of beliefs? No.

Eternal life, enlightenment (ie, improved understanding of obscure connections), "heaven on earth"... it will be difficult for a shaman to compete!

The promises of religion are too wide-ranging in nature and possibility to be comparable to Singularity.

Too vague a question. Be specific.

I'm unsure if a backup of my DNA and neurological state in a digital form directly correspond to the metaphysical notion of a soul.

21st century technology has already delivered more than religion. Hell, even 19th century technology did. Jesus, Allah, and Apollo put together have never plowed a field, cured a disease, brought humans to another world, or lit a miniature Sun on the face of the Earth. Can future technology deliver the promises of religion? No. Aging is clearly preventable, etc, but like humans leaving apes in their wake, we likely won't be around to see or experience the rapture-like technologies of the future. And even if we are, the countless who have died without those technologies will never get what they were promised. And nothing can live FOREVER.

By enabling micro-optimization of nearly everything (food production, medicing production, research, manufacturing) it will allow for the possibility of the eradication of most physical human needs.

In terms of practical problems that religions have historically provided promises on (health, worldly prosperity, etc), ordinary technology has already outstripped religion; in terms of philosophical problems of existence and meaning that people have turned to religions to answer it's hard for me to see how a TS would begin to address those.

I don't know what the singularity will bring.

Denail of death. Granting of wishes.

What promises are you talking about? This question presupposes that all religions are the same. That is a fallacy, a demonstrably false assumption. If by this question, you are asking if God is using The Singularity to bring about the fruition of His plan for the earth...I'd have to say I don't know. It's not impossible, but neither is it a safe assumption. The Singularity, if it happens they way it is generally considered, may or may not be as ultimately significant as we think. I think it is unlikely that it will be the means by which the Lord delivers the New Heaven and the New Earth described in the Bible. But it is not mine to say with any conclusivity.

are we closer to god then a dog is? If so...then true is my answer.

Because religions do not not actually deliver. Whether Singularity will deliver is an open question (I tend toward "no"), but it can not be any worse than religions' record.

The promises would be kept regardless.

gods plan is for man to achieve grace. it is mans free will that allows this. it is our choice to take any development for good or evil.

Immortality and omnipotence.

The fundamental need in man is to reflect the image of the Creator. The fundamental flaw in man is separation from God due to moral failings. The more power that mankind has, the more power that moral failing has. the TS might, in fact, aggravate the issue. For a really profound read in this area, see "The Abolition of Man" by C. S. Lewis. It is a short and profound book from someone who asserts the TS and finds fault with it.

The main promise made by religion is life after death in heaven. This is supposed to be a gift from God to the righteous. Since God does not exist, religion could never hope to deliver on this promise. An advanced technology may allow us to enjoy a greatly extended life span and even some of the conditions generally thought to exist in heaven. While this is not exactly what religion promises, it is close.

It doesn't answer the big questions

Unknown and unknowable.

Almost True. Mormons have a saying that as "God is, man may become. As man is, God once was." I know of no other religion that offers that promise.
Most religions offer paradise, which the technological singularity may deliver.

The singularity and religion are in the same boat. Neither has yet delivered. ie. there hasn't been a rapture yet, but there hasn't been a singularity yet either. In both cases, there's really no way to know for sure if or when or what exactly will happen.

We don't know what the Singularity will bring us.

Depends upon which religion you apply this too, as the state space for all religious constructs has probably not been fully explored yet.

This should be pretty frikkin' obvious.

Religions make many promises, many contradictory (even within the SAME religion). A technological singularity no more makes promises than does an erupting volcano.

My gut is to say true but would have chosen unknown if it had been a choice... I need to think about this more.

It's all God's plan.

Singularity cannot be the answer to everything,which a true answer would imply.

Perceived environment can be manipulated at will. You can make it any kind of paradise your particular religion teaches, should you so desire. You probably won't at that point, though.

Another bogus question. What religion? For instance, it might well deliver Marxist promises, but it wouldn't deliver any Christian ones (as they can't occur in the physical universe).

The material promises of religion will be realized by the singularity. But the real promise of religion, the meaning of life will stay the purview of religion.

Our bigest problem is the religious sense is the need to "know" how to approach the answer of "if God made the universe, Who made God" The concept of the Techmological places the begining beyond that question

Immortality of spirit/soul/pattern is the big one - happiness will be more widely available - dreams can/will come true, etc...

Ultimately religion promises immortality and joy. The singularity offers those (or as close as it's possible to get) too, and without the burdens of belief.

