The Singularity Is Here…For Some Of Us

Is the Future already upon us, but we just don’t see it for what it is? We already have an augmented lifestyle, don’t we?

I think this is a good point.  We are already at a time of accelerating technological returns.  And, some people do have trouble keeping up with the pace of change.

Technology continually advances along with technological access.

Tim Tyler makes a similar point in this clip “Against the Singularity”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vASaDnRbSXg

Now, while Tim Tyler’s stance against the use of the word “Singularity” can be taken positively or negatively.  He does raise a similar point as this article.

I’m not sure that there will be a point that we can point and say “That’s it!” I agree that we are living in a much more augmented time than previously. What is missing for me is the maturity as a species to start solving problems rather than just pushing them further into the future for the next generation to deal with.

As such I would suggest that the singularity as Kurzweil envisions it hasn’t happened, and may yet fail as we crash in a flaming wreck. Still, I think we are progressing, just slower than we need to.

I wrote this post on google+ back in April, I think it fits well into this topic:

Technology and humanity are merged. I think this is actually moot. There have already been books written (eg. the artificial ape) that make the argument that our evolution has always been dependent on technology, from fire, to stone tools, to slings for babies. I consider a technology a constructed extension of cognition, and our ability to learn that technology such that it becomes automatic. For example the way talking (actually I think language/communication is one of (if not the) the original technologies) or walking are automatic. If you accept this definition, then technology is already merged with us. In fact how we think and relate to the world is dependent on the context of technologies we use. If we accept this position, then the singularity has already passed.

There has never been a separation of humanity and technology.

I’m firmly of the opinion that the Singularity is more of an epoch - like the “atomic age” or the “bronze age” - that we are quickly transitioning into from the old-fashioned “information age”. 

This isn’t the *first* singularity - written communication and the industrial revolution spring to mind as other prediction-shattering inflection points - but as the world gets more connected, and tools, information, and other forms of power are democratized, I’m comfortable saying this is going to be the biggest one yet (and even so we may all live to say “That’s it?”).  It’s almost like humanity is strategically pre-positioning the resources necessary to make it *really easy* to change things on a massive scale.

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