Transhumanists and other groups have long talked about a wide open future where technology reaches a growth spike that results in technological change that is not comprehensible, one that will lead to super human intelligence – a singularity. Once considered a science fiction concept, it now tends to receive mainstream coverage. Back in June I briefly noted some recent books that were getting popular attention. There is a lot of attention focused on Ray Kurzweil’s new book The Singluarity is Near. The book is due out tomorrow, and I plan to swing by one of the Borders or Barnes and Nobles in Columbus (although Amazon has it discounted by 41%). Here is a good review of the book, and the book’s website. An additional commentary from Marginal Revolution can be found here. Kurzweil also keynoted the just finished Accelerating Change conference.
Implications for Extension Professionals: Good information about potential futures and the effects of exponential growth of information and discovery.
[...] Wired news has an interesting article today listing what it considers the top 10 discoveries in 2005. A neat listing of science related stuff. It makes me think even more of geometric in knowledge and its impacts (see this post for more information on the concept of the singularity). Some of the interesting things: more decoding of other animal’s DNA, concern over climate change, and the continued increase in our ability to change our bodies, the food we eat, and our environment. [...]
[...] Future Salon carries word of a free Singularity conference at Stanford on May 13. I think this is further proof that a once peripheral concept has gained mainstream attention. This is longer term future stuff, but maybe not as far out as one would imagine. The concept is extremely tough for most folks to get their arms around. Basically, humans and their tools reach a stage where higher than human intelligence is created. See the definitions or descriptions here and here. I talked earlier about the Singularity concept coming mainstream here. [...]