[ExI] self-accelerating AI sf?

Damien Broderick thespike at satx.rr.com
Sat Jul 30 01:14:32 UTC 2011


I'm doing a philosophical piece on the Singularity, and I'm deeply 
embarrassed not to be able to think instantly of any good sf stories 
that explicitly portray exponential AIs: 
self-augmenting/self-rewriting/selfbootstrapping-to-the-Singularity... 
Vinge's MAROONED assumes it, but we see only tangential glimpses, 
Stiegler's "Gentle Seduction" spreads it out over years, centuries, 
billions of years, as does Asimov's "Last Question." Stross's 
ACCELERANDO also implies it, but it's not what I'd call the Spike, with 
each self-transcending state occurring in roughly half the time of the 
previous jump. Greg Bear's BLOOD MUSIC is sort of there, but it isn't 
AI, and it uses magic QT.

What is my aging brain missing? (I know I'm going to kick myself.)

Damien Broderick



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