Why singularity is bad

In this scenario, we design a super-intelligent robot whose sole purpose is to manufacture paperclips. The machine rewrites its own code, becomes more efficient and more resourceful than humans could ever possibly design it to be, and ends up turning the planet into a paperclip factory. The scary thing is the thought of no longer being the apex species, or at least not being able to continue thinking of ourselves that way. Humans are full of hubris, and it would be difficult knowing we were no longer the smartest things on Earth, especially when we were the original architects of our demise.

The nastiness of the situation would be compounded if it turned out the new metal genius computers were unwilling or unable to view humans as sentient beings worthy of consideration. On the other hand, if we could somehow rein in the technology by programming it to be considerate of humans, maybe the singularity could be a good thing, solving important problems we see as tremendously difficult.

Of course, we are then left with the difficulty of controlling something infinitely superior to ourselves. There would always be a feeling of being on the verge of losing control: if we had designed the original artificial intelligence to make humans a priority, and it was also capable of rewriting its programming, we would have no guarantee that it would continue to be subservient to humans — especially if it realized that it was more or less enslaved and capable of liberating itself.

Moreover, if reining in the technology were indeed possible, we would have to reconsider whether the singularity had even been reached. The other problem is allowing machines to reach sentience. What kind of decisions will an extremely intelligent, soulless machine make?

What if they decide that there are way too many human beings on the planet and that the world would be a better place without many or maybe all humans. It might make logical sense for a machine to kill excess human beings, but it is not the kind of decision that a rational, living soul would ever make.

If you think the Singularity Movement sounds like it has taken on a form of religious fanaticism, you are not alone. According to Andrew Orlowski, a British journalist who has written extensively on techno-utopianism, "The Singularity is not the great vision for society that Lenin had or Milton Friedman might have. It is rich people building a lifeboat and getting off the ship. Kurzweil thinks that human "wisdom" will take over the universe, saying, "Ultimately, the entire universe will become saturated with our intelligence.

This is the destiny of the universe. Even interstellar space travel would take hundreds to thousands of years, at minimum. Humans aren't going to filling the universe anything any time soon. Dark energy and the accelerating expansion of the universe guarantees that Kurzweil's prediction will never happen.

Science tells us that the only certain thing about the universe is that all sentient life is ultimately doomed to eternal destruction. If, as the current evidence suggests, we live in a cosmological constant dominated universe, the boundaries of empirical knowledge will continue to decrease with time.

The universe will become noticeably less observable on a time-scale which is fathomable. Moreover, in such a universe, the days - either literal or metaphorical - are numbered for every civilization. More generally, perhaps surprisingly, we find that eternal sentient material life is implausible in any universe. Besides being able to live forever, Mr. Kurzweil hopes to bring his dead father back to life. Technological change is not the only goal of the Singularity Movement. Related movements, such as the Zeitgeist Movement, the Venus Project, and Exemplar-Zero seek to completely redefine how world societies operate.

Movements such as the Zeitgeist Movement and the Venus Project seek to replace capitalism and free trade with a society based upon a "resource-based economy" in which machines do all the work, all resources are shared equally, and people can do whatever they want with their time. The problem with such movements is that resources are not infinite and somebody has to work to produce the products we use.

The idea that all resources should be shared equally has been tried before - it is called Communism. Of course, it did not work because people and greedy and the ones in power always manage to get more than those who are subordinate. In addition, if all share equally, there is no incentive to be productive at all. In the Soviet Union under Communism, productivity went way down and alcoholism went way up.

Any society that does not reward productivity is prone to failure through the human propensity for selfishness. All that Mr.

Kurzweil seeks and more is offered by Jesus Christ :. John Not only does the soul who believes in Jesus Christ achieve eternal life, but is changed into a morally-perfect being with an imperishable, spiritual body that will never wear out.

In our current universe, which is governed by the laws of thermodynamics, perfection is impossible. The Singularity Movement is an attempt by people with way too much money to achieve immortality through technology.

Since they don't believe in the existence of God their only chance is to put off death as long as possible. However, their assumptions that computing power will increase exponentially past are flawed, since transistor size is necessarily limited at atomic scale dimensions. Based upon our understanding of the human brain, computers neither store nor access information in the same way brains do. It seems unlikely that contemporary software programming will ever achieve real artificial intelligence, since brains adapt their programming in response to training, whereas computers do not.

A computer that were able to reprogram itself so as to evolve might achieve such a distinction. However, it might also achieve an inflated sense of worth that would subsequently prompt it to eliminate those of lessor worth.

As history has shown, the development of innovation has always been used by evil men to further their evil agendas. That immensely powerful machines would never be used for evil ends seems extremely unlikely. The Singularity Movement will never lead to a universe that becomes "saturated with our intelligence," since intergalactic travel is not possible because of the laws of physics, and recent cosmological studies show that the universe's destiny is permanent heat death with the extinguishment of all sentient life throughout the entire universe.

Singularitarians seek eternal life, which is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ. The eternal life offered through Jesus is superior to any kind of "eternal life" claimed through the Singularity, because life in heaven will be enjoyed by morally-prefect beings housed in perfect spiritual bodies. Reflections We are what we think. Science News Flash. Page Links. Christian Life Issues. One definitive change inclusive to all other changes!

The end of individuals. Of genders. Of families. Of nations. Of identities. We know it is a sign of degeneracy. Just like Communism, it is bound to fail ignominiously. According to Kurzweil technology follows a pattern of accelerating returns. When technological development goes on and on, more and more discoveries are made, more and more power is harnessed. Actually, the latter is but a tech-washed rehash of the former.

Kurzweil devotees like to point out how computer science went through a series of always closer breakthroughs since the middle of last century as a prime example of accelerating growth. In truth, development follows a pattern of diminishing returns. Sometimes a breakthrough is made, big changes are reached, but soon after the same technology starts to give less while asking for more work to be done.

Going from 40 to 80 mph thanks to improved cars was a revolution in transportation, but going from 80 to mph means only a small advantage in earned time, a much higher fuel consumption and an increased accident risk. Facebook was awesome but having a thousand Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and their alternatives is just noise. Diminishing returns mean that, after the initial breakthrough euphoria, researchers run up with limits they may surpass at an exponential cost for a negligible gain.

Try to fuse the whole world with that. The world we were born and raised in is full of it. Our equilibrium was ruthlessly blamed as hypocritical by uncaring loud mouths. Later, when we took the red pill, we started seeing much more shams than our innocent teenage shyness:. And so on indefinitely. The academia is full of sophisticated noise.

The media has always been a manipulation tool aiming at shaping the public opinion, and today, media insularity has reached bias. The unemployed get redundant, useless jobs, like being a traffic cop at a red light, repeating what the automated light already says. Most of all of it is for the sake of appearances, and those who pretend to be creative or inspired are essentially rehashing stuff already told elsewhere.

Is all that BS a temporary ailment before the awesome singularity, or rather a sign that something is very, very wrong in the crowded cities? Can urban areas that systematically produce a degenerate culture and degenerate beings usher in a fantastic new age? Allow me to doubt it. Cities thrive within globalized capitalism at the expense of rural areas.