For some odd reason, I run into a lot of people who vigorously deny that this phenomenon is at all novel; they say, “Oh, humanity is already self-improving, humanity is already going through a FOOM, humanity is already in a Singularity” etc. etc.
People like me. I don’t see much of a counter-argument in this post—or at least not a coherent one.
The future contains a feedback loop that the past does not.
It seems like a denial of sexual selection to me. Brainpower went into making new brains historically—via sexual selection. Feedback from the previous generation of brains into the next generation has taken place historically.
It’s also a denial of cultural evolution—which is even more obvious. The past contains several decades of Moore’s law—the product of a self-improving computer industry. It seems impossible to deny that computers help to design the next generation of computers. They are doing more of the work in each passing generation.
Feedback from the current generation of thinking equipment into the next one is an ancient phenomenon. Even directed mutations and intelligent design are quite old news now.
One of the few remaining dramatic future developments will occur when humans drop out of the loop—allowing it to iterate at more like full speed.
People like me. I don’t see much of a counter-argument in this post—or at least not a coherent one.
It seems like a denial of sexual selection to me. Brainpower went into making new brains historically—via sexual selection. Feedback from the previous generation of brains into the next generation has taken place historically.
It’s also a denial of cultural evolution—which is even more obvious. The past contains several decades of Moore’s law—the product of a self-improving computer industry. It seems impossible to deny that computers help to design the next generation of computers. They are doing more of the work in each passing generation.
Feedback from the current generation of thinking equipment into the next one is an ancient phenomenon. Even directed mutations and intelligent design are quite old news now.
One of the few remaining dramatic future developments will occur when humans drop out of the loop—allowing it to iterate at more like full speed.