Singularity

Singularity. The merging of man and machine. Absurd, right? After all, how could people continue being people when they have binary codes enhancing their thought process? Sure, people would be smarter and more efficient, but there’s more to life than efficiency. Humanity shouldn’t be abandoned to produce efficiency.

In the article “2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal”, several convincing points are presented to show that singularity is a very potential future. First off, in 1965 a machine was able to compose music. A machine created art. This began to blur the lines between machines and humans, for “creating a work of art is one of those activities we reserve for humans and humans only” (Grossman).

Of course, at this point and time, machines can be very good at specific things but they fall short at being as adaptable as humans. “The kind of intelligence Kurzweil is talking about, which is called strong AI or artificial general intelligence, doesn’t exist yet” (Grossman). However, chances are that it will at the rate technology increases. According to Kurzweil, “technological progress happens exponentially, not linearly” (Grossman).

I do not believe that singularity is a good thing. Sure, it would make people more intelligent and increase our lifespan. There does not seem to be any fault. It’s like the “utopian” world of Brave New World; there would be less sadness, more efficiency, and everything would be better. Right?

But humanity is imperfection. Singularity seeks to eventually eliminate all of humanity’s imperfection. This is similar to Brave New World, were, as the controller says, the primary goal is “stability. Stability. The primal and the ultimate need. Stability. Hence all this.” (Huxley 41).

So singularity would make everything much more efficient, but at the cost of humanity. People will still be around, of course, but eventually, they won’t even be people any more.

Technology at this point isn’t bad, because we are still detached. It is a large part of our lives, but it is not part of us yet. If we choose to, we can escape from it. Once it is implanted in us, though, there is no escape. Imperfection will eventually be abolished, and with it the very thing that makes us human. Humanity is imperfection. Singularity is not.