Singularity
As we had this little discussion with Nicolas and Laurence some days ago about what is singularity, there is this short text on the Guardian’s website :
“A singularity, in physics and astronomy, is a place where the laws of physics as we know them break down – like a black hole in space. But when applied to society by Vernor Vinge, singularity means a moment beyond which huge but unpredictable changes occur.
Vinge, 58, a retired professor of computer science (from San Diego State University) and perhaps the world’s most visionary science-fiction writer, believes – and has done since 1993 – that a singularity will occur when computers become intelligent enough to upgrade themselves, because their learning curve will be straight up, in the most giddy exponential fashion. In the blink of an eye, or rather in as little as 60 hours of becoming ‘superhuman’ – something he expects no later than the year 2030 or he’ll be ‘surprised’ – computers could have re-modelled society and subverted laws in ways utterly bewildering to us. ‘In the early post-human era, everything will be new again.'”