Singularitarianism

In the article, Paul Alan makes a claim that contradicts the claims made by Kurzweil and Vernor Vinge regarding “singularity” stating, “While we suppose this kind of singularity might one day occur, we don’t think it is near. In fact, we think it will be a very long time coming.” Alan lays out the article by providing the claims Kurzweil mentions in his article, and provides statements and evidence that contradicts them. He begins his article by providing the main thesis statement and claims made by two futurists, Kursweil and Vinge relating singularity. He then provides a counterclaim and develops his own thesis statement that disagrees with the timing of singularity. He comes up with a theory called “ the complexity brake” and also defines it and uses it to defend his claims. He also discusses artificial intelligence, which is crucial to the development of singularity. Alan develops a counterclaim based on the points he makes regarding the complexity brake. His claim insists that “the human brain is shaped with over millions of years of evolution to do one specific task, while a computer is formed using billions of identical transistors in regular memory that are controlled by a CPU”. When comparing the two, he stresses the fact that one is developed naturally, using an environmental influence, while the other uses a more synthetic approach. He believes that it will take a lot more time to understand the complexity of a human brain and a more extensive understanding of…

The concepts Ray Kurzweil puts forth in the documentary The Transcendent Man are both intriguing and frightening. Kurzweil discusses Technological Singularity, also referred to as the “Accelerating Change Thesis”, and it’s meaning as “…a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed…” Many of Kurzweil’s ideas or predictions regarding the changing of our technological world, stemming from…