

What we talk about when we talk about singularity - bdfh42
http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2008/06/singularity_eco.php

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eyudkowsky
With a few bright exceptions like Robin Hanson and Paul Wallich, the IEEE
Spectrum issue follows the usual pattern: People who have no engagement with
the serious Singularity analysts, making up stuff at random and saying "This
is what the Singularitarians must believe."

The term now has at least three major separate meanings, by the way. See
[http://www.singinst.org/blog/2007/09/30/three-major-
singular...](http://www.singinst.org/blog/2007/09/30/three-major-singularity-
schools/) for preliminary disambiguation.

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DaniFong
I'm not sure why, but I've never heard singularitarians consider that
computation and intelligence is bounded by more hard constraints, like
physics, than will let exponential growth continue indefinitely.

~~~
JesseAldridge
Constraints have a way of crumbling in the face of ingenuity.

~~~
DaniFong
Some do, yes.

But I'll play my bets and say that NP-Hard will stay hard, the speed of light
won't be broken, and at a certain point you need to switch to reversible
computation because of landauer entropy, which will set space constraints of
it's own.

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hv23
Check out "Tom Lord"'s comment towards the bottom of the page-- interesting
take, but definitely a reach.

Nevertheless, it's something to consider, that maybe the growing popularity of
the Singularity notion is the next sociopolitical movement on the scale of the
60's counterculture era... allowing people to escape from where they currently
are by considering and believing in the vague notion of a distant future where
things are different, but they're not sure how... and that is why they spend
time thinking about and working towards their vague, alternate perception of
what reality is.

I'm not saying this is true, that technological trends do not point in the
sign of the concept of Singularity- in some way, shape or form- actually
happening. This viewpoint merely resonates with me because of the historical
reality of what we've seen with previous movements (and this extends beyond
just 60s United States).

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olefoo
I think that's the most amusing take on the singularity I've read so far.

But seriously, the singularity as such is just a name for the point passt
which it is not possible to make predictions right now. As such it's an ever
retreating goal, like trying to visit the horizon.

