That's pretty scary. We spend a lot of time talking about AI taking over (like in the Terminator films), but the grey goo scenario seems much more realistic!
That math term, "singularity", re-appropriated as a technology hype buzz word, is rooted in a fundamental concept, though, and used to have a specific meaning: unpredictability.
In calculus, when you try to graph a function, and a curve forms a harsh sweep into a vertical line, up or down, if the domain of X is time, a vertical line indicates multiple events happening simultaneously, and we can no longer define the equation as a function, because its results are not predictable.
With a singularity, given a particular input (a moment in time), multiple values are possible.
In terms of Wired Magazine Kurzweil hype, it means multiple novel inventions are being introduced simultaneously (if you were making a graph of inventions over time), and so, because 2 or more new things are happening at the same time, it becomes very hard to predict how people will try to use them, all at once.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 33.7 ms ] threadIn calculus, when you try to graph a function, and a curve forms a harsh sweep into a vertical line, up or down, if the domain of X is time, a vertical line indicates multiple events happening simultaneously, and we can no longer define the equation as a function, because its results are not predictable.
With a singularity, given a particular input (a moment in time), multiple values are possible.
In terms of Wired Magazine Kurzweil hype, it means multiple novel inventions are being introduced simultaneously (if you were making a graph of inventions over time), and so, because 2 or more new things are happening at the same time, it becomes very hard to predict how people will try to use them, all at once.