Singularity & The Final Question

[SRL+]

Imagine a technology so advanced that it could answer any, and all questions posed. Literally, from are there ET’s, to is there a God, or where did we come from, and where are we going. Think this is far fetched, well think again, because this is where we are headed. Just today in Venture Beat there is an article entitled “worlds first commercial quantum computer sold to Lockheed Martin.” I have included three clips (one audio, and two videos). Vallee and Kurzwell are hopeful, and yet hesitant. Chalmers view is somewhat pessimistic. Vallee’s view of the advancement of the technology is especially interesting, explaining how this technology will advance into a straight line instead of the slower (S) curve. Perhaps one day the mysteries of the most profound questions posed by humans will be answered by an advanced technology in which humans created. I realize that humans are naturally curious, and that is how we learn, and advance. At the same time I wonder what will happen if the mystery is taken out of the mystery, possibly leaving intuition, perception, and imagination behind.

http://www.youtube.com/user/consciouspictures#p/a/u/0/86YjzAsgBtE

A New Era Beckons with Jacques Vallee - Free MP3 Downoad

 

[tyder001]

I honestly think we will find more msystery. Kuzweil isn't somebody I take very seriously. I read something in the Skeptical Inquirer (OMG Angel just fainted.) I'm kidding. Anyway, he's not somebody I would put a lot of stock in. But, then again I have to admit that I'm biased. I have my own ideas and like most (actually all) humans I am partial to my own worldview.

 

[Hotkafka]

Imagine a technology so advanced that it could answer any, and all questions posed. Literally, from are there ET’s, to is there a God, or where did we come from, and where are we going. Think this is far fetched, well think again, because this is where we are headed. Just today in Venture Beat there is an article entitled “worlds first commercial quantum computer sold to Lockheed Martin.” I have included three clips (one audio, and two videos). Vallee and Kurzwell are hopeful, and yet hesitant. Chalmers view is somewhat pessimistic. Vallee’s view of the advancement of the technology is especially interesting, explaining how this technology will advance into a straight line instead of the slower (S) curve. Perhaps one day the mysteries of the most profound questions posed by humans will be answered by an advanced technology in which humans created. I realize that humans are naturally curious, and that is how we learn, and advance. At the same time I wonder what will happen if the mystery is taken out of the mystery, possibly leaving intuition, perception, and imagination behind.

http://www.youtube.com/user/consciouspictures#p/a/u/0/86YjzAsgBtE

A New Era Beckons with Jacques Vallee - Free MP3 Downoad

Yeah, Ram Dass and Tim Leary had a similar idea and it involved dropping LSD into the water supply. Now it's technology. Twenty years down the road I'm guessing there will be a similar "coming down to Earth" around processing the naivitee about such a proposition.

 

[SRL+]

I'm not talking about a mere twenty years from now. No, how about one hundred fifty, to two hundred years from now when what is now known as the computer is replaced with a much higher technology.

 

[boomerang]

Brilliant people have been known to espouse some pretty wacky ideas. This brings to mind "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and the computer Deep Thought.

 

[trainedobserver]

I'm not talking about a mere twenty years from now. No, how about one hundred fifty, to two hundred years from now when what is now known as the computer is replaced with a much higher technology.

In the end any use of computer technology, no matter how advanced, if limited by the creativity and skill of human programmers. These things only do what they are impliedly instructed to do. The dream of self programing human level machine intelligences seems on one hand more like a nightmare than a dream and on the other hand an unattainable goal. I think A.I.s that are close enough for government work will be developed but they will at best only mimic human intelligence incompletely.

 

[TClaeys]

I honestly think we will find more msystery. Kuzweil isn't somebody I take very seriously. I read something in the Skeptical Inquirer (OMG Angel just fainted.) I'm kidding. Anyway, he's not somebody I would put a lot of stock in. But, then again I have to admit that I'm biased. I have my own ideas and like most (actually all) humans I am partial to my own worldview.

Keep in mind that Kurzweil isn't some random prognosticator. He is a really smart guy. He also has predicted numerous technological advancements and the pace of technological advancement itself. He has been dead on on with many of these predictions. He is also (as you may know) an inventor of sorts. I don't know a ton about him, but I know enough of his track record that his thoughts should be considered quite seriously mainly for the fact that he has been right most of the time.

Some ideas are further "out there" than others. But considering the technological age we have entered it's hard to really know if an idea is really "out there" or if it is just that people would have never dreamed of such things. I mean who was thinking about instant worldwide communication 2 decades ago?? I think that in another decade or two we will have a simliar revelation in the form of some technological breakthrough. Whether that will be good or not is anyones guess. But if you think you've seen some really wild things in your life, try sticking around for another 20 years and see what happens.

 

[mike]

In 1976, he created the first machine capable of reading books to the blind, and less than a decade later he built the K250: the first music synthesizer to nigh-on perfectly duplicate the sound of a grand piano. His Kurzweil 3000 educational software, which helps students with learning difficulties such as dyslexia and attention deficit disorder, is likewise typical of an innovator who has made his name by combining restless imagination with technological ingenuity and a commendable sense of social responsibility.

It's as well to mention at this point that, in 2005, Mikhail Gorbachev personally congratulated Kurzweil for foreseeing the pivotal role of communications technology in the collapse of the Soviet Union, and that Microsoft chairman Bill Gates calls him "the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence". A man of lesser accomplishments, touting the same head-spinning claims, would impress few beyond an inner circle of sci-fi obsessives, but Kurzweil – honoured as an inventor by US presidents Lyndon B Johnson and Bill Clinton – has rightfully earned himself a stockpile of credibility.

Kurzweil has credibility imo

 

[boomerang]

I've read some of Kuzweil's work, but my brain is not singular enough to have retained such complex material. But sounds interesting enough to give another look.

A thousand years from now: All consciousness may be cosmically intertwined as dancing energies on the 2D surface of some super massive black hole. Or just as easily--we could be back to picking berries and spearing little furry things to eat.