When journalists, like this AP writer, write about the singularity, they tend to focus too much on specific possible outcomes, like cell-size robots circulating through our bloodstreams and increasing our brain power a hundred-fold or being able to upload our consciousnesses into a computer -- so it sounds more like crazy science fiction than an actual possibility:
Some critics have mocked singularists for their obsession with "techno-salvation" and "techno-holocaust" — or what some wags have called the coming "nerdocalypse." Their predictions are grounded as much in science fiction as science, the detractors claim, and may never come to pass.
But advocates argue it would be irresponsible to ignore the possibility of dire outcomes.
"Technology is heading here. It will predictably get to the point of making artificial intelligence," Yudkowsky said. "The mere fact that you cannot predict exactly when it will happen down to the day is no excuse for closing your eyes and refusing to think about it."
In so doing, they overlook the main point of the singularity, which is that technological progress will increase so exponentially that, at some point, ordinary humans won't be able to understand it. People who predict the future -- espcially those like Al Gore, who see the direst possible outcomes -- have very little faith in the science they seem to extol.
