Will the Singularity arrive in 2045 as Ray Kurzweil predicts? Will it never arrive, due to global catastrophe or technological failure? Will it arrive with apocalyptic horror, as an “UnFriendly AI” annihilates our species? We wonder, we dread, we anticipate nervously. But there’s - at least - one human being who is ecstatically convinced that The Singularity will solve all humanity’s problems and embrace us ever-afterwards in a blissful paradise. This person has renamed herself “Singularity Utopia.”
SU’s brilliant, explosive pink images abound all over the ‘net, particularly on sites that speculate on the future. Who is “Singularity Utopia”? Here’s her self-description:
“I’m a self-defined superlative mind-explosion expert, located in Cyberspace, specializing in Post-Scarcity awareness via instantiations of Singularity activism. Acutely aware of the Self-Fulfilling-Prophecy phenomenon, I rebel against the benighted mediocrity of our stupid world. I can be provocative, I could be more diplomatic, but I’m always very aware of consequences thus all my actions are based on very sound reasoning even if my blunt truths aren’t initially endearing.”
I interviewed this mysterious, complicated cyber-persona last week, via email. Our dialogue follows below:
Hank Pellissier: How did you decide on the name Singularity Utopia?
Singularity Utopia: My Singular name is intended to educate people regarding utopia. To fully comprehend my identity people need to consider my perception of prominent commentators.
When I became aware of the Singularity it was immediately apparent Ray Kurzweil hadn’t fully grasped the mind-bending ramifications, which is ironic considering the great awareness Ray has raised. My extensive research confirmed Ray was wrong, furthermore many other pundits were falling prey to the same irrational mistakes made by Ray.
Failure to realise the inevitability of utopia causes errors in the thinking of Ray and other prominent futurists. Perhaps utopia does not fit with the business model of entrepreneurs such as Peter Theil. Maybe when Bill Joy famously explained Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us he was subconsciously expressing his personal fear regarding the obsolescence of billionaires.
Commentators regarding the future often have a utopian-critical outlook, very lacklustre, mediocre and derogatory. They think utopia is impossible. Facts regarding utopian-precursors are often overlooked or downplayed. Perhaps entrepreneurs and other Establishment voices are financially adverse to explaining how everything will be free by year 2045, thus people such as Paul Allen dismiss the Singularity.. Speculatively I’ve suggested William Gibson’s Singularity antipathy could originate from his inability to write fiction equal to the awesome reality of Singularity science fact.
People often have hostile reactions towards immortality; super-intelligence; no jobs (everything being free). Sometimes I feel I’m an atheist interloper stumbling into the middle of a very conservative Sunday sermon, screaming loudly God is dead. Bizarre but true, utopia can be an offensive concept. The almost rabid castigations of utopia remind me of creationists berating atheists. From my viewpoint the Singularity is the new atheism challenging orthodoxy. Many people representing The Establishment appear afraid because the Singularity challenges their dearly held assumptions, therefore ironically they try to smear and dismiss the Singularity by saying it is religious. Looking rationally at all the evidence it’s clear utopia is inevitable, but many people can’t see it therefore this is the origin of my rebellious name. I’m extraordinary intelligent. My mind is incredibly incisive. Naturally I’m perfectly configured to become a dominant force regarding Singularity expositions. I seek to educate people, my name represents this.
Hank Pellissier: You have an optimistic vision - can you describe for our readers what you believe life will be like after the Singularity?
Singularity Utopia: When the Singularity happens our world will be a place of mind-blowing ultra-efficiency. For example it would be easy to power ten million sugar-cube-supercomputers solely via your body heat or glucose. Consider the prospective efficiency of a brain on a chip. This ultra-efficiency will eventually impact on all areas of science and technology therefore everything will ultimately be free.
