The Singularity
Some of the theories proposed on this website might seem a little far fetched, and on first glance this theory might seem equally proposturous, but upon further investigation, it is probably the most plausible:
It is obvious that life is forever speeding up – in almost every area of life, change is occurring faster and faster. Technological breakthroughs spread through society in years rather than centuries; calculations that would have taken decades are now made in minutes; communication that used to take months happens in seconds.
The reason for this acceleration is that each new development is, so to speak, standing on the shoulders of what has come before.
This pattern is seen not only in technological advances, but in evolution of species as well.
And it’s set to continue in the future – each new phase requiring a fraction of the time required in the previous phase. In the future, we might expect the same amount of change we’ve seen in the last twenty years take place in years rather than decades.
It is difficult, therefore, to predict what the world will be like in ten or twenty years. Two hundred years ago no one predicted we would have telephones or movies, let alone cell phones or the Internet. Just twenty years ago, very few of us had any notion of the WorldWide Web, or of how dramatically it would change our lives. Similarly, who knows what new breakthroughs or developments will be transforming our lives ten years from now?
So where is all this leading? Some people think we are headed toward what is called a “singularity.” This is the term that mathematicians give to a point when an equations breaks down and ceases to have any useful meaning. The rules change. Something completely different happens.
As I mentioned, this pattern is seen in both technological advances and in the evolution of species, and there are effectively two singularity theories: the Technological singularity and the Consciousness singularity.
Have I whet your appetite? I’ll write about both of these separately.
September 8th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
[...] I mentioned earlier, it is obvious that life is forever speeding up. In almost every area, change is occurring faster [...]
September 11th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
[...] I mentioned earlier, there are effectively two singularity theories: the Technological singularity and the [...]
December 12th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
nothing will happed 2012……specily I want to said about children……dont weast your time……read well and think about light future