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<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Keith
wrote: </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
At 06:35 PM 6/12/2008, Michael Anissimov wrote:</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 3:21 PM, hkhenson</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
><<mailto:hkhenson@rogers.com>hkhenson@rogers.com> wrote:</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>Sorry Natasha, this "distinction" isn't one at all. It
makes no</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>difference if the events making up what is called the singularity</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>take place over hours, days or years. The end result is still the</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>same, humans as they are known today are no longer significant in</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>shaping the world.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>I have to agree with Natasha and disagree with you on this... does</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>it make no difference if it takes two years or ten years to graduate</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>college? Get promoted at a job? Get to the end of the line at
the</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>DMV? Launch a superintelligence?</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
No matter how long these take, there is a watershed event at the end,</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
a degree, a new job title, a car license. Unless you die in the line</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
of course.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>This thread has become apples and
oranges. First, Keith misunderstood my post by assuming that I do not
think that a watershed of events will occur. Since the term watershed is
a popular means to describe events which occurs as an accumulative result of
any number of trends which become forces, it is a given that watersheds
occur. They have to occur in complex adaptive systems. Further that
“humans as they are known today are no longer significant in shaping the
world” is assumptive based on single-track thinking that SI will occur
outside of human and that humans will not be a part of the SI advance. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>My particular theory is that the SI will
be combined human and connective intelligence – thus the posthuman, or
whatever anyone wants to call it. I use posthuman because the term is
familiar in academic literature. I do not think that SIs will sprout in a
major Singularity wherein humans run to the caves and villages as they are
being burned down around them. This tale stems from a Buddhist story
which Carl Sagan notes in his book <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Demon
Haunted World, Science as a Candle in the Dark</span></i>. It is a lovely
example of the shortsighted preoccupation with oneself the near at hand, which
results in a daunting demise. Be that as it may, it is not as I
personally see the future.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>My earnest approach to the future is the
combined effort of the human brain and technological innovation in enhancing
human to merge with SI through stages of development and not one big event that
occurs overnight. Certainly, one could look back at this from and just
look at the end point and say a sudden event occurred. That is not my
particular vantage because I am interested in the process.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>(snip)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>Also, some people seem to be under the mistaken impression that the</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>Singularity is necessarily a worldwide event that touches</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>everyone. As initially defined, it meant smarter-than-human</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>intelligence. So you could have a smarter-than-human intelligence</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>in <st1:place w:st="on">Antarctica</st1:place> that just sits around and
has no impact on the world</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>whatsoever. Until the initial, Vingean, most useful definition of</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>the Singularity, that would constitute one, but under the new,</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
>messy, overbroad, Kurzweilian definition, it wouldn't.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>You make a good point Michael.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
I am surprised you would even consider the singularity in terms of</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
geography. If a smarter-than-human AI existed anywhere within light</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
hours of the net it would have huge effects unless it was blocked</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
from communicating. If it was blocked, it could be co-located with</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>
MAE West and have no impact.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>Again, apples and oranges. Michael
is looking in from the perspective of process and extending the seconds of time.
Keith is looking back at an event and contracting time. Both are meaningful
perspectives.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>Natasha Vita-More<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=2
color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>BFA</span></font></st1:City><font
color=black><span style='color:black'>, <st1:State w:st="on">MS</st1:State></span></font></st1:place><font
color=black><span style='color:black'>, MPhil/PhD Candidate, Planetary
Collegium<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>Faculty of Technology, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">School</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Computers</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>,
Communication and Electronics<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=2
color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>University
of Plymouth</span></font></st1:City><font color=black><span style='color:
black'>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region></span></font></st1:place><font
color=black><span style='color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>Arts and Design - NBIC+ Convergence<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>H+ Europe<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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