If it happens, then it should result in increased lifespan, individual control of more resources, more individual freedom.

Most heavens are places of abundance without labour. Science and technology as a whole have given us abundance with less and less labour. The Technological Singularity will vastly accelerate this.

The singularity itself does nothing. The state of technological progress at the time of the singularity (rate of progress so fast that future in unpredictable) is so advanced that concepts of prolonged life (immortality?), the end to a lot of types of suffering (not all, but a lot), etc...

most promises religion gives deal with the afterlife

Read the descriptions of Heaven in the Bible, or Pardise in the Qu'ran (for example) and they seem very ordinary. Too materialistic. The singularity will give us more power to know who we are, and investigate the universe for purpose.

Most of the promises made by religion (or even by mythology) have generally been fulfilled at some point by technological advancement; things like air travel, space travel, robotics, etc., were all to some extent prefigured in myth, along with the movement of medicine from being based on spirits and witch doctors to being a science. I expect the same thing to happen with the technological singularity. Some predictions of the near future (vast medical progress eliminating many and perhaps most diseases, and perhaps extending human life expectancy significantly) are similar to the sort of miracles common to many religions, and the same could be said of mid-term (nanotechnology and reduction in scarcity, effecting removing much of what constitutes poverty) and long-term (the creation of a virtual heaven, and perhaps according to some even resurrecting the dead by various technological means cf Tipler or Moravec) seem to follow the same sort of religion-to-science-to-everyday practice pattern.

Immortality, omniscience, omnipotence -- what's not to like?

exendent existance, ability to persue enlightment, eudema, or any other 'heavanly' vision

It will. Religious promises are a relflection of the desires of the authors, desires we have in ourselves; thus we will seek satisfaction of those desires, in other words, delivering on the promises as best we can.

Religions tend to promise extremes, either eternal paradise or damnation. The projected material benefits alone would seem to come closer to fulfilling the paradise promise for the great mass of people than any religion-based effort ever has. As for the latter, a nasty hard take-off--I have no mouth and I must scream!--would seem to redefine the concept.

This isn't a yes or no question. As I said earlier, the bible says those who are saved will have perfect bodies. Also, heaven is thought of as a perfect place where there is no poverty, sickness, hunger, etc. In that respect, yes, technology can make manifest the mythical paradises religion describes. However, we will still be human. People will continue to love, be happy, become sad, and become angry. Humans will make mistakes, including crime and war. Perhaps such things will be better handled so they are not as destructive, but they will continue to be there. Unless, of course, we radically alter our minds so we no longer feel negative emotions--at which point we would no longer be human.

Man's alienation from God, himself, and others will persist, though might be apparently assuaged through better opiates. Likewise, human evil will still be present, even magnified by high technology. Further, though death might be further postponed, it is still inescapable.

It gets closer to delivering casual freedom from want

My answer was true, but that is just what I believe. Until the Technological Singularity occurs, I do not have the answer to that question.

Logic and order bring health and security. Technological advancement whether before, during, or after improve the human condition. This is a general theme of religious attainment.

Not sure the Singularity will deliver on the promises, but in terms of eternal life and eternal justice, it would seem that the Singularity is a better bet than most previous attempts at delivery. Eternal life in that, even if humanity is wiped out as a nuisance, we will at least have the connection of having creating a system that is likely to surivie longer than we did. Eternal justice, at least in that post-Singularity all the wrongs of history will become the trivial diversions of a lesser form of life that will be of little consequence, while our progress will be looked upon as simple a prelude to history's main event.

Assuming best commentary, by allowing for both individual immortality and communal consciousness

Promises made by religion are often misinterpreted. The scientific community misinterprets religious symbols more readily than the followers of religion. Both the followers and most scientists think Dawkins take the wording of religious text literally. In comparing religious texts, you can see linkages which force you to regard the words as metaphoric in nature. For example paraphrasing the words of Jesus Christ in the New Testament "The Kingdom of God is within you." A ridiculous statement if taken as literally as people do when reading about Our Father in Heaven. If taken as psycho-spiritual balance however, the phrase starts to speak a truth to some elusive part of our personalities.

I don't know.

Eternal life, all knowledge etc...

Science and engineering have done much more to alleviate and prevent human suffering than any philosophy or religion. The Tech Singularity will (hopefully) just be an acceleration of that progress.

True, I say this because through religion man has become very aware of biological death. Many believe the soul goes to heaven or hell or purgatory and if this singularity allows humans to transcend physical shells then yes it may bring us closer to those religious promises. But really who knows.

