FastForward Radio
Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discussed the possibility of a mundane Technological Singularity.
No, not a Singularity where we only get stuff we don't need - like a razor with infinite blades - we're talking about the Singularity we'd get if both practical molecular assembly and artificial general intelligence prove impossible. Could you even have a Singularity without those things?
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The topics:
- Phil saw the great Rockies / Marlins game Friday.
- This past Monday was the 100th anniversary of the Tunguska event.
- Phil gave his review of the movie Hancock. Stephen reviewed Wanted. Michael thought Wall-e was "the best G-rated movie ever made." Stephen is looking forward to Gotham Knight - the animated bridge from "Batman Begins" to "Dark Knight." It comes out on DVD Tuesday.
- Brian Wang originated the idea of a mundane Singularity with this post. Phil had written a similar post awhile back. He was writing about near future developments - "no magic or miracles required."
- Lastly we talked about Phil's Declaration of Singularity. Stephen mentioned a scene in the HBO biography John Adams. In that scene Thomas Jefferson met with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. Franklin immediately changed "we hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable" to a more secular "we hold these truths to be self-evident." Apparently the scene was accurate.
Stephen cites this as proof that with freedom, nobody gets the last word.
- Electric inflatable car!
- Terrance McKenna- Time Wave
- Kurzweil's logarithmic paradigm shift chart.
- Mayan calander and the end of the world in 2012.
Our front bumper is a sample of Marginal Prophets' "The Difficult Song."
Our exit music this week is from Brother Love. The song is "Push."
Brother Love was previously on FastForward Radio with "Summertime."
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Comments
You had a very interesting discussion on my article Mundane Singularity and hit on all of the major points of it.
I am glad that you had an initial focus on my definition of a certain amount of energy to define affluence. Energy work can be a basic unit of money. With energy I can desalinate water. One of the units of energy is horsepower. The number of horses or units of manpower (measured in actual men) used to measure the wealth of royalty in older times.
I also prefer Phil's definition as paths to a radically altered (from todays level) world future.
In terms of reaching greater than human intelligence singularity. Vinge listed AGI and intelligence augmentation, human/computer interfaces, super networked computers as possible routes to an intelligence explosion. (I prefer to think of it as a productivity explosion)
In terms of biological augmentation. Craig Venter has talked about biological intelligence augmentation by ten times.
Human computer interfaces to million zettaflop computers.
Each individual having control of billions of near human equivalent agents and services. Computers that can drive cars in an accident free networked environment, robotic butlers, servants, chefs, surgeons etc...
http://mindstalk.net/vinge/vinge-sing.html
There may be developed computers that are "awake" and superhumanly intelligent. (To date, there has been much controversy as to whether we can create human equivalence in a machine. But if the answer is "yes, we can", then there is little doubt that beings more intelligent can be constructed shortly thereafter.)
• Large computer networks (and their associated users) may "wake up" as a superhumanly intelligent entity.
• Computer/human interfaces may become so intimate that users may reasonably be considered superhumanly intelligent.
• Biological science may provide means to improve natural human intellect.
Posted by: brian wang | July 7, 2008 11:34 PM