I've never been much of a tech girl. I landed a job at WIRED because I had an abiding interest in journalism (famously low-tech), and you'd better believe I was googling "What is Bitcoin?" minutes before my interview. As such, there are a lot of things I've only really wrapped my head around since I started working here. Why AI systems rely on personal data, for instance, how carbon capture works, and what cryptocurrency actually is (well, sort of).
Still, there are plenty of tech-savvy terms and concepts that fly right over my head. The "singularity" is one of them. I know it has something to do with brain-computer interfaces and transhumanism, but beyond that I'm toast. Enter: Gary Wolf's 2008 profile of Ray Kurzweil, noted inventor and futurist and one of the thinkers credited with popularizing the idea that there will come a time—probably soon!—when machine becomes more intelligent than man and civilization as we know it changes dramatically. Behold: the singularity!
As Wolf explains, Kurzweil argues that "eventually, AIs will allow us to conquer death itself. The singularity won't destroy us … it will immortalize us." To prepare, as of 2008 at least, the inventor cut his fat intake to 10 percent, received intravenous longevity treatments, and took between 180 and 210 vitamin and mineral supplements a day. When the brilliant machines arrive, he and other singularitarians want to be ready to live forever.
If this all sounds a little kooky, I'm with you! I'm all for embracing technology that operates at a level I can't understand (evidently), but I don't know that I need to stick around in perpetuity to see it. What do you think? If you could live forever, would you want to? Is the thought of machines outsmarting humans a thrill or a terror? I'd love it if you wrote me a note or left a comment beneath the story telling me what you think.
See you next week!
Eve
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حبيبي ليس يعدله حبيب *** ولا لسواه في قلبي نصيب حبيب غاب عن بصري وسمعي *** ولكن في فؤادي ما يغيب يا حبيب ...
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