it's just evolution as usual, with just yet another new replicator

we had genes

we had memes (cultures)

now we will have code replicators in sillica

​

evolution takes its course, the old dies, the new lives

Gorgon - Tony Hoagland

Now that you need your prescription glasses to see the stars

and now that the telemarketers know your preference to sexual positions

Now that corporations run the government

and move over land like giant cloud formations

Now that the human family has turned out to be a conspiracy against the planet

Now that it’s hard to cast stones

without hitting a cell phone tower that will show up later on your bill

Now that you know you are neither innocent, nor powerful,

not a charter in a book;

You have arrived at the edge of the world

where the information wind howls incessantly

and you stand in your armor made of irony

with your sward of good intentions raised—

The world is a Gorgon.

It holds up its thousand ugly heads with their thousand writhing visages

Death or madness to look at too long

but your job is not to conquer it;

not to provide entertaining repartee,

not to revile yourself in shame.

Your job is to stay calm

Your job is to watch and take notes

To go on looking

Your job is to not be turned into stone.

I'd rather feel pleasure than not exist lol

The word singularity comes from math where it means a part of a graph where a function becomes discontinuous (i.e. the value of the line at that point is either undefined or infinite). Things like evolution, immortality, and fusing together into a hive mind have nothing to do with it, at least not inherently.

The idea of the technological singularity comes from the observation that the rate of new technological advances is becoming faster over time such that our total level of technology is growing hyperbolically. If human technology continues growing at the current hyperbolic rate or something close to it then relatively soon we will reach the singularity on the graph of new technological innovations which is the point in time where the rate of new technological innovation will become infinite.

The general assumption of this subreddit is that the technological singularity occurs as the result of the creation of a self improving AI which will then proceed to rapidly create better and better versions of itself. The hope is that if AI is controllable or at least benevolent it could bring about a golden age where all science is known and essentially all economic activity is automated.

Wikipedia explains it better than I could ever do:

Factorial
Asymptote

So does digital immortality. You will end up in an infinite pleasure loop or eventually be destroyed by some accident or the end of the universe anyways.

Here is a great quote from C S Lewis about fear of annihilation

​

>
>
>“In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. ‘How are we to live in an atomic age?’ I am tempted to reply: Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.’
In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways.
We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances… and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.
This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”
― C.S. Lewis

Death voids meaning and makes your life virtually pointless

Intelligence has no bearing on the Turing test, while dramatized, please watch this scene for a better understanding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdmEIDaK7uo

No privacy considerations there, lmao. "Just feed your entire personal life into this black box that may keep it forever!" What could possibly go wrong?

Just keep a diary, bro. Nobody is going to ask themselves your example questions, in real life.

When did I graduate? Pretty sure people know this answer. Did I like the experience? Do you have dementia? You know if you liked it.

Why did I break up with X? Pretty sure you remember why. Did I contact her again? Why do you want to know this?

What did I eat on some random date? Who cares? Is this really worth literally giving a machine outside of your direct control (or understanding) access to this data, forever into the future?

Seems silly and only borderline useful. Not worth the tradeoffs you would be making.

that "meaning" you think that exists out there was made up by us as a coping mechanism.

biological species operate on physics/chemistry and some species are already immortal, some live for hundreds of years, and some for a few seconds.

try to come out of your bubble of tribal constructs to see more clearly.

I see lots of those posts about the Turing test being flawed. So I'm just going to comment that the strong versions of Turing tests (that is, trying to mimick experts in a field, or at least an intelligent human, certainly like Turing imagined it) are still far from being solved and would be a big indicator of AGI.

I argue your experiences give life meaning, and having 10x longer lifespan removes societal expectations on what you should and shouldn’t have done depending on your age

> What meaning will life have when we have no needs to fulfill?

You have no interests other than sustaining your needs?

Heaven on Earth or Hell will be interesting.

Hedonism

We are pursuing it because there are huge potential profits in it and western governments are afraid that if they don't do it the Chinese or Russians could get it first putting the west at a disadvantage.

There are historical precedents. The taming of fire, agriculture, the printing press, steam engines, learning how to use electricity, the internal combustion engine, flight and electronic computers. All changed society in massive ways. Humanity adapted.

You should read The Singularity is Near. A fairly rosy take on the Singularity. You should also read Our Final Invention a less optimistic view of the Singularity.

Overall, I would say relax. The Singularity may happen tomorrow, but it is more likely to occur in the 2060s or latter.

Another approach is to focus on family and friends, cultivating relationships and helping people you care for, hanging out with friends. That's what really matters in life.

