Singularity Ho!
Jul. 6th, 2004 02:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oneirophreniaAnd by that I don't mean that there will be a point in the future at which the evolution of the ho' becomes so rapid that prostitution literally hits a "Poon Singularity" at which point ho's will transubstantiate into some form of idealized Omega Poon System....
Actually, I've been doing a lot of research into the concept of the technological singularity as hypothesized by sci-fi writer Vernor Vinge in the early '90s. Mainly, this has been brought about by Charles Stross' Singularity Sky, a very humorous novel that at once satirizes (beautifully) the sociopolitics of technophilia and technophobia, has lots of cool-ass space battles, and features a migratory memeplex of crazy entertainment junkies known as the Festival that attacks low-tech planets by offering them everything they could ever want in return for stories, entertainment, and music. :) Definitely MY type of culture!
Anyway, I've been reading a lot of transhumanist fiction lately. As a matter of fact, I'd say transhumanism is becoming a very popular source of inspiration for sci-fi writers these days. John C. Wright's Golden Age Trilogy, Robert Reed's Sister Alice, Sean Williams and Shane Dix's Echoes of Earth Trilogy, Charles Stross' short fiction (which I hope gets anthologized soon), and others--you can look them up on Amazon.com as you like--are all grand examples of transhumanist themes in sci-fi. There's a lot of nonfiction going around these days, too, concerning transhumanist concepts: any quick perusal of the science and technology sections of any bookstore will show a ton of books rocketing around dealing with IT evolution, biotech, nanotech (HUNDREDS of these anymore), and other really cool things like programmable matter and quantum computing. Of course, there's a small backlash as well: books about "remaining human" and technophobia written by the usual dumbshits terrified of rapid change--but it's good that there is a dissenting voice out there, because there's always a dark underside of everything, and, believe me, the coming tech Singularity could be vicious if it's not influenced properly at the outset.
Man, the future's going to be intersting. Especially the next twenty or so years, which will see the emergence of quantum computing, electrophotnic circuits, DNA computing, commonplace nanofabrication technologies, robotics....Yeah, it's going to be fun! But it could also be incredibly destructive. A lot of transhumanists view the asymptotic evolution of technology in this century as a guaranteed boon--but even a rabid robot-lover like myself can see that when it comes to rapid evolution of sentient technologies, things could either turn out really good for us lowly humans or really bad (think Sky_Net and the Terminators), all depending on the choices we make now, before the Singularity takes off on its own. The Singularity is bound to be a chaotic system punctuated everywhere with islands of emergent order that could very well take on complete identities and lives of their own, compete with one another, and...well, the Singularity is going to turn out to be a lot like an ecosystem rather than a linear progression. The good news is, present-day bodies like the World Transhumanist Organization and others are organizing conferences and meetings with Congress and the like to help corporations and governments envision some of the possible outcomes of a Singularity, both good and bad, and aim for the best possible controls and safeguards so that when the machines becomes sentient they'll look upon us as equals, not as competitors or threats.
An interesting idea. I for one plan to suck up bigtime to any AI I can get within shouting distance of, so that maybe when they decide to eat the planet I'll get first dibs on a virtual environment built to spec with lots of spooky castles and gigantic killer robots under my complete control.
Actually, I've been doing a lot of research into the concept of the technological singularity as hypothesized by sci-fi writer Vernor Vinge in the early '90s. Mainly, this has been brought about by Charles Stross' Singularity Sky, a very humorous novel that at once satirizes (beautifully) the sociopolitics of technophilia and technophobia, has lots of cool-ass space battles, and features a migratory memeplex of crazy entertainment junkies known as the Festival that attacks low-tech planets by offering them everything they could ever want in return for stories, entertainment, and music. :) Definitely MY type of culture!
Anyway, I've been reading a lot of transhumanist fiction lately. As a matter of fact, I'd say transhumanism is becoming a very popular source of inspiration for sci-fi writers these days. John C. Wright's Golden Age Trilogy, Robert Reed's Sister Alice, Sean Williams and Shane Dix's Echoes of Earth Trilogy, Charles Stross' short fiction (which I hope gets anthologized soon), and others--you can look them up on Amazon.com as you like--are all grand examples of transhumanist themes in sci-fi. There's a lot of nonfiction going around these days, too, concerning transhumanist concepts: any quick perusal of the science and technology sections of any bookstore will show a ton of books rocketing around dealing with IT evolution, biotech, nanotech (HUNDREDS of these anymore), and other really cool things like programmable matter and quantum computing. Of course, there's a small backlash as well: books about "remaining human" and technophobia written by the usual dumbshits terrified of rapid change--but it's good that there is a dissenting voice out there, because there's always a dark underside of everything, and, believe me, the coming tech Singularity could be vicious if it's not influenced properly at the outset.
Man, the future's going to be intersting. Especially the next twenty or so years, which will see the emergence of quantum computing, electrophotnic circuits, DNA computing, commonplace nanofabrication technologies, robotics....Yeah, it's going to be fun! But it could also be incredibly destructive. A lot of transhumanists view the asymptotic evolution of technology in this century as a guaranteed boon--but even a rabid robot-lover like myself can see that when it comes to rapid evolution of sentient technologies, things could either turn out really good for us lowly humans or really bad (think Sky_Net and the Terminators), all depending on the choices we make now, before the Singularity takes off on its own. The Singularity is bound to be a chaotic system punctuated everywhere with islands of emergent order that could very well take on complete identities and lives of their own, compete with one another, and...well, the Singularity is going to turn out to be a lot like an ecosystem rather than a linear progression. The good news is, present-day bodies like the World Transhumanist Organization and others are organizing conferences and meetings with Congress and the like to help corporations and governments envision some of the possible outcomes of a Singularity, both good and bad, and aim for the best possible controls and safeguards so that when the machines becomes sentient they'll look upon us as equals, not as competitors or threats.
An interesting idea. I for one plan to suck up bigtime to any AI I can get within shouting distance of, so that maybe when they decide to eat the planet I'll get first dibs on a virtual environment built to spec with lots of spooky castles and gigantic killer robots under my complete control.
