I do think it’s possible and not unlikely that Google is purposefully trying to steer the future in a positive direction; although I think people there are likely to be more skeptical of “singularity” rhetoric than LWers (I know at least three people who have worked at Google and I have skirted the subject sufficiently to feel pretty strongly that they don’t have a hidden agenda. This isn’t very strong evidence but it’s the only evidence I have).
I would assign up to a 30% probability or so of “Google is planning something which might be described as preparing to implement a positive singularity.” But less than a 5% chance that I would describe it that way, due to more detailed definitions of “singularity” and “positive.”
I do think it’s possible and not unlikely that Google is purposefully trying to steer the future in a positive direction; although I think people there are likely to be more skeptical of “singularity” rhetoric than LWers (I know at least three people who have worked at Google and I have skirted the subject sufficiently to feel pretty strongly that they don’t have a hidden agenda. This isn’t very strong evidence but it’s the only evidence I have).
I would assign up to a 30% probability or so of “Google is planning something which might be described as preparing to implement a positive singularity.” But less than a 5% chance that I would describe it that way, due to more detailed definitions of “singularity” and “positive.”