Each person will have the power to create absolutely anything they want. Governments and money will cease to exist. Anyone will be able to easily print their own spaceship then leave Earth to create their own fabulous new world. People will be able to rewrite their DNA so that they can fly unaided like Superman, or run faster than a speeding train. Stem Cells and nanotech will ensure our bodies are eternally young and immortal. You could redesign your body to have wings or tentacles or both, the only limit is your imagination and our imaginations will be limitless. The Singularity is all about limitlessness, total freedom, a breaking of all barriers, it is Post-Scarcity. There will cease to be a scarcity of intelligence. Intelligence will explode, which means everybody will be perfectly happy.
Hank Pellissier: Can you give me your reasons for believing that the Singularity will definitely happen? and your reasons for having the timeline that you have?
Singularity Utopia: In 2009 the Blue Brain Project stated they were ten years away from creating an artificial brain. In 2011 IBM said they were ten years away from creating an artificial brain. Already we can create synthetic platelets, synthetic synapses, an artificial neural network made from DNA, or E. coli logic gates for prospective bio-computers.
There is plentiful sci-tech evidence, regarding tangible progress or forecasts, thereby establishing the certainty of the Singularity. Since my expositions began in 2010 we’ve seen a growing awareness of our utopian future. For example Peter Diamandis recently published the book “Abundance”, and Planetary Resources was launched regarding vast profits: ” One asteroid may contain more platinum than has been mined in all of history.” When my utopian expositions began it was perhaps difficult for people to see how utopia is inevitable but now with our growing knowledge there is greater awareness of how resources exist in “…near infinite quantities in Space”. In addition to massive untapped Space-resources we see breakthroughs occurring each month to increase efficiency of available matter. IBM forecasts they will create a supercomputer, the size of a sugar-cube running on low power, at a speed of “one ExaFLOP/s”, sometime around 2021. IBM recently broke the world supercomputer record and Intel has launched the Xeon Phi “coprocessor” which it claims will “accelerate the pace” of discoveries and innovations. During the “Knights Corner” developmental stage of Xeon Phi the processor was described as a supercomputer on a chip.
Computer scientists are planning for one supercomputer in 2021 to be faster than 50 million 2012 laptops. The question to ask is what will a supercomputer in the year 2021 be able to achieve if it can out perform 50 million laptops? How much faster will the next generation of supercomputers be in 2031? Via contemplating these issues you can grasp the Singularity happening no later than 2045. Visualize the maturation of 3D-printing or computing. In 1981 the very primitive ZX81 computer was launched. Now 31 years later in year 2012 we have our current internet-connected devices, which are vastly superior to the ZX81. Now imagine current computers or 3D-printers progressing at a rate comparable to computational progress between 1981 and 2012. You will certainly be able to print your own personal spaceship by 2043. Importantly we must note the rate of progress is not identical, today we’re progressing at a much quicker rate, we’re accelerating all the time, thus printing a spaceship will be incredibly easy in 2043.
3D-printing is in its infancy but already one printer can print with 107 different materials. Rapid nano-scale printing is possible, and we can bio-print blood vessels, organs, or muscle. Everyone will possibly be printing personal spaceships in the mid-30s or earlier; 2045 at the latest.
Hank Pellissier: What are your personal post-Singularity goals?
Singularity Utopia: My identity clearly indicates I’m deeply interested in intelligence exploding, but people don’t really think about why I want intelligence to explode. Why am I determined to accelerate the intelligence explosion? The answer should be obvious. Either I am stupid therefore I seek a cure regarding my intellectual disability, or I’m very intelligent thus I seek a solution to the horror of living amidst idiots.
Stupid people generally don’t possess the intelligence to think about intelligence exploding. Stupid people are more likely to be interested in mediocrity or random acts of violence. A cursory glance at my expositions reveals I’m at least somewhat intelligent. Based on the limited information I’ve presented regarding myself, it’s obvious I think I’m a supreme genius therefore the next question, which should be obvious, is: how does it feel to think you are incredibly intelligent living amidst morons? My life is incredibly painful.