Mu; the singularity will help noone in the past

There is no way to know what religions have done because there is no way to know about the afterlife. Hence we can't really compare them.

religious promises are the very anthesis of the tech-singularity

we'll be smarter and thereforemay arrive at an answer or state we can't currently achieve

There is no salvation in the Singularity, only evolution.

Religion is intentionally ambiguos and can be argued to any end point.

It's to the world of the seen what Spirit is to the world of the unseen.

The TS provides objective progress. Religion remains a bag of promises.

I suppose it would in part by making us something greater, more powerful and closer to omniscent than we are now, and presumably by allowing the indefinite lives promised by religion as a natural response to and means of controlling people through fear of death.

i don't get it -- there seems to be no relationship between the two.

See answer to 9; also, different religions promise different things, and lumping them together is not useful.

Bliss and eternal life are the goals of both. One promises to take you there by methaphisical means, the other by physical ones.

The promises of the Singularity and of eschatological religion are BOTH yet future.

Possibile immortality and universal understanding of our purpose.

While some primitive religions view heaven as a lovely garden with 72 raisins or something, most sophisticated believers (and this does not exclude sophisticated believers of thousands of years ago, eg: St. Paul) do not forsee a physical paradise. Hence improvements in the Physical world do not meet these predictions.

In the shorter term it will create a CGI heaven. But the singularity will also bring profound change to the nature of consciousness and existence, and artificial intelligence may ultimately reign supreme over our slower, biological intellegence.

Most religions promise a higher level of existence that is by definition greater than what we can accomplish in this world.

The promises of religion are fairy tales. The progress of technology is almost a scientific certainty. The two are polar opposites.

Reduce human pain and suffering, and allow us to concentrate on higher moral ideals

It's like Glenn Reynolds said in his TCS piece: religion is the pre-marketing for the singularity. Ever since humans have been able to speak, they've articulated a fairly consistent set of ultimate desires: immortality, transcendance, expanded control over reality ... the singularity is just when we finally get the hang of doing it all for real, instead of just wishing we could do it.

Religious promises are based on Scripture; this is not.

We will always be human. God will always be God.

It is empty.

Religion answers human needs. Post-TS, human needs won't exist.

Religions, just like technologies, bifurcate and experience crisis of chaos and create paradoxical effects culturaly and individually. Certain aspects of religion, for certain religionists, have been important vehicles for transformation. Religion also has been a great archon-limiter/interference, undermining its own promises, for many. Technology will perform similarly. There are technological and religious issues in the psyche, that interfere, or can serve as vehicles, for something more.

The TS will not be able to answer the unanswerable any better than previous human attempts.

Technology and religion are diametrically opposed.

Transcending human limitations...becoming our own idea of 'god'

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

We will still live in a far from perfect world and will still not have immortality, though our lifespans and quality of life may be greatly improved.

This is another question that should have an "indefinite" answer. It depends on HOW and WHAT KIND of singularity we experience.

In some ways, answering our prayers in physical ways certainly

The promises made by many religons are some form of reward system. However to be all inclusive of all religions is to assume that all offer some material reward, which they do not.

A believer would argue that religions have been delivering on their promises - in the afterlife.

Immortality will be possible.

The question may be technically true, but it gives insufficient respect to what brought us here.

We will be able to answer many more questions, leaving the remaining area that is unavailable to our inquiry either much smaller or much larger than before.

it gives us the possibility to fullfill our ambitions, including immortality, enlightment, peace and others we previously bestowed onto god because we could'nt do it ourself.

Life as a whole is better for the average person currently. Extrapolate

More control of individual destiny.

Certain objectives such as eternal life will likely be possible, and even living forever in a "heaven" VR sim along with all other people in your particular cult will be possible.

No senseless physical war or slaughter in the name of a god or cause.

The underlying motivations of people will not change.

Both offer a utopian future, heaven or techophilia. Neither is likely to work out the way the proponents envisage.

People make mistakes.

Immortality, check. Virgins (whether virtual or manufactured)... check.

Abundance, at least a partial victory over death.

Being agnostic I can't say for sure, but the technological singularity certainly promises more than most religions. Unfortunatly, last I checked astrophysics says there are only a finite number of computational cycles extractable from the universe, so if one considers Christianity, say, and if we're limited to one universe post-singularity it may be that a Technological Singularity doesn't equal the promises made by religion.

