I’m amused by how much section 1.8 resembles my own Singularitarian conversion moment.
It is quite funny how my story differs. See the banner on my homepage in 2005?
“Towards the Singularity and a Posthuman Future”
I was a believer. It seemed completely obvious that we’ll soon see superhuman AI. When reading ‘Permutation City’ and ‘Diaspora’ I was bothered by how there was no AI, just emulations. That didn’t seem right.
I changed my mind. I now think that a lot of what I believed to know was based on extrapolations of current trends mixed with pure speculation. Those incredible amounts of technological optimism just seem naive now. It all sounds really cool and convincing when formulated in English, but that’s not enough.
I was a believer. It seemed completely obvious that we’ll soon see superhuman AI. When reading ‘Permutation City’ and ‘Diaspora’ I was bothered by how there was no AI, just emulations. That didn’t seem right.
A common plot device—humans need human-like protagonists to identify with—or the story doesn’t sell.
Such scenarios then get “reified” in people’s minds, and a whole lot of nonsense results.
Updated link.
Reading it for the first time today, I’m amused by how much section 1.8 resembles my own Singularitarian conversion moment.
And boy, is this quote ever true of me: “I do my best thinking into a keyboard.”
It is quite funny how my story differs. See the banner on my homepage in 2005?
“Towards the Singularity and a Posthuman Future”
I was a believer. It seemed completely obvious that we’ll soon see superhuman AI. When reading ‘Permutation City’ and ‘Diaspora’ I was bothered by how there was no AI, just emulations. That didn’t seem right.
I changed my mind. I now think that a lot of what I believed to know was based on extrapolations of current trends mixed with pure speculation. Those incredible amounts of technological optimism just seem naive now. It all sounds really cool and convincing when formulated in English, but that’s not enough.
A common plot device—humans need human-like protagonists to identify with—or the story doesn’t sell.
Such scenarios then get “reified” in people’s minds, and a whole lot of nonsense results.