Naked in the Singularity
… is how I feel right now.
I’m at work, in my cube and I can’t connect to the ‘net through my laptop. Oh, sure, I can use this simulacrum of connectivity, but it feels weird, heightens my paranoia and limits my enjoyment. The reason for this lack of connectivity is that I made some modifications to my Airport last night and forgot to re-enable the dialup options. In other words, I n3wbed myself.
One of my favourite sci-fi authors, Vernor Vinge has an essay on The Singularity where he discusses his thoughts on the impending, technological (or possibly biological) cataclysm that will envelop our planet. It could be the ravings of a crackpot, or he might be onto something.
First, a definition.
a technological singularity is a predicted point in the development of a civilization at which technological progress accelerates beyond the ability of present-day humans to fully comprehend or predict. The Singularity can more specifically refer to the advent of smarter-than-human intelligence, and the cascading technological progress assumed to follow. Whether a singularity will actually occur is a matter of debate.
It’s an interesting read and Vinge covers lots of the angles to this. I still tend to believe that it’s unlikely to happen — the idea of a trans-human intelligence just popping into existence on a Pentium-class machine (or even a cluster of them) is fairly ludicrous, having seen what’s required to keep one from crashing with a dumb operating system. Augmenting our own intelligence gradually through computer interfacing is inevitable and ongoing.
My own intelligence feels limited today. I miss my internets.
boolean is currently listening to: The Wretched by Nine Inch Nails from the album “The Fragile”
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