[extropy-chat] Reading "The Singularity is Near"

[Brian Atkins]

Hi Reason,

It's been a few days since I read the book, but here's a few quick thoughts:

1. In the first part of your message you seem to be discussing complexity in 
general, and whether it will become too much. Didn't K specifically address this 
common objection in one of the latter sections of his book? Do you have specific 
complaints about his ideas there?

2. For most of the leadup to the Singularity, it doesn't really require shorter 
turnarounds in human-centric business practices does it? For instance, for 
Moore's Law to continue all we need is that the existing business flow of 
releasing new processes/chip designs continue every 18 months or so. So I'm not 
sure what you're getting at - the trends in the technologies needed to achieve 
his human-enhancement timelines do not require anything more than "business as 
usual" as far as I see.

3. Later, very close to the Singularity, there may be a natural speed up in 
business processes simply because by that time, if you buy into K's scenario, 
there will be upgraded humans and also post-Turing AIs, or some mix of those 
that he envisions working together to move even faster and think even bigger 
thoughts. So, essentially by reaching this point in technology it can be used to 
move past the human-centric barriers you are discussing.

BTW, even though I'm relatively young, I do a good variety of things for my 
health, and additionally am signed up for cryonics. I completely agree with you 
that nothing should be assumed, and covering all bases is fully rational.
-- 
Brian Atkins
Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
http://www.singinst.org/