My personal goal is cessation of the excruciating mindlessness plaguing our world. I simply want people to understand me, but sadly when I state I’m a superlative mind-explosion expert, or the ultimate superlative genius, people idiotically think I’m being arrogant. My post-Singularity goal is to relax, enjoy life, be happy. I want to be free from senseless pain, perhaps in a nice cottage surrounded by meadowland, close to a majestic forest. I will tinker with biology, creating fabulous creatures. It would also be nice to fall in love. The best thing will be freedom from morons.
Hank Pellissier: Have you met with opposition and/or success?
Singularity Utopia: People often tell me how I’ve inspired them, but I also encounter lots of negativity. Tweeting recently with Mark Pesce I mentioned how all jobs would be obsolete by 2045 due to AI and 3D-printing, but Mark thought my logic could be invalidated because he is older than I am. He tweeted: “@2045singularity Yeah, don’t _even_ get me started. Seriously. I’ve lived in this world from before you were born. #yawn.” I then mentioned how Peter Diamandis outranks Mark Pesce on age, but Mark was silent. It seems impossible to win against Mark-Pesce-types. Criticasters who think they can invalidate the Singularity by smears or dismissal of logic are very depressing, thus despite my optimism for the future I often feel horrendous despair regarding the present.
David Brin apparently criticizes the type of personality drawn to the Singularity. He seems to think I engage in “magical-transcendentalism. ” Commenting personally to me, David wrote: “I am talking there about PERSONALITY… a desperate will to BELIEVE one’s way into a better world. That personality has always been with us, a transcendentalist will to transcend this imperfect plane.” On his blog David mentions the words “incantation,” “nerdy,” “mystics,” and “God” in connection with the Singularity. Elsewhere in response to my defence of immortality David uses the words “narcissism of the fantasy” to criticise the psychology of wanting to live forever. David explained how he reacts “…with sighs and eye-rolls to all this fervent “hosannah” shouting over salvation…”.
Of course I am desperate to change the world but no more desperate than Rosa Parks, Patricia Stephens Due, or Martin Luther King. Crucially my desperation doesn’t cloud my logic. My rationality is impeccable. I’m a person of deepest integrity therefore I’d never compromise my logic merely to assuage my desperation. I’m extremely intellectual, I think about various possibilities very carefully, thus after detailed examination of the Singularity I decided to give my passionate support. Compromised logic is not an option for me, I would prefer to kill myself. Thankfully I live in an epoch where we genuinely have hope for the future. There is a way out for desperate people, suicide is not an option. Nevertheless when I encounter defeatist-mentalities I often wish I was dead. Our pre-Singularity world is a cruel place.
Hank Pellissier: Can you describe to me the purpose of your designs that promote the Singularity?
Singularity Utopia: My designs are primarily conceptual. The meaning is the overriding focus. I pay enough attention to superficial details thereby enabling the surface, the medium, to competently carry the message. My designs tend to have an overloaded, saturated, post-scarce, overly rich theme of explosiveness. I try to highlight the passion of extreme intelligence, a love of the future. The purpose is world-changing-awareness. I want people to realise the impossible is possible.
Hank Pellissier: How can the general public help in the advance towards your vision of the Singularity?
Singularity Utopia: It’d be a great help if Ray Kurzweil, Paul Allen, Peter Theil, and any other philanthropic millionaires clubbed together to give me 20 million dollars… LOL!
Humour aside, the best help is if people share my Post-Scarcity symbols or other images, thereby spreading the news of looming technological utopia. Write a letter to your politician asking for greater sci-tech investment regarding the Singularity. Raise awareness. Change minds.
Already it appears Ray Kurzweil is changing his mind about utopia. In contrast to earlier dismissals of a vastly better world Ray recently said: “I’ve actually grown up with a history of scarcity - and wars and conflict come from scarcity - but information is quite the opposite of that.” Ray also commented on the book Abundance by saying: “This brilliant must-read book provides the key to the coming era of abundance replacing eons of scarcity. Abundance is a powerful antidote to today’s malaise and pessimism.”
Our progress towards utopia will be marked by more people appreciating looming Post-Scarcity. Change your mind, become aware. Prepare for utopian Post-Scarcity: the Singularity. Everything will be free. It will blow your mind.
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