The Singularity

[cyberPUNK]

Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity

Here's Vernor Vinge on the topic:

http://mindstalk.net/vinge/vinge-sing.html

I hate to sound paranoid but anybody else a little worried about this?

[chromesquared]

Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity

Here's Vernor Vinge on the topic:

http://mindstalk.net/vinge/vinge-sing.html

I hate to sound paranoid but anybody else a little worried about this?

Related article in the NYTimes, and no.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/science/26robot.html?em

[coalessence]

it is a rather frightening topic...but seemingly inevitable chapter in the grand scheme of evolution

if progress is rooted in morality, "the singularity" could be extremely beneficial, but therein lies the problem.

one of the best reads is "the singularity is near" by Ray Kurzweil

also a good article by Bill Joy from Wired mag.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy_pr.html

[Guest nondskrpt]

To be honest I think our first concern should come when we see evidence of machines self replicating. And really, I'm less worried about this than I am about peak oil, which puts issues like this on the back burner.

[redgrail]

yeah, this is pretty much a non-issue.

we can't prepare for every possible disaster. scarcity of resources dictates that we focus on the most threatening current ones.

I'm much more concerned about global warming and food/water shortages.

I'll start worrying about the singularity when machines develop creative intelligence and/or reproduction.

[shark jacobs]

I used to be pretty worried about this kind of thing, but now the more I think about it the more I feel like my worrying about this is like ancient Egyptians worrying about the industrial revolution.

Not in the sense that it is thousands of years away but in the sense that we don't have the cultural, or even cognitive framework to comprehend it.

My only remaining worry is that the post-modernists might go from being academic jackoffs to being the only ones who understand what's going on.

[sushijerk]

I'm not so much worried about a superhuman intelligence as much as machine with a viral instinct and the technological capabilities to replicate itself endlessly from raw materials, in which we will lose resources at an exponential rate.

I'm pretty sure that an actual super intelligent machine will run shit way better than humans, except the sheer greed of people at the current top of the heirarchy will never such an entity to exist or gain any kind of foothold.

[MilSpex]

LOL, this thread is filled with hype eating shitheads. "Peak Oil?" Oil is cheaper than its been for fucking ages. "Global Warming"? Earth has cooled for the last 10 straight years...jerkoffs. The future is obviously gonna turn out way different to what we think it will. The "singularity" is just the modern "flying cars" or "nuclear fusion", its not gonna happen, something else unpredictable will happen.

[Tyro1]

I'm looking forward to this. Sufu will be deaded obviously, becasue this is the point where humans just start wearing matching silver jumpsuits, but it's got to be be better than how the last two terminators turned out, right?

[broken_dubz]

i got to see some robotic surgey being done yesterday...basically a big machine with 3 arms that end with approximately 1cm diameter probes that have the 'hands' for holding instruments. in some surgeries, particularly those in the pelvis, blood loss is 10x less than when done by humans, another advantage is that the robot, though its arms are still manipulated by a human controller doesn't have the natural tremor of a human, thus eliminating any slips and the arms have 7 axes of movements, wheras our meat clubs can only move in 3.

i'll be honest with you, this scares the shit out of me. i remember being disturbed after seeing 'the second rennaisance' in the animatrix. humans are gonna be redundant sooner or later, my only hope is that i'm dead (from non-robotic causes) before that shit happens

[redgrail]

LOL, this thread is filled with hype eating shitheads."Global Warming"? Earth has cooled for the last 10 straight years...jerkoffs.

Hope you enjoy that penis in your hand.

[Egpt]

don't worry that's just milspex being his usual dumb retard, no one gives a fuck. i thought that now that he finally bust a nut he would leave his angry frustrated demeanors behind, but i guess that was too much to ask.

[Guest nondskrpt]

LOL, this thread is filled with hype eating shitheads. "Peak Oil?" Oil is cheaper than its been for fucking ages.

I'm sorry, how does the fact that oil is cheap at the moment effect the fact that it's a finite resource? You're right, the future is going to look a lot different than what most people expect it to.

[MilSpex]

Hope you enjoy that penis in your hand.

Your drawing only goes up to 2000. everybody else lives in 2009. 2000-2009 = no warming.

yet carbon emissions have been rising over 2000-2009. Soooo if carbon causes warming why isn`t it warming motherfuck? Any ideas?

Get the fuck out, jerkoff.

