The Most Amazing Article I've Ever Read

[johnnycakes]

I am providing a link here to a Time Magazine article I read just yesterday.
It is about something called the Singularity. I am not one to get excited or stunned by much that I read but this article; what it contains shook my world in a way that no other ever has.
Ever consider immortality? You must have thought at some time or other where artificial intelligence is going, right? ; how smart computers are getting?
Ever thought about our bodies being able to repair themselves or being able to have a built in brain/computer interface?

Well what is absolutely going to happen within 35 years or so is going to change humanity to the point that all the so-called serious stuff we discuss in any and all of the fora here just fades dramatically in importance. This in not about politics or religion and mainly technology but, in the end, it will dramatically affect our thinking on both these
subjects.

Please read the article and come back and post your thoughts.

This is a fairly long article but please believe me, if you read it and I have never recommended reading anything (even Fidel's speeches or Christopher Hitchens or Noam Chomsky)as highly as I recommend reading this.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2048138,00.html

[jah_yout]

Re: The Most Amazing Article I've Ever Read

i'll believe this stuff once we cure cancer or AIDS

[johnnycakes]

Re: The Most Amazing Article I've Ever Read

jah-yout,

Did you read the article?
Do you understand that Kurzweill has always been correct as far as predicting technological events and progress is concerned.

Did you read and understand the entire article?

[franksterr]

Re: The Most Amazing Article I've Ever Read

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jah_yout</div><div class="ubbcode-body">i'll believe this stuff once we cure cancer or AIDS </div></div>

I think they already is a cure for both.

[Cultcha]

Re: The Most Amazing Article I've Ever Read

The thought that we humans are going to somehow merge with technology
is believable yes. Look at the pacemaker for example.

The question is, when artificial intelligence is eventually running the show, will we humans become obsolete and go the way of the dinosaur? Movies such as The Terminator and The Matrix come to mind.

[johnnycakes]

Re: The Most Amazing Article I've Ever Read

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Kotch_Foot_Milo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The thought that we humans are going to somehow merge with technology
is believable yes. Look at the pacemaker for example.

The question is, when artificial intelligence is eventually running the show, will we humans become obsolete and go the way of the dinosaur? Movies such as The Terminator and The Matrix come to mind. </div></div>


KFM,
Yes that is a big question. As the article asked: what happens when AI (artificial intelligence ) outstrips human intelligence?
I think at that point what happens depends on whether or not AI develops consciousness, morality.

I would guess if that happens then we will find out whether morality as I think, is an extension of logic and intelligence or not.

Fascinating no?

[franksterr]

Re: The Most Amazing Article I've Ever Read

Very interesting
Man has always liked to keep his tools as close to himself as possible - Hence the saying in Genesis &quot;in our likeness and image&quot;.
Humans can be define as a collection of memories or ideas saved on electrochemical ware. Seeing that way the marriage of man and machine has been a dance long since begun and only gets more intimate with time.
The singularity is the aim of all true religion or spiritual practice, called be various names by each disciple from salvation, cosmic consciousness, enlightenment Nirvana. Leave it to this generation to find a mechanical way of reaching there. The most common route was thru the use of chemicals in plants

[Nanook]

Re: The Most Amazing Article I've Ever Read

I used to love &quot;'Ive Got a Secret!&quot; I sort of remember the exact show...and yes, I can see this happening..but I thought it would be before the date quoted.

[johnnycakes]

Re: The Most Amazing Article I've Ever Read

Hi Nanook,

I sincerely wish that ability for the body to self repair and the extension of life whether in the bodies we have or in a cyborg body with our intellect intact would happen before I'm likely dead but hurray for those that do get to experience those extraordinary developments.

With all the dental work I've needed I used to regret not having been born twenty years later when they introduced fluoride and dental problems decreased markedly but after reading this article and grasping what is to come, having really good teeth seems to be really a small thing now.

Since I also believe that increased intelligence and knowledge will also eliminate greed hatred and a host of ways of thinking that make us so much less than we can and will be, I think the Singularity is going to be the greatest thing in history.

I don't know if those deeply immersed in the Singularity have addressed the political and economic fallout of it but I feel that the effects will reach into aspects of the lives and thinking of humanity in ways that we cannot now even imagine.

It will be the dawning of the Age of Humanity.
It will be as stepping out of the darkness of a cave into the sunlight.

[jah_yout]

Re: The Most Amazing Article I've Ever Read

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: johnnycakes</div><div class="ubbcode-body">jah-yout,

Did you read the article?
Do you understand that Kurzweill has always been correct as far as predicting technological events and progress is concerned.

Did you read and understand the entire article? </div></div>

i read most of it...
but i have seen this before;
they were predicting that by now every home would have a robot house-maid &amp; we would all be jetting around in flying cars...

i am very skeptical of this quote that:

<span style="font-style: italic">According to his calculations, the end of human civilization as we know it is about 35 years away.</span>

it is humans that have created any kind of intelligence possessed by machines, not the other way around---
religionists are looking for a sky god while technologists are looking for a machine god

[jah_yout]

Re: The Most Amazing Article I've Ever Read

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Kotch_Foot_Milo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The thought that we humans are going to somehow merge with technology
is believable yes. Look at the pacemaker for example.

The question is, when artificial intelligence is eventually running the show, will we humans become obsolete and go the way of the dinosaur? Movies such as The Terminator and The Matrix come to mind. </div></div>

i have seem humans program machines...

the question is-- how would a machine think on its own?
i have seen no evidence of independent thought from machines..
perhaps i am naive, but i do not think there will ever be a point where a machine will be as sophisticated as a human being in terms of systems working together...
on a stand-alone basis, the human physiognomy is far more complex than any machine currently in existence

[johnnycakes]

Re: The Most Amazing Article I've Ever Read

jah_yout,

The Singularity differs from what you think you have seen before because it is real and not science fiction.

Had you been able to grasp the implications of each of the many facets of the Singularity you would understand that it will indeed be the end of the sort of primitive civilization we now live in and the beginning of a new age of humanity.

What is coming is not a machine god as you see it but the advancement of knowledge to a point that Believers can only attribute such knowledge (a BILLION times what we know now) to their God.

As said years ago, science sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic.

Just as a cave man would have been stunned by a television so too will those advancements just 35 years from now stun those of us that are still alive.

You can argue with some of the things Kurzweill envisions but based on his record to date, not on the geometric progression of knowledge/technology.




Luckily, you're young enough so that you'll be around when the Singularity becomes the reality and you can say that I told you so.

[johnnycakes]

Re: The Most Amazing Article I've Ever Read


i have seem humans program machines...

the question is-- how would a machine think on its own?
i have seen no evidence of independent thought from machines..
perhaps i am naive, but i do not think there will ever be a point where a machine will be as sophisticated as a human being in terms of systems working together...
on a stand-alone basis, the human physiognomy is far more complex than any machine currently in existence [/quote]


j_y,
Your question was answered in the article.


and physiognomy is the human face. I think you meant to use another word.

[johnnycakes]

Natral, H_O, Derek Check In On This.

You three always have interesting outlooks on things like this. Can I have a few of your thoughts on the Singularity ?

[queenb]

Re: Natral, H_O, Derek Check In On This.

Can I get the Cliff Notes? I'm tired after a week of work, and relaxing with my vodka. I just can't concentrate now.