The Technological Singularity – Adam Ford – Humanity+@Beijing

The technological singularity, or simply the singularity, is a theoretical moment in time when artificial intelligence will have progressed to the point of a greater-than-human intelligence that will “radically change human civilization, and perhaps even human nature itself.”Since the capabilities of such an intelligence may be difficult for an unaided human mind to comprehend, the technological singularity is often seen as an occurrence (akin to a gravitational singularity) beyond which—from the perspective of the present—the future course of human history is unpredictable or even unfathomable.

The first use of the term “singularity” in this context was by mathematician John von Neumann. Neumann in the mid-1950s spoke of “ever accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue”. The term was popularized by science fiction writer Vernor Vinge, who argues that artificial intelligence, human biological enhancement, or brain-computer interfaces could be possible causes of the singularity.[ Futurist Ray Kurzweil cited von Neumann’s use of the term in a foreword to von Neumann’s classic The Computer and the Brain.

Proponents of the singularity typically postulate an “intelligence explosion”, where superintelligences design successive generations of increasingly powerful minds, that might occur very quickly and might not stop until the agent’s cognitive abilities greatly surpass that of any human.

Humanity+ @Beijing is a way of focusing and celebrating the energy that China and others around the world are directing toward creating a radically better future.

China is flourishing! With its long history, rich culture and huge economy China is poised ready to change the world!

What if China decided to focus a moderately significant amount of it’s vast resources to the development of radically transformative technologies?

Join the chorus of futurists from all around the world. Conferences provide a fantastic forum for channeling peoples’ attention and energy.

Humanity+ @Beijing — Sat. 27 July 2013 @ the Jin Tai Art Museum

– http://beijing.humanityplus.org
– http://humanityplus.org
– http://hplusmagazine.com
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