The Singularity Is Near

Has somebody read this book of the futurologist RayKurzweil??

What role do the Wikis play in this scenario?

((Perhaps some stuff of TheSingularity can be refactored to here.))

You will probably receive more answers, and higher quality answers, if you focus your question more. Nonetheless, some random early answers:

In high profile singularity-related books published thus far, wikis do not, to my knowledge, play a role. VernorVinge gave a heavy nod to Usenet groups, while making it obvious to insiders that he was an outsider, despite...various other positives I won't detail for the moment.

In terms of how wikis might play a role in singularity-related futures (which will not involve an asymptote to infinity at a finite point in time), as far as I know, the subject is wide open. How do you think wikis should figure into such futures? The scaling problems that c2 and wikipedia have had are somewhat sobering, albeit by no means a sign that such thinking should be abandoned.

Once the Singularity is upon us I will hopefully be able to boost my biological capacity using nano-robots and/or genetic engineering and/or a friendly AI plug-in, so I can finish reading Kurweil's book. As it stands, I am consuming an exponentially increasing amount of willpower, from what I assume to be a linearly increasing resource. I think this is mainly due to the amount of repetition in the text. But so far, it seems to be saying that I will hopefully be able to boost my biological capacity using nano-robots and/or genetic engineering and/or a friendly AI plug-in.

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The popular SciFi myth of the "singularity" disregards the way growing systems typically undergo a growth spurt. They follow an S-curve:

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 _____/

Our modern technology is about halfway up that curve. The "singularity" ideal states the curve will not level off; it will shoot up asymptotically, as computers perform all their science research in-silico, and give us more and more awesome toys.

However, if the rate at which scientific research produces technologically useful results starts going down, then we will level off. A billion dollars of research will not produce new consumer items worth a billion dollars. If this happens, the singularity will not happen, and humans will have enough time to adjust their cultures to each new awesome toy. --PhlIp

Personally, I think we aren't going to be here to see this future....be it global warming, fundamentalist religion, AIDS or an asteroid. We think we are advancing, but the average person is going backwards. I would love to see a graph of, say IQ versus number of children....'NissimHadar

Apocalyptic thinking is not a healthy way of living and damages your karma.

That doesn't change the facts ....