A Reflection in the Mirror: The Technological Singularity

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A Reflection in the Mirror The Technological
Singularity

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The Technological Singularity

• A concept that has become more recognized as we
  advance in technology
• A concept that deals with the rate of our advance
  in technology
• What we will discuss
• What is the Technological Singularity?
• Key proponents of the Singularity concept
• What technologies are advancing us in this
  direction?
• Why this is not a figment of science fiction

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What is the Technological Singularity?

• Irving John Good
• Let an ultra intelligent machine be defined as
  a machine that can far surpass all the
  intellectual activities of any man however
  clever. Since the design of machines is one of
  these intellectual activities, an ultra
  intelligent machine could design even better
  machines there would then unquestionably be an
  intelligence explosion, and the intelligence of
  man would be left far behind. Thus the first
  ultra intelligent machine is the last invention
  that man need ever make.

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What is the Technological Singularity?

• Intelligent Machines
• Machines able to learn and evolve
• Machine Intelligence that surpasses mankinds
  ability to understand.
• Technological Singularity not necessarily a good
  or bad event.

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What is the Technological Singularity?

• Term first coined by Vernor Vinge
• Former San Diego State University professor of
  computer science and mathematics
• Used the term first in his 1993 presentation
• Key proponent of the Singularity concept, Raymond
  Kurzweil.
• Graduate of computer science at MIT, respected in
  field of artificial intelligence
• The Law of Accelerating Returns

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The Law of Accelerating Returns

• Developed by computer scientist Raymond Kurzweil
• Generalized version of Moores Law
• Technological advance increases at an exponential
  rate.
• When a technology encounters a barrier, a new
  technology is created which takes its place.

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The Law of Accelerating Returns

• Kurzweil on the Law of Accelerating Returns,
• An analysis of the history of technology shows
  that technological change is exponential,
  contrary to the common-sense intuitive linear
  view. So we wont experience 100 years of
  progress in the twenty first century-it will be
  more like 20,000 years of progress. The
  returns, such as chip speed and
  cost-effectiveness, also increase exponentially.
  Theres even exponential growth in the rate of
  exponential growth. Within a few decades,
  machine intelligence will surpass human
  intelligence, leading to The Singularity -
  technological change so rapid and profound it
  represents a rupture in the fabric of human
  history.

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The Coming Singularity

• Two possible paths to the Singularity are
  described by Vernor Vinge
• Modeling human intellect
• Strong AI vs. Weak AI
• The Blue Brain Project
• Project started June 6th, 2005
• Simulates a section of the cerebral
• cortex
• Biologically precise to the molecular level
• An attempt to reverse engineer the brain,
• not to create a Strong AI system.

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The Coming Singularity

• Intelligence Amplification
• Direct machine to brain interfaces
• Ability to restore or amplify body functions
• Current technology includes cochlear implants,
  visual cortex implants, and prosthetics.
• BrainGate
• Created in 2003 by Cyberkinetics and
• developed by Brown University
• BMI which allows for control of
• mechanical devices using only thoughts.

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The Coming Singularity

• Vinge describes two possible forms by which the
  Singularity could present itself
• Soft Takeoff
• The Singularity event could occur over a long
  period, possibly decades.
• Regardless of the time it takes, artificial
  intelligence would surpass human intelligence at
  some point
• Hard Takeoff
• The Singularity event would happen extremely
  fast, occurring over a matter of weeks or days
• Machine learning would take place at a rate
  similar to the speed of processes on a typical
  computer.

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Current Singularity Technology

• Developmental and Epigenetic robotics
• Field of study combining developmental
  psychology, neurology, cognitive science, and
  robotics
• Artificial systems which are able to learn new
  abilities by interacting with their environment
• These systems have been observed to have the
  ability to do things such as
• Understand that certain words represent specific
  objects
• Understand the concept of ownership
• Recognize and discriminate between other machines
  and its own reflection in a mirror
• A unique way to approach the concept of Strong AI

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Current Singularity Technology

• Nanotechnology
• Field of research which deals with material and
  its composition at the atomic and molecular level
  
• Researchers aim to create molecular structures by
  placing every atom in a specific arrangement.
• Has the potential to be a very powerful method
  for machine to brain interfaces

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The Ethics of a New Era

• What would it be like to live in a post
  Singularity society?
• Is it ethical to be moving toward a technological
  singularity, whether we mean to or not?
• If we are striving to obtain advances that might
  one day be a harm to us, should we stop
  researching altogether?
• We must learn to use technology to enhance our
  lives instead of letting technology run ours.