Comments on: Social singularity

By: Emanuel

Emanuel — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:31:40 +0000

Haha! Congrats on (not?) recognizing yourself! One of you Fredriks should pick another name…

By: Fredrik

Fredrik — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:25:06 +0000

Hmm, I saw my name and started reading the comment and thought “I have absolutely no memory of writing this” then read on and decided that “no, definitely not, that was not me” :P
Maybe I should comment in a fuller name :P

By: Emanuel

Emanuel — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:10:01 +0000

That wasn’t a too big disagreement ;)

The core issue is the relationship between strong/weak, rich/poor. I have to say I’m not fully convinced on either side (I never am), and I believe you’re right that one can develop a lot with no regard to “the poor”. But still I think something bigger than just “more development” could be the result if everyone was on the train. But it’s still only a speculation.

But you’re right that strong/weak is a relative term. But regarding rich/poor, I usually refer to “wealthy”/”non-wealthy” — and that’s actually not a relative term (since there is no fixed amount of wealth that is redistributed, it’s something you can create).

By: Fredrik

Fredrik — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:17:49 +0000

For the first time I do not fully agree with your argument, (it is about time) :)

I do not believe that in order for people in Asia to develop there is a need for the people of Africa to “be on the same train”.

To my knowledge there are still a lot of people in Africa that has not experienced the benefits that an industrial revolution would give, still the remaining world is far ahead. Further I do also believe that in order for some to be strong there is a need for someone else to be weak, simply because the term strong is relative (same goes for poor/rich).

I do however believe that if everyone develop, including the poor nations, the potential for development is greatly increased. Though the level of development that can be reached through “having the poor on the train” can also be reach without “having the poor on the train” though the process is probably longer.

By: Vicente

Vicente — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:52:24 +0000

Ray Kurzweil says yes.

By: Emanuel

Emanuel — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:35:21 +0000

Thanks for the comment!
Indeed, it’s not at all sure it will ever be reached. But it’s really interesting to think about, since the potential consequences could be huge! It’s the same as the technological singularity — interesting but still a little science fiction.

By: Vicente

Vicente — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:26:46 +0000

Nice article.
Who knows if we will ever get to that point, and if it will be a good thing.
All I know is a lot of work needs to be done. It’s not only “computational power” that’s important, but the “program” we “execute” in our brains has to improve a lot as well and it has to be the more downloaded torrent ever!
More people have to reach higher states of consciousness for the world to become a better place.