The Singularity

Word has it, if you believe in the coming of the Singularity, that within the next 50 years or so, in the words of Ray Kurzweil, “humans will transcend biology.” What that means is that by the time today’s students are old (ish) it is very likely that either we will have some computer components mixed in with our natural biology or, it will mean that our consciousnesses will be scan-able into a cyborg of sorts. This is freaky stuff but if you believe in Moore’s law of exponential growth than you probably believe that this kind of future scenario is inevitable.

So who is Moore?

Gordon Moore was the co-founder of Intel who said that computer development grew exponentially and this became known as Moore’s law.  Moore observed that the number of components in integrated circuits had doubled every year from the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958 until 1965 and he predicted that the trend would continue for at least a decade. It did just that, but then it didn’t stop. From 1965 to today the exponential growth described by Moore has been freakily accurate and some people, like Ray Kurzweil, believe it will continue for another 20-50 years or more.

So what does that mean and why should we care?

For one thing this may define the direction of all future technologies and it may well be that whoever is on the cutting edge of cyber electronics, nanotechnologies and scanned consciousness scenarios will be the technological and scientific leaders of tomorrow. Well that statement was pretty much a no-brainer, but to study these specifically in contexts of future man-machine combined body units of a sort is contentious and possibly exactly the direction students today should be looking at in terms of study and career.

For another thing, today’s students will probably be the first generation to be alive when two things happen according to likely scenarios in Moore’s law progression.

1. We will be the first generation to be alive when robotic intelligence is greater than human intelligence and robots begin programming super robots.
2.  We will be the first generation that will probably carry regenerative computer software/hardware within our organic bodies which will prevent disease and halt decay.

Sounds like science fiction fantasy right! Don’t be so sure. There are a lot of cutting edge scientists with some pretty hefty credentials who believe in this inevitability including the greatest proponent of the Singularity, Ray Kurzweil. Kurzweil is a pretty smart guy. In 1963, at age fifteen, he wrote his first computer program. Then in high school he invented a sophisticated pattern recognition software synthesizer. In 1968, during his sophomore year at MIT, he started a company that used a computer program he created to match high school students with colleges. The program, called the Select College Consulting Program, compared criteria about each college with questionnaire answers submitted by students. When he was 20, he sold the company to Harcourt, Brace & World for $100,000 plus royalties. That’s just what he did before he turned 21. He’s a clever guy. These days surprise, surprise, he’s working on artificial intelligence.

So, if the credibility of an idea’s believers lend it weight, it might be a good idea to start thinking about what you put into your brain (memories and learning) and body today so that the organic body you can preserve in 40 years isn’t a worn out old bag. It might even be a good idea to start keeping a journal so that those memories you have today can be preserved later, along with your cyber body.