You can't really affect anything coming, so there's no point in dread and fear. What comes will come. It's fatalistic, but a wholesome kind of fatalism, with a life filled with good people you have connections to.

First, those feelings are normal. Experts have them and if not, they'd be fools.

We are witnessing a transformation on the dynamics of knowledge and intellectual content generation like we have never seen, and it will be followed by similar transformations on the physical space of things, which is always the most difficult to do. Knowledge is tolerant to slight imperfections (e.g. an auto-generated essay with some small factual errors won't immediately kill someone), while robots working in the real world aren't (e.g. a self driving car can't make any mistake or it will crash).

Everything humans do that generates some knowledge will be disrupted. Graphic arts, movies and TV, architecture, science, literature, and yes, even software development, which seemed so far to be safe from disruption.

On the why we are pursuing this, it's complex, but I think it's because:

• It's easy and it works. The technology to do this is surprisingly affordable nowadays.

• We are free to do so. It can be done without any permission or regulation.

• It provides good return of investment to those knowing how to exploit it.

• We haven't seen all the ramifications yet, the kind of problems that might require reviewing the legality of it all. But the historical precedent is bad: we always act after the fact.

Agonizing over things you have no control over is never a good idea. Best to just live your life and enjoy it, and try to take things as they come. There's no guarantee that you will lose the things you love. You might get even more choice and freedom as to how you live your life.

There's still time until it will happen. Just imagine what some Leaders in the world can do, with just a fraction of that AI Power. I say there's a good chance we, our generation, will see the next great war before the singularity.

Nobody knows and its best to keep an open mind because whether its “utopia” or “dystopia” it’ll definitely be revolutionary.

I’m optimistic but not nearly as some people on this sub. I try to have a realist view regarding the singularity and AI in general.

Honestly I can see shit getting out of hand quickly within the next 5 years. AI will progress faster than government legislation. Corporations will use that to their advantage and probably replace a good amount of the work force. Even at 20% jobs lost that’s still a huge issue. I can see rioting and stealing happening as more people fall into the poverty class. Corporations care more about profits than people, that’s not going to change.

If you are college student, I’d highly recommend you going into the medical field or possibly engineering. Any other degree I feel will be mostly useless to get a well paying job. Especially business degrees, art/history, etc. I’ll probably get downvoted for saying that, but it’s just my opinion.

After a few years of craziness, I would hope the government adjusts and makes UBI available for everyone. Then things can start to get better.

To preface - that has nothing to do with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia involves episodes of psychosis and hysteria (which I don’t believe my guy u/just-a-dreamer- was experiencing). The coolest part about life is that you can assign whatever meaning you want to it. You shouldn’t want that meaning to be handed to you in silver platter.

I would argue right now you’re upset in part because it HAS been handed to you your whole life and you now find yourself grasping for a reason to keep it that way. You (probably) believe that your meaning comes from the path of working, raising a family, having some friends along the way, and then dying near loved ones somewhere around the age of 80 after a life of hard work. Maybe you’re super into service too, maybe that’s where you find your meaning.

In the end, none of that matters. The only reason it ever mattered to you was because you were told that it matters - be it through instinct or your peers and teachers. There is not necessarily a logical reason we must have the meaning granted to us be out final goal. Maybe, per chance, you enjoy collecting cards. Maybe that is what gives you meaning, collecting the best cards you can find. If that’s the case, that’s awesome! Some might judge you for it or call you strange, but who cares!? You found your own meaning. When the whole world is your playground, might as well make the best of it, no? I know some people like working, and they can continue doing so in a post scarcity world. I know many people who don’t like working - note their time is free to do whatever!

It’s that change in perspective which is essential to understand why this is a good thing. We’re not soulless or devoid of ethics or morality, we’re just normal people who want something better.

Well, we are talking about decades of transformation. The Singularity will probably not arrive before 2040-2050, or even later.

Still, AI does not have to be that "smart" to gradually replace next to all human labor before that point. As of now a humans can perform around 20.000 known tasks and AI is rapidly catching up in every field to replace human labor.

That is human labor in the sense of "working for a living". Yet, just because a human does not work, the output in goods and services remains the same and is still increasing.

The loaf of bread that is produced with 2% of the population toiling in agriculture is even better now than those produced with 80 % of the population once toiling in the fields.

The point of automation is to get rid of the very concept of "working for a living". Still , humans will have plenty of passions they can persue. It will be possible to merge into the digital world at some point for sure.