The Coming Technological Singularity

How to survive in the Post-Human Era

De: Gregory Alan Thornhill

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

The future of human civilization is uncertain. Mass starvation, the domination and possible extermination of the human race by nanobots that have gone smart, biological drone-swarms which are more than a physical match for humans combined with mobile decontamination units bearing chemical weapons sufficient to wipe out every living thing. These scenarios have been illuminatingly discussed from an analytical framing point of view in books such as “Our Final Invention” or most prominently in Nick Bostrom’s seminal “Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers Solutions".

Many people be they business managers or computer hackers familiar with probability calculus acknowledge that niche sector analysis can no longer accurately predict the development in society due to internet technologies having interconnected all human beings globally on one platform where technological trends are unable to process information fast enough to build intelligent algorithms based on prognosis through statistical data pure and simple because while statistically true financial models cannot predict buyer psychology reliably simply not taking into account trauma caused by negative experiences leading people away from making predictable choices over sustained periods of time despite externally similar conditions to previous transactional decisions made. Add human psychology like "Fitts’ Law" or “Recency Bias Effect" and the sky is the limit.

This book takes it a step further by more directly focussing on what different strategies are available: How can humans steer technological evolution in their favor? Or to put it differently which political directions should be those eventually arrive at conclusions that support survival. What would the end result of human engagement with digital reality look like if one can reach within a post-ID world where transhumanist singularity has been averted? Why is the relation between humans, artificial intelligence far more fractal than popular fictional TV shows believe it to be and in particular why are humans vastly inferior when it comes to imagination?