[broken_dubz]

yeh maybe global warming is an elaborate ploy to keep the emerging superpowers (china and india) out by imposing an economic war via sanctions over environmental reasons.

one good thing the economic downturn has brought has been the closure of lots of the fuckin factories in china that used to pollute the FUCK out of the air and it was getting bad in HK. it used to be that a day when you could see across the harbour was a rarity due to all the smog, now i can even see the constellations in the sky at night.

[Egpt]

Your drawing only goes up to 2000. everybody else lives in 2009. 2000-2009 = no warming.

yet carbon emissions have been rising over 2000-2009. Soooo if carbon causes warming why isn`t it warming motherfuck? Any ideas?

Get the fuck out, jerkoff.

when are kids supposed to learn how to read graphs correctly?u skipped that class or something? if u weren't such a dumb fuck u would have realized that the graph goes up to aprox year 2004

[MilSpex]

when are kids supposed to learn how to read graphs correctly?u skipped that class or something? if u weren't such a dumb fuck u would have realized that the graph goes up to aprox year 2004

So what? Every member of SuFu is a sandle wearing hippy now? When are you gonna wake up and learn never to trust hippies? Global warming is BULL SHIT.

The official thermometers at the U.S. National Climate Data Center show a slight global cooling trend over the last seven years, from 1998 to 2005. (this trend is continuing in the present, 2009 btw)

Actually, global warming is likely to continue—but the interruption of the recent strong warming trend sharply undercuts the argument that our global warming is an urgent, man-made emergency. The seven-year decline makes our warming look much more like the moderate, erratic warming to be expected when the planet naturally shifts from a Little Ice Age (1300–1850 AD) to a centuries-long warm phase like the Medieval Warming (950–1300 AD) or the Roman Warming (200 BC– 600 AD).

The stutter in the temperature rise should rein in some of the more apoplectic cries of panic over man-made greenhouse emissions. The strong 28-year upward trend of 1970–1998 has apparently ended.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1658580/posts

[Guest nondskrpt]

I've always found it interesting when people (see: non accredited climate scientists or meteorologists) debate global warming. I am neither an expert on the subject nor even really that well versed in the topic. I will say I lend an ear to either side and watch with interest what they have to say. Having studied the scientific method, I know the hardest thing to prove is a distinction between correlation and causation. The earth is warming up, any dummy can see this. Is it as a result of human made carbon emissions? The arguement goes both ways. Data shows this warming trend began before the onset of the industrial revolution. I guess my point is, anyone riding a wave of hype and shitting their pants cause Al Gore rattled their happy existence should do a bit more research on either side. An interesting place to start is by watching a documentary called "The Great Global Warming Swindle". Either way, I'm not particularly worried... because yes, with our industrialized society and population growing at an exponential rate, we won't have enough oil to continue business as usual. Some people suggest we've already peaked in global oil production. This means major changes in how we are fed, travel, and the accessories we choose to adorn our lives with. An idea worth looking into at least.

[MilSpex]

I've always found it interesting when people (see: non accredited climate scientists or meteorologists) debate global warming. I am neither an expert on the subject nor even really that well versed in the topic. I will say I lend an ear to either side and watch with interest what they have to say. Having studied the scientific method, I know the hardest thing to prove is a distinction between correlation and causation. The earth is warming up, any dummy can see this. Is it as a result of human made carbon emissions? The arguement goes both ways. Data shows this warming trend began before the onset of the industrial revolution. I guess my point is, anyone riding a wave of hype and shitting their pants cause Al Gore rattled their happy existence should do a bit more research on either side. An interesting place to start is by watching a documentary called "The Great Global Warming Swindle". Either way, I'm not particularly worried... because yes, with our industrialized society and population growing at an exponential rate, we won't have enough oil to continue business as usual. Some people suggest we've already peaked in global oil production. This means major changes in how we are fed, travel, and the accessories we choose to adorn our lives with. An idea worth looking into at least.

Its the same shit as "man made global warming", negative stories sell and you won`t easily find the other side of the argument in the mainstream media. Fact is a lot of people say we got 3-400 years left of oil at the worst, even with increased production. I think thats enough time for mankind to naturally come up with alternatives. Anyway "peak oil" obviously isn`t imminent because the mostly hype price of $160 a barrel last year is now at $60. People came to their senses. Use your heads and think for yourself , hype is dangerous.