Sam Altman Predicts Singularity in 2025

The technology singularity is defined as the point in time where we're no longer the smartest specie on the planet. The idea is that computers will outperform our capacity to reason due to dwarfing us on intelligence. Once they do, humans will no longer control the earth or decide what to build, computers will!

20 years ago it seemed like a dream for most, so nobody really cared. Today it seems like a highly likely future, the only question becomes when. Yesterday Sam Altman Tweeted that he believes we'll enter the Singularity in 2025, which for obvious reasons is a very big deal. So let's try to explain the unexplainable, as in what exactly is the singularity?

The Singularity Defined

According to most researchers we cannot fathom the singularity, not even in theory. First of all our brains are not equipped with the necessary wiring to understand exponential growth. Secondly, once we reach the singularity, the amount of innovation we're used to seeing in 50+ years will be happening once every second. To understand these changes, let's think about all the technological innovations we've seen the last 50 years, such as ...

Cell phones
The internet
iPads
Smart Watches
IoT
Nano technology
Drones
Robotics
Etc ...

Then imagine such innovations happening once every second instead of requiring 50 years. The result becomes that the world goes through the same amount of change every single second that previously required 50+ years. This implies that in one second, the AI might have solved issues such as ...

Cancer
Old age
Climate change
Wars

... and the above was the list of problems it solved in one second! As if that wasn't enough, the next iteration of similar changes would only require half a second. The next iteration after that would require only 0.25 seconds, etc, etc, etc. The whole idea is based upon exponential growth and Moore's law.

This happens because of the effects of having intelligence "compounding", as in eating from itself - Resulting in every improvement in the AI, produces millions of additional capabilities. To imagine what the machine might do at that time, is the equivalent of asking an ant to explain Shakespeare.

A Black Hole

The word singularity comes from nature and physics. It implies a point in space where gravity is so huge that not even light can escape. This implies that you cannot, not even in theory, look into a black hole. A black hole can only be observed from its inside - And even inside of the event horizon itself, you can only look out and side ways, and not further into the black hole itself.

When Ray Kurzweil first proposed the name singularity, the idea was that once we're no longer the smartest specie on earth, it becomes logically impossible to imagine what happens. And as you're looking out from inside of the black hole, the closer you come to the centre of the black hole itself, the more of the universe you can see - Until time and space have been completely flipped, and time becomes space, while space becomes time. In theory, this allows you to see the entire universe at once, from the beginning to the end, because time simply becomes another dimension of space.

Certain Uncertainties

The upside implies we can imagine something impossible to even discuss without quoting some of the best passages from the Bible and the Quran. Eternal life, ever lasting happiness, peace on earth, living in harmony with nature, etc. The downside is the completely annihilation of all life on earth, possibly all life in the universe.

When somebody like Sam Altman believes we'll reach that point in time in 2025, it's therefore for obvious reasons a really big deal. The problem is that we cannot know, not even in theory, if it's the end of the world, or the beginning of Paradise on Earth.

Wrapping up

Personally, I think the whole singularity movement seems to be a bit crazy. I don't disagree with them, I just prefer to simply code, solve problems, and participate in whatever way I can. If you think too much about it, you tend to go off the deep end, and the only result being tormenting yourself with questions you cannot ever find the answer to, and it's also inevitable due to sheer gravity.

However, when somebody like Sam Altman claims we might reach the singularity in 2025, it would be smart to not simply brush him aside as a fruitcake conspiracy cult member. When he's also getting 2 million views on his Tweet, in less than 24 hours - Ignoring it becomes impossible. However, what do you think? Are these fruitcake conspiracy theories or our inevitable future?

Because at the end of the day, the only means we have to rely upon once confronted with certain uncertainties is just that; Faith and Belief! Which arguably sums up the greatest achievement of mankind being based upon the same concepts as those having nurtured our religious beliefs for hundreds of thousands of years ...

I insanely disagree with this statement, but it's one of the more popular statements about the singularity ever created. I can't remember who said it, and I disagree with it being a man of faith myself - But it drives home the point pretty accurately ...

When asked if God exists, my answer is; Not yet!!

So are we building the tower of Babylon, or are we unveiling Paradise on Earth? The answer to that question lies within, and there's no amount of reasoning that will ever allow you to know ...

... simply because it's a black hole, and only faith can provide answers to the known unknown, and the singularity is a known unknown!

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