Friday 1 October 2010

The Singularity Is Bullshit Part 3


Its interesting that no-one (not even its enthusiasts) can really agree on what the nature of the Technological Singularity even is.
1. We know it can't be because technology gets faster and faster because that simply insn't true - just a a few days researching at the libary shows that idea is largely marketing hype.
2. Nanotech is very much in its infancy and making bold claims about what it may or may not be capable of is more hype - some proposed ideas may not even be possible (Damn you laws of physics - the ultimate bubble burster)
3. We are going through a internet revolution but it still hasn't given us anything really new - just made doing certian things a lot faster and given idiots like me a platform to shout their crazy ideas which they would not have had before.
4. The idea that we can build a AI that is smarter than us which can then go on and build its upgrade and so on - well seems the most possible but we have been listening to the promise of AI for over 60 years and its still just around the corner...
5. Computing processing power does not double every 18 months but the number of transistors on a chip does double - Computer processing does not measure anything but speed of calculating something that is not intelligence thats just speed - there are some problems that can;t be solved by brute force calculations sometimes you just can;t build the software
6. Humans improving by incorporating technology - is again very long way off we can barely make replacement body parts let alone devices which are a improvement on what we are born with. Cochlear implants are a good example, contary to popular belief you don't "hear" you have to learn to interpret the signals which the cochlear implant gives - A lot of Deaf people remove them even if they get implanted at a young age - its a big mistake to think that a disability makes somebody less than a human and I think the same goes for hypothesised improved humans thinking they are more than human.
7. Intelligence explosion - Again this is subjective how do you measure intelligence? Is intelligence just being able to manipulate technology? Is Wayne Rooney a genius because he is a expert football player? When we have a definition of what intelligence is prehaps we can understand how it may be improved.
8. Humans get scanned into a computer - this is weird its just like thinking that humans have a soul and it can be digitalised (Neither of which I buy). Even if it was possible to make a prefect digital representation of you it would not be you, so why would you choose let your digital representation be you and live your life in virtual reality. Its like deciding that you want to die or hide inside your technology? That seems to be a very strange choice and in a way quite sad like giving up on existance.