The Technological Singularity

The problem with WES is that it generates so much novel meaning that the JCI system cannot process it all. A simple review of any scientific field will reveal that the dominant theories change over time, as new experimental data and interpretations accumulate. In fact, the rate of change in scientific theories is accelerating. New data piles up at such a rate that in many cases, scientists don’t have time to review it until years after the original observations. New fields are being created, new applications developed, and new products engineered so fast that our present communication, educational and economic systems cannot absorb them all without becoming unstable. A corollary fact is that every new technological advance introduces unforeseen problems that often require extensive remediation.

Just consider the fact that the entire fossil-fuel industry has been obsolete for decades, since the discovery of biodiesel and other vegetable-based internal-combustion engine fuels. The present oil wars, and all the bloodshed and suffering connected with them, are unnecessary and useless; eventually the oil will run out and we will be forced to implement an alternative anyway; why not just do it now and save all the trouble? The answer is that such a technological shift would destabilize the global economy to such an extent that the resulting conflict and suffering might be far worse than the current Mideast mess.

Science and technology, running the WES ontology, have changed our world and thought paradigms with increasing frequency over the centuries since the Enlightenment. We have gone from agricultural technology and hand tools to mechanical technology and machine tools, to electronic technology and software tools, in less than three centuries. Next will come nanotechnology and biotechnological tools; what kind of changes will they make in our lives? The fact is that no one knows for sure.

Philosophers of science Vernor Vinge, Ray Kurzweil and others predict that, as nanotechnology and artificial intelligence engineering converge with biotechnology and advanced pure mathematics research, computers will become so powerful that they will be able to design and manufacture ever-more-powerful computers without human intervention. This will produce computers many times more intelligent than human beings. In fact, human beings may even wire themselves into such computers to enhance their analytical abilities.

At that time, the generation of novel information will expand so rapidly that for all practical purposes, it will become infinite. Note that this may occur in a matter of only days or weeks from the time the first human-equivalent computer goes online. No one can imagine what a computer equivalent to a very smart human, thinking millions of times faster than we can, will do. The resulting ontological discontinuity is the Ontological Time Bomb, often termed ‘the Singularity.’ The impact of the Singularity on our lives will be immense, profound and inescapable. What is the use of a newspaper, when things are changing so fast that the news is obsolete before the ink is dry? What is the use of mines, smelters, factories, transportation and distribution systems when you can use nanomanufacturing techniques to make automobiles out of sunlight and dirt? But then, what is the use of an automobile when you can just jack into a computer and have any experience you want, anytime?

These issues will break down both the JCI and WES ontologies. Concerned scientists aware of the coming technological Singularity are trying their best to warn the government and educate influential people, but it is difficult for non-scientists even to comprehend the issue. The fact is that knowledge is power, and the generation of infinite knowledge is potentially infinite power—if anyone can understand the meaning of it all. The explosion of knowledge created by the Singularity will paradoxically result in a vacuum of meaning, as the pioneers of human-machine intelligence so far outstrip their unenhanced human peers that communication may become all but impossible, even among ordinary people.

How could such a thing happen? Meaning is much more powerful than mere knowledge or information. Consider the simple equation E = mc². Every schoolchild ‘knows’ that it signifies the equivalence of matter and energy; but what does this expression mean? Can you use it to build an atomic bomb? To understand the meaning of the equation well enough to apply it in practice, we first have to understand the definition of each term and symbol. This alone would require a postgraduate education in physics and mathematics.

Therefore, the difficulty is not in creating new knowledge; any thoughtful or creative person can do that; in fact I am doing it right now by writing this essay. The challenge facing all of us, individually and collectively for the foreseeable future, is and will be to keep up with the meaning of novel symbols and unprecedented events in a world where change itself is reaching critical mass and exploding like a nuclear weapon. This is the real meaning of the Singularity or the Ontological Time Bomb.

Next: Surviving the Singularity