[extropy-chat] "The Singularity Myth"

[Technotranscendence]

On your aircraft taking off metaphor: neat, and that would depend on the length of the runway, no?  :)  It might prove interesting to examine "crash and burn" outcomes.  (I reckon there are more than grey goo or SkyNet -- or various permutations of civilization-destroying wars.)

Regarding cryonics, the harm would be lost effort put into cryonics.  Admittedly, that would be very small for almost all people, but it's still a cost -- or, in your terms, a "harm."  It's not zero, though it might be tiny.

Regards,

Dan
http://uweb1.superlink.net/~neptune/MyWorksBySubject.html
  From: Russell Wallace 
  To: ExI chat list 
  Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2006 2:39 AM
  Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] "The Singularity Myth"


  On 3/17/06, starman2100 at cableone.net
  <starman2100 at cableone.net> wrote: 
    Is everyone here still a true believer when it comes to the Singularity?  I recall the past threads we have had here 
    regarding "hard" and "soft" take-off Singularities.  And I can remember when people said it would happen around 2025
    but the date seems to keep on getting pushed back. lol

  Yes; soft takeoff variety; I don't know when, but I'd guess late 21st century is more likely than early.

  Someone in a gaming group I was in back in the 90s told me that when an aircraft is taking off, there are two critical points:

  "V0" - when the plane is going too fast to stop before it hits the end of the runway.

  "V1" - when the plane is going fast enough to get into the air.

  Somewhat awkwardly, V0 comes before V1.

  My character in that game used this as a metaphor: the world is past V0. We either reach V1 or we crash and burn. I don't know what the probability of success is, but it doesn't matter; what matters is what we can do to improve it.


    Will the "Techno-Rapture" still save us or must we look to cryonics?  I realize being driven over by a bus or getting 
    terminal cancer could make the Singularity a moot point anyway for an individual, and give great impetus to being
    signed up for cryonics.


  *shrug* Nobody can foretell the future that accurately. It might come when you're alive, it might not. If it does, being signed up for cryonics won't do any harm. If not, it just might save your life. If continued life is a high priority for you, this would suggest signing up for cryonics as the best course of action.
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