The singularity....is near?

[Skeptic]

I don't know whether this will be a new term to a lot of you...perhaps not!

I have recently been reading and researching Ray Kurzweil.

Ray Kurzweil has been described as “the restless genius” by the Wall Street Journal, and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes. Inc. magazine ranked him #8 among entrepreneurs in the United States, calling him the “rightful heir to Thomas Edison,” and PBS included Ray as one of 16 “revolutionaries who made America,” along with other inventors of the past two centuries.

His view is that within our lifetime, the rate of technology growth will mean that not only will the boundary between human beings and computers become blurred, but also that we (those <30 more certainly) will live forever.

His bridge to a bridge theory. Look after yourself now (bridge 1) through healthy diet and exercise, long enough to get to bridge two where you will be able to reprogramme your genes, which allows you to get to bridge three where you can live for an exponentially long time.

Thoughts; crackpot who's scared of death, or genius who's on the right track?

http://redux.com/stream/item/1996532/Ray-Kurzweil-s-Bridge-to-Bridge-Path-to-Immortality

 

[thepeteh]

If we all live forever it's gonna get hella crowded.

 

[J-FRO]

thanks for the reminder, need to take my vitamin tabs before bed time.

 

[fewfe3]

I feel sorry for the 31 year olds, just missing out on living forever, gutting

 

[Judgeneo]

I'm not sure about his timescales... but I certainly think its possible. Will have to look up this guy

 

[Morba]

****, I'm 32

 

[rare]

I don't think the human mind could endure more than it already does. Our planet to small,our resources to far stretched to be able to keep so many billions alive. Death is a necessity for everyone eventually.

 

[Castiel]

Ray Kurzweil is a bit of a crank.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_made_by_Ray_Kurzweil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Kurzweil

 

[Skeptic]

Next time; SC.

 

[arcon33]

Anyone looking for more info should research transhumanism. They sell this off though like everyone will benifit from life extention technology but in reality only the super rich will benefit from this. How will we be able to sustain food and resources if everyone lived forever?

 

[Castiel]

 

[deusexlumina]

I don't think the human mind could endure more than it already does. Our planet to small,our resources to far stretched to be able to keep so many billions alive. Death is a necessity for everyone eventually.

This. Standard population growth models show that eventually there will be problems.

There's no restraint/restriction on the growth of our race. Some countries have policies but theres no global "hard policy" to ensure we dont take more than can be replenished.

The population will grow. The resources will becomes stretched. Prices will increase. The wealth gap will widen.

If the population continues to grow even more, there will be wars for resources. Forget oil, now we're talking about water and arable land. Widespread famine, disease and malnutrition are possible i guess.

Doom and gloom? yep. but its the price that will be paid for raping our planet of everything it can provide for money money and yes more money.

/rant.

 

[Jokester]

Not sure if the video addresses this, but the singularity principle is that at some point we develop technology so advanced such as self improving AI that once developed our own technology rather than us will continue to advance us at an ever increasing rate due to the complexity of the AI evolving itself. Think Skynet

 

[dowie]

I'm not sure about his timescales... but I certainly think its possible. Will have to look up this guy

This tbh...

I'd have said that unfortunately people alive today are likely to be among the last few generations who won't be living extremely long lives.

Genetics might provide a significant boost to lifespans but as the lines between humans and computers become blurred we'd perhpas be looking at more sci-fi esq scenarios and have the potential to exist as beings outside our bodies, grow new ones etc.. etc..

 

[GreatAuk]

Not sure if the video addresses this, but the singularity principle is that at some point we develop technology so advanced such as self improving AI that once developed our own technology rather than us will continue to advance us at an ever increasing rate due to the complexity of the AI evolving itself. Think Skynet

Sounds like a barrel of laughs until some bug gets passed around everywhere and all the super duper machines crash...

sooooooo, who knows how to fix this 'ere robot operated hydroponic farm?
*silence*
... Of course, I think it'd be fairly silly if there weren't any backups or anything, and there weren't so many safety procedures in place that this would never happen, but you never know - an AI trying to make itself more efficient may do away with all the redundancy... That would be fun.


It does seem to me (just from reading random articles) that we are getting closer to this as a reality though - 'genetic algorithms' for getting simulated bots to walk around, that kind of thing, the automation of all sorts of things - it really is seeming within reach. I look forward to the wonderland of marvels this AI may one day produce.

 

[Radiation]

I think some get carried away with predictions on science and technology, while i don't doubt things can potentially get incredibly complex and advanced, there has got to be some real limits to whats actually possible in reality and they may fall far short of some peoples imagination.

I reckon quantum computers will be capable of amazing things, maybe even super intelligent AI will evolve but i doubt a singularity will happen, technology can get only so small and complex, the laws of physics can only be used in certain ways, like if theres no way around the speed of light or alternate ways of FTL travel then we are limited in how far we can explore space, the same goes for many other scifi ideas.

 

[mufc802]

So basically we turn into computers and computers turn into us.

 

[Van Hellseek]

I think some get carried away with predictions on science and technology, while i don't doubt things can potentially get incredibly complex and advanced, there has got to be some real limits to whats actually possible in reality and they may fall far short of some peoples imagination.

Reminds me of the Biopunk vs Cyberpunk thing.

The stereotypical Bladerunner-esque future is no longer realistically possible, thus traditional cyberpunk is somewhat redundant. Biopunk follows much more modern (and possible) visions of the future, despite being classed as a sub-genre of something less realistic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biopunk

 

[V4NT0M]

What's not possbile about a blade runner future?

 

[muon]

He predicts interstellar travel. So he is guessing the current laws of physics are incorrect. That is a very bold statement, which he clearly cannot prove. Therefore all predictions can't be taken seriously.

edit:

I think some get carried away with predictions on science and technology, while i don't doubt things can potentially get incredibly complex and advanced, there has got to be some real limits to whats actually possible in reality and they may fall far short of some peoples imagination.

I reckon quantum computers will be capable of amazing things, maybe even super intelligent AI will evolve but i doubt a singularity will happen, technology can get only so small and complex, the laws of physics can only be used in certain ways, like if theres no way around the speed of light or alternate ways of FTL travel then we are limited in how far we can explore space, the same goes for many other scifi ideas.

Whoops already mentioned.