Singularity Humour
"Yep. A sense of humor, especially a sense of humor as pertains to your own cause, is the number one way to distinguish between the good fanatics and the bad fanatics. Once you lose the ability to laugh at yourself, it's all over." -- Eliezer Yudkowsky
Singularity Secrets Revealed
I'm happy to announce that I have discovered what will actually happen at the Singularity, by the expedient of listing various possibilities and flipping a coin. I can confirm, for example, that an SI really would be fundamentally incomprehensible to human beings, and that it would not uplift them. Whether it would leave them entirely alone, however, remains uncertain.
Other findings:
- Change does not stop after the Singularity, but continues to *accelerate* forever
- There is a "big win" in the intelligence-increase stakes waiting for the first uploads or human-level AIs
- An SI would *not* start growing in all directions at just below lightspeed
- We or something we make can (and/or probably will) achieve superintelligence within decades
- Nick Bostrom's "singleton thesis" is correct
I hope that clarifies everything.
-- Mitchell Porter, A Critical Discussion of Vinge's Singularity Concept: Open Discussion
Singularity Debate: King James Version
ONE:
- In the Beginning was the Singularity, but it was known to none, for men lived in fear and squalor.
- Then there did come a great wave of technology, bearing man up towards the heavens and into the heart of matter, even into the brain.
- And from afar off did the Singularity make itself known to man.
- And the Singularity did make itself known after the profession of he who saw it.
- Yea, each man saw it as if he himself had invented it, and understood it with the intuitions of long experience, and spoke of it with the words he loved.
TWO:
- And the Singularity did make itself known to Vinge, a mathematician, who said: "Verily it is self-referential, and thus unknowable; yea, it causes our models to break down; it alters the rules so that our old theories do not apply."
- And the Singularity did make itself known to Drexler, a nanotechnologist, who said: "Material omnipotence shall be granted us; yea, even complete control over the structure of matter, and also much computing power." And because Drexler worked on nanosecond and picosecond time scales, he did speak of high-speed intelligence.
- And the Singularity did make itself known to Hanson, an economist, who said: "Verily this foolishness is unlike all the laws of economics which I know; yea, the analogies and perceptions which I have learned dictate that it shall proceed at a rapid but knowable pace, like all other revolutions."
- And the Singularity did make itself known to Yudkowsky, a cognitive engineer, who said: "Surely intelligence is the source of all potency and power; verily intelligence is the breaker of rules, the wild magic. Yea, the Singularity shall tear down the foundations of the world." And because he loved intelligence, he exalted the Singularity above all other things.
- And the Singularity did make itself know to science fiction authors, who had watched their work crowded off the shelves by garbage, verily dreck which was an abomination unto the Lord; who had seen the government screw up the space program, and great things laid low by inadequate funding.
- And they said: "Surely the Singularity shall be entered by but a few, and others shall impede them; the superintelligent shall be laid low by lack of infrastructure."
- And the Singularity did make itself know to the watchers of memes, who said: "Verily this is like many other memes which I have known, and all of them stupid; yea, it seemeth but another apocalypse meme." And they waxed mightily suspicious.
- And the Singularity did make itself known to Nielsen, a quantum theorist, who did ask of many probabilities which interacted in nonlinear ways, saying: "The chance of a given outcome can be estimated even though it is nondeterministic."
- And many murmured against the writer, verily the writer of this message, saying that he was torturing the analogy.
THREE:
- So the Singularity was known to many after their own prejudices, but the whole truth was known to none.
- And they debated, hither and yon, saying yea and nay.
- Verily many had an amateur grasp of the others' fields, but each of them placed confidence in their own field above all others.
- And their heart could not be swayed with words they loved not.
- And they are still debating.
-- Eliezer Yudkowsky, A Critical Discussion of Vinge's Singularity Concept: Open Discussion
Knock, Knock Jokes
- Knock knock
- Who's there?
- The Singularity.
- Singularity who?
- Nooooobody expects the Singularity!
-- Joseph Sterlynne and Spike Jones
- "The Onion", SL2 version
- The Clock of the Long Now
- The other artifacts
- Transhuman Contracts and Morality WAS: A position
- Friendly Borg FAQ
- Singularity adventure
- Re: Spoiler Review of A.I.
- Protect your mind
- Sluggy Singularity
- Makefile achieves self-awareness
- Spreading the Singularity meme
- Re: A billion years later...
- Re: FRIVOLOUS: new name for Webmind perhaps needed
- SL4 meets some other cartoons
(Note: 'Makefile achieves self-awareness' link is dead; as of Jan 16, 2005, it can be found archived at: http://web.archive.org/web/20011019113616/http://segfault.org/story.phtml?id=3ba7eadc-03cdf340 )
Singularity Geek Code. And it occurs to me that "Singularitarian" has the same syllabic pattern as "Modern Major General".
OK, I'll bite:
I am the very model of a Singularitarian
Through BPT I ration'ly strive for goals utilitarian
Because the Existential Risks we face are very scary and
(I have no clue what else could rhyme except something like Marian)
...
I interrupt discussions to express my views contrarian? --Justin Corwin (who may attempt this parody at some point in the future, when freetime is available, the subject is very appealing)
Someone has already finished this project quite nicely - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hKG5l_TDU8&NR=1 --observer
Seven Signs Of The Singularity
"I triple-guarentee you that this seed AI is Friendly!!!"
- from a press statement released by the SIAI's Baghdad office; see CFAI section 3.3.6.2 (Starglider)
There are people who believe that God will prevent humanity from creating Artificial Intelligence, like he prevented humanity from finishing the Tower of Babel.
There are other people who believe that God will prevent humanity from creating Artificial Intelligence, using exactly the same method that he used to prevent humanity from finishing the Tower of Babel.
There are still other people who believe that God has already done this.
In case you didn't get the joke, it was a reference to the fact that everyone who has ever tried to create an Artificial Intelligence seems to have developed their own language for talking about AI, and noone's language is compatible with anyone else's.
--observer
