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The Singularity

Technological Singularity

Artificial Intelligence
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The technological singularity is the hypothesized creation of smarter-than-human entities who rapidly accelerate technological progress beyond the capability of human beings to participate meaningfully in said progress. Futurists have varying opinions regarding the timing and consequences of such an event.

Vernor Vinge originally coined the term "singularity" in observing that, just as our model of physics breaks down when it tries to model the singularity at the center of a black hole, our model of the world breaks down when it tries to model a future that contains entities smarter than human.

Vernor Vinge on the Singularity
What If the Singularity Does NOT Happen?

Intelligence explosion

In 1965, statistician I. J. Good wrote:

“Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an ‘intelligence explosion,’ and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make. ” 

The Singularity Is Near

To appreciate the nature and significance of the coming "singularity," it is important to ponder the nature of exponential growth. Toward this end, I am fond of telling the tale of the inventor of chess and his patron, the emperor of China. In response to the emperor's offer of a reward for his new beloved game, the inventor asked for a single grain of rice on the first square, two on the second square, four on the third, and so on. The Emperor quickly granted this seemingly benign and humble request. One version of the story has the emperor going bankrupt as the 63 doublings ultimately totaled 18 million trillion grains of rice... 

From The Law of Accelerating Returns, by Ray Kurzweil.

Pros and Cons of Advanced AI

"Advanced AI has the potential to impact every aspect of human life. We are in a crucial window of opportunity where we have temporary but powerful leverage to influence the outcome," said Tyler Emerson, chair of the summit and executive director of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. "

Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence

Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics

Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics are one of the earliest examples of proposed safety measures for AI. The laws are intended to prevent artificially intelligent robots from harming humans.

  1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
  2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
  3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Later, Asimov added the Zeroth Law: "A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm"; the rest of the laws are modified sequentially to acknowledge this.

source: wikipedia

3 Laws Unsafe

3 Laws Unsafe is a web site based on the premise that human-equivalent AIs and robots will one day become possible, and that Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics are too simplistic to ensure a positive outcome.

3 Laws Unsafe

The World-Wide-Mind Project

The World-Wide-Mind project proposes that the construction of advanced artificial minds may be too difficult for any single laboratory to complete. 

Singularity Articles and Resources

What is this Singularity?
Acceleration Studies Foundation
Technologies Which May Take Us to Singularity
Surviving the Singularity - YouTube video
Discussion of Vinge's Singularity Concept (1998)
How Long Before Superintelligence?
Tearing Toward the Spike
Surviving Immortality: Just getting to the Singularity is the hard part

 

 

 
 

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