Re: Questions about the Singularity

From: Charles Hixson (charleshixsn@earthlink.net)
Date: Wed Sep 05 2001 - 11:31:51 MDT

Mark Walker wrote:

> ----- Original Message ----- From: Waldemar Ingdahl wrote:
>
> "I' ve been pondering some questions about the concept of
> singularity and its meaning in transhumanist philosophy.
>
> ...
>
> I ask my self: isn't the concept of a singularity the last
> grasp of Christian escathologism? That the concept of an
> unlimited development became a far too great leap, that you
> had to invent an end time?
...

To me it seem more like reading the trend curves, and assuming
that they will continue. There's always a question of how far
they can be projected accurately, and what the shape of the
various components of the curves are. But the most
straightforward projection that can be made is ... inconceivable.

OTOH, one should probably expect boundaries to exist. IBM's
recent proclamaiton of logic gates (not) being constructed
within a single molecule would seem to mark the end of one
projected component of Moore's law. Probably about 20 years
from now. So that (probably) puts an end to one phase of the
expansion. (Of course, next things will go parallel...) 

-- 
Charles Hixson

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