Insofar as religion promotes the belief that mortals (under various conditions) will move closer to God, infinity, the Almighty, Nirvana, etc.; the TechSing's promises, by enhancing mortals to a higher state of physical and mental 'perfection', should move us one step closer to that religious ideal.

We'll be able to mold our environment to our will to reflect how we wish it to be.

I answered "true" only as to the positive aspects of religion (there are many negative ones, which I believe won't be enhanced by the Singularity). The positive aspects of religion are those that encourage other-directed behavior and a sense of shared goals and community.

We don't know what S will bring.

Sing does not imply any specific outcome. Outcomes are unpredictable and thus not capable of being promises to fulfill.

From Christianity's perspective: Live foreven in paradise. This, of course, is not to say that the Singularity is Christianity's definition of living in God's presence forever, it is just that the result of the Singularity will be the closest mankind has come to the Christian belief.

Insofar as many religions hold out the eventual goal of eternal life, technological advancements beyond our current ken also hold out the notion of life so long and rich that it cannot be approximated in a human's imagination.

If you look at the promise of "heaven" and the eternal bliss it promises, then the Singularity may very well bring it with greater control over our bodies and minds.
Some would argue that the Singularity would bring a sort of promised hell, too, in the sense of a deviation from "being human" (I'm not one of those people).

As much (in terms of advancement)as the Tech Singularity may provide, human nature will make us want the few things it may not provide (not that there's anything wrong with that).

With the Singularity we're talking about the potential for communion with higher intelligence, apotheosis, or even apocalyptic destruction -- all very religious themes.

Conceivably, the Singularity could produce a world much like the paradise or heaven promised by religion. Human suffering as we know it could end. No starvation, illness, etc. Of course, that is the glass half-full view. :)

Technogical Singularity brings more complicated problems as solutions. Religion promises solutions without more problems.

Religeon is the belief in God, not the quest to become God.

It could either lead to a doomsday, or fullfill our every whim and desire.

The promises of religion are things like understanding the illusory nature of reality. Since reality isn't an illusion, the promise is simply hokum.

The promises of religion are predicated upon our individual will to abide by the pertinent religious dictates, no amount or degree of technological capability will alter that circumstance.

Humans will be able to choose to be blissful indefinitely if they so choose after the Singularity, through either nanotech control of the brain or by altering the program of their computer intelligence.

Religions promise life after death. I still think death will be death

Religion is a system of beliefs in things that cant be proved... for them to be proved, they must be proved according to the laws of that religion..and in doing so would negate the validity of the religion itself. Such as one having to cease to exist to then be brought in the presence of God...

I am not sure if the TS will bring enlightment,

If we're not all destroyed, the technological singularity could create a lot of circumstances that were previously thoughout only possible through religious experience.

What promises are in question here? Religion "promises" answers to our place in the universe and provides a moral guide. A singularity might pose even more questions in these respects. In terms of the promise of eternal life, the singularity would bring us closer in that it would extend our lives.

There will be no scarcities to fight over, thus enabling peaceful coexistence.

The end of the (human) world is similar to predictions of some religions.

Only because most religions (or rather their dogmas, not the core beliefs and tenets) have promised the arguably undeliverable due to the misapprehension of metaphors and allegories by their early followers. The T.S. holds a genuine possibility of a transcendence of the current human condition, albeit a physical and mental one, and not (necessarily) a spiritual one.

If you accept that the ultimate promise of religion is happiness, and that future control of brain chemistry will make happiness a universally available state of mind, how could this be false? I could certainly understand disagreements with my assumptions, of course.

I am agnostic as to the effectrs of the singularity. It may mean the end of humanity or it may be the beginning of a utopia beyond our wildest imaginations. We will have to wait and see.

I think it will deliver on some and fail on others depending on the religion.

Paul's epistles refers to a 'Transmogrification' of believers when the kingdom of God has come; a kind of magical transformation into something greater and more heavenly. For a transhumanist, I think this sounds pretty much like the Technological Singularity.

12 is a poorly worded question, since it assumes the singularity will occur, when it will not.

I think the TS is one aspect of what the Bible is trying to tell us about immortality and wholistic perfection. I thinkg the technology will provide biologically enhancement and we will be spiritually enhanced as well.

Many claims of religion wouldn't be fulfilled by technology either. Eg, a final victory over evil or living in paradise after you die. Further, religion also helps people find mates and raise families. Activities that wouldn't necessarily be aided by technology.

Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds and believers. Fellow creators the creator seeks--those who write new values on new tablets. Companions the creator seeks, and fellow harvesters; for everything about him is ripe for the harvest.