We received a Time magazine article from an anonymous source ( she surely wishes to remain unknown. We will just call her Julia. How embarrassing to have it known that one still reads The Lying Rag. That's my pet name for Time which I have not read in the last forty years )
Considering the source ( the magazine, not Julia ) it is a remarkable article which could well have appeared in a learned scientific journal. It's thesis is the rapidly advancing world of technology. From a relatively slow start many years ago it seems to be advancing exponentially, so much so that within a short time we can hardly imagine where this may take us.
It seems likely that computers will be able to pick our brains and perhaps even take them over and give them input. Diseases will become a thing of the past and old age will become a distant memory. Space travel will become commonplace. No problems will remain unsolved.
Try to imagine some point where there can be no more progress. Everything will be done. I don't know if the singularity people have gone that far.
4 comments:
I don't usually read any magazines at all. Have sometime read Discover and Scientific American, but I usually stay away from "news" and opinion rags.
In the world of science, I would say we are 10-20 years away from some things that could change things up a little.
From Quantum computers, materials sciences, and meta-materials, we are likely to see things become possible that currently simply can't be done.
From what I have read, I suspect a more direct mind/machine interface is still pretty far off. Such fascinating progress will likely require big advances in the medical sciences and the aforementioned computing sciences.
However, as intelligent as humans are, I supect we will find an inconvenient way to kill ourselves or our planet before we get anywhere near that "Singularity".
Need more B L O G S, more B L O G S, yes...
I agree! Need more blogs Dad...
If it makes you feel better Dad - I'm usually too busy to read Time Magazine - the "lying rag." They have some interesting articles - like the one I sent you on Singularity.
I, like Tom, feel it is highly unlikely we will get to the Singularity as the planet is plagued by so many problems with insufficient resources to solve them.
What I found intriguing was that there is a University dedicated to exploring the concept of Singularity and that many impressive people are heavily involved in this area.
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