Re: Lilliputian Posthumians

John Clark (jonkc@worldnet.att.net)
Thu, 22 Oct 1998 13:03:48 -0400

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Joe E. Dees <jdees0@students.uwf.edu> Wrote:

>here is a vast difference between logically possible and empirically
>plausible.

That's certainly true today, but it's not a law of nature. Perhaps a good definition of The Singularity is a era when that distance shrinks exponentially with time.

>The simultaneous mastery of miniaturization and
>complexity involved in creating a single nanobrain capable of both
>explicit self-awareness and continuous self-modification in response
>to environmental input while maintaining such a self-referential
>conscious identity would of necessity dwarf the totality of human
>technical achievement from stone age to present.

Yes, it would dwarf anything human beings have done up to now by many orders of magnitude, nevertheless I think that's exactly what will happen. And I think it will happen in less than a century, perhaps much less.

John K Clark jonkc@att.net

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