Man-Machine Merger Arriving Sooner Than You Think on the Singularity. Mind expanding stuff. Vernor Vinge and Cory Doctorow. Originally posted on BoingBoing Vernor Vinge and Cory on the Singularity on NPR
This stuff gets my mind going in different directions. Augmented humans, instant access to information. Our children’s lives will be shaped by how to access, not having to burden themselves with having to immediately know.
When in society has this been different anyway? The young ones always know more than the oldies. My adage is simple: There is always someone younger and smarter than you. However, youth is no match for experience
I can’t see this as being necessarily a good thing, imagining it as being akin to having to watch CNN 24 hours a day. The discovery is that there isn’t necessarily any more information available than what is already in the news – just more padding and discussing the obvious with Captain Obvious himself.
Somehow we’d have to be able to filter out the background noise, or even have an ‘off’ switch. Else, the suicide rate (or home surgery rate?) will go through the roof.
GoogleFilterâ„¢ anyone?
Andrew
Good discussion point Andrew…
The Singularity is part Science Fiction, and reputed by many (and I count myself in this) the ultimate result of human-computer integration.
Wikipedia is the best starting point (of course)
The melding of nanotechnology, continuance of Moore’s Law; near-instant information access is starting to shift how people on the bleeding edge work and communicate.
And remember, Science Fiction only depicts a potential future, not the actual future. It details a Future we’ll probably never see in our lifetimes – and is the closest we get to immortality.