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the singularity sucks
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Singularity
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the singularity sucks
lunchtime reading
Vernor Vinge's Latest Ideas About the Singularity in IEEE Spectrum
The latest issue of IEEE Spectrum, a journal for speculative engineering geeks, is devoted to "the singularity," that moment when our society changes so dramatically that it becomes incomprehensible to people who lived in the past. The issue is packed with free online essays by singularity thinkers like science fiction author Vernor "Rainbows End" Vinge, Rodney Brooks of MIT's AI Lab, and Ray "Singularity is Near" Kurzweil. The whole issue is well worth a serious read. But my favorite part by far is an essay by Vinge, an SF author and computer scientist whose singularity scenarios in his novels are both compelling and realistic. He breaks down singularity scenarios into the five most-likely possibilities, any of which he thinks could happen by 2030. More »
At Last We Have Artificially Intelligent Puppies
The most sophisticated artificial intelligence in the world is as smart as your average puppy. The A.I., which can control a robot arm, has the level of cognition and learning of a two- or three-year-old child, say its creators, who are with the E.U.-funded COSPAL project. But we probably won't get an A.I. to match an adult human in our lifetimes, COSPAL cautions. The real news here? Apparently puppies and three-year-old humans have the same level of intelligence, according to A.I. geeks. [A.I. Panic]
sarah connor chronicles recap
It's Mean Girls With Killer Robots!
Robo-teen Summer Glau tries to bond with some real girls and comfort a hazing victim, only to get called "bitch-whore," in a scene from last night's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. (She decides "bitch-whore" is her new nickname, which should totally be a running subplot.) Someone's harassing the girls of Terminator High with giant stencils and bras, and Summer is out of her depth. We also had a lot of way-subtle girl-grooming=violence moments, a Kill Bill-Robert Oppenheimer mash-up, and the world's craziest explanation of the Singularity. Click through for spoilers. More »
Ultradark Material Is Thirty Times Blacker Than Black
Scientists have created a new material that absorbs more light than any other substance on Earth, giving it a reflectivity value of 0.045 percent. It's also 30 times darker than the standard we currently use to measure what counts as "black." It's practically like having a black hole in a fabric, which should lead to some extremely cool t-shirts. [Reuters]
Scientists have created a new material that absorbs more light than any other substance on Earth, giving it a reflectivity value of 0.045 percent. It's also 30 times darker than the standard we currently use to measure what counts as "black." It's practically like having a black hole in a fabric, which should lead to some extremely cool t-shirts. [Reuters]
sf politics
Charles Stross Talks to io9 About Sex, Prison, and Politics
Yesterday we talked to Jim Munroe about one of the most political science fiction novels written in the last century, and today we've cornered science fiction author Charles Stross into talking about the future of a more socio-political issue: sex. Stross is the author most recently of Halting State, a near-future MMO crime thriller, as well as gender-bending prison experiment novel Glasshouse, extropian revolutionary war novel Singularity Sky, and many others. His novels are often political in the "rulers fighting" sense as well as in the personal sense — his characters are at odds with themselves, trying to figure things out like love and sexual identity while also shooting big guns and playing with nanotech. So here's what Stross talks about when he talks about sex (and politics). More »
soul code
Tron's Creator Kvetsches Against The Machine
Downloading your brain into virtual reality is so 1982. Soul Code, the new movie from Tron writer/director Steve Lisberger, will be about backing up your memories instead. And unlike Tron's bouncy cyber-liberation theme, the collaboration with IGN diva Jessica Chobot will be a "cautionary tale" about technology, Lisberger says in a rambling new interview. Why has the creator of Tron gotten so pessimistic? More »
rant
We Don't Need Your Stupid A.I. to Have a Good Singularity
Catherine Valente, author of adventure tale The Cities of Coin and Spice, says the singularity isn't about artificial intelligence or nanobots. Instead, that scifi moment at which everything "now" becomes "the future" is personal, too: Valente compares the big Singularity to personal singularities like living as a divorced person when you thought you'd be married forever. She also lays down a much-needed challenge to all those wankers who think the singularity can only come about via specific technologies like artificial intelligence. More »
We Know How Much Money the Singularity is Worth
The singularity is that special moment when scientific innovation and cultural changes become so complex that the world is no longer recognizable anymore. These days, futurists all want to be the guy who predicts the next big singularity. Thus the formation of the Singularity Institute, a think tank which apparently can put an exact annual price tag on the singularity: about half a million dollars. That's how much the organization raised last year to promote the great moment when everything changes forever.
The singularity is that special moment when scientific innovation and cultural changes become so complex that the world is no longer recognizable anymore. These days, futurists all want to be the guy who predicts the next big singularity. Thus the formation of the Singularity Institute, a think tank which apparently can put an exact annual price tag on the singularity: about half a million dollars. That's how much the organization raised last year to promote the great moment when everything changes forever.
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