![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/dreamstime_3402262-300x240-1.jpg\")
Why do we fear\u00a0the technological singularity<\/a>?<\/p>\nWell, let me give you what I believe are the top 10 most popular reasons:<\/p>\n
1. Extinction<\/strong><\/p>\n Extinction is by far\u00a0the most feared as well as the most commonly predicted consequence of the\u00a0singularity.<\/p>\n The\u00a0global apocalypse for the human race\u00a0comes in many flavors but some of the most popular ones are: the supersmart terminator AI\u2019s \u2013 a\u00a0robopocalypse<\/a>;\u00a0nanotechnology<\/a>\u00a0gone rogue \u2013 the so called\u00a0grey goo<\/a>\u00a0scenario,\u00a0home-made Smart Weapons of Mass Destruction \u2013 used\u00a0by terrorists and nihilists;\u00a0genetic modifications or mutations \u2013 turning\u00a0us into\u00a0living-dead zombies;\u00a0science experiments gone wrong \u2013\u00a0the Large Hadron Collider<\/a>\u00a0creating a black hole that engulfs\u00a0the planet\u2026<\/p>\n In short, the fear is that, as Bill Joy notoriously put it:\u00a0The Future Doesn\u2019t Need Us<\/a>.<\/p>\n 2. Slavery<\/strong><\/p>\n Perhaps the second most common reason for\u00a0fearing the singularity is the potential slavery or subjugation of the entire human race. The argument is pretty straight forward:<\/p>\n Once we have\u00a0super smart\u00a0AI<\/a>s we stop being the smartest entities on this planet. In other words,\u00a0we have\u00a0created\u00a0Gods\u00a0while remaining mere humans. So, if for whatever reason the machines\u00a0decide not to\u00a0exterminate us, then, chances are that, since they will be vastly\u00a0superior to us, they will enslave us. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways: either explicitly \u2013 with\u00a0us being aware of our bondage, or implicitly \u2013 without\u00a0us realizing it (the\u00a0Matrix\/simulation scenarios).<\/p>\n 3. World War III \u2013 Giga\u00a0War<\/strong><\/p>\n The third most common fear of the singularity is, of course, World War 3. A Giga War of unprecedented\u00a0scale, sophistication and efficiency of death and\u00a0destruction that may be the result of either the clash between the human race and the AIs or between different fractions of humans:\u00a0e.g.\u00a0the ArtIlect War\u00a0of terrans versus cosmists as foreseen by\u00a0Hugo de Garis<\/a>. Whatever the case may be, it will likely result in billions of deaths and a collapse or complete eradication of our civilization.<\/p>\n 4. Economic Collapse<\/strong><\/p>\n Some\u00a0have argued that, if we somehow manage to avoid the previous three scenarios, then, we are likely to experience a complete economic collapse:<\/p>\n The complete\u00a0robotization\u00a0of our society is\u00a0likely to lead to\u00a0overproduction of goods and services. Yet, since it is\u00a0claimed\u00a0that most people will lose their jobs to the robots, there will be a global\u00a0unemployment rate of unprecedented scale\u00a0which in turn will collapse the\u00a0demand for those robo-made goods and services. Combine this with\u00a0a population explosion of 9 or even 10 billion mostly unemployed people who have no means to create\u00a0income and\u00a0buy anything, and we are looking at a global\u00a0economic collapse.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0Big Brother AI<\/strong><\/p>\n This scenario is a milder version of the slavery\/subjugation Matrix\u00a0option because we are still under the complete control of an\u00a0all-knowing\u00a0Artificial Intelligence. The main difference here is that the AI is merely doing what is best for us, rather than what is best for it:\u00a0we have a benevolent,\u00a0omnipotent, absolute monarch\u00a0protecting\u00a0us from our\u00a0worst enemies \u2013 our fellow human beings and our own selves.\u00a0It is all done in the name of maximizing security, prosperity and overall happiness for all people across the\u00a0planet. The only minor negative\u00a0is\u00a0a\u00a0little bit of\u00a0propaganda and ideological, political\u00a0or religious brainwashing required to prop up \u201cthe cult of the AI,\u201d but that\u2019s\u00a0OK\u00a0since it is\u00a0for our own good.<\/p>\n 6. Alienation and Loss of Humanity<\/strong><\/p>\n Following the \u201cif you can\u2019t beat them, join them\u201d maxim, one way of potentially\u00a0surviving the singularity is\u00a0by merging with the machines. This\u00a0idea \u2013 that\u00a0we can and should improve on what we have been handed down by mother nature, is often referred to as\u00a0transhumanism<\/a>.\u00a0Merging man and machine via biotechnology, molecular nanotechnologies and artificial intelligence, we would increase our cognitive abilities,\u00a0physical\u00a0strength, emotional\u00a0stability and overall\u00a0health and longevity.<\/p>\n The fear, of course, is that by doing\u00a0so we are\u00a0going to lose the very essence of being human \u2013 our human nature,\u00a0our human souls and\u00a0human identity. Furthermore, at the collective level, the loss of humanity will also mean\u00a0alienation or\u00a0loss of community which is to say that the resulting variety of posthuman entities will be so wide apart as to negate any connection whatsoever among different individuals. This in turn will mean that humanity,\u00a0in fact, did not survive but succumbed to the machine invasion and indeed went extinct.<\/p>\n 7. Environmental Catastrophe<\/strong><\/p>\n Our history shows that our environmental destructiveness is in direct proportion of our technological prowess. Once we live in a global society where everything is\u00a0mass produced by robots, our manufactured civilization will\u00a0sever the last\u00a0connection to the natural\u00a0world. We will\u00a0lose the very\u00a0last bit of\u00a0respect for mother nature:<\/p>\n Why preserve the\u00a0rain forest if we can create a \u201cbetter\u201d and\u00a0\u201csmarter\u201d\u00a0one? Why care about\u00a0biodiversity, species\u2019 extinction or environmental degradation if we can revive and mold those for our own purposes or pleasure?<\/p>\n Why care about anything\u00a0if we are (technological) Gods?!<\/p>\n 8. Loss of\u00a0History,\u00a0Knowledge and\u00a0Spatial Resolution\u00a0<\/strong>[aka\u00a0Digital Dark Age<\/a>]<\/p>\n The ever accelerating process of digitization comes along with\u00a0a certain loss\u00a0or even destruction\u00a0of data. This data can be in the form of history, cultural traditions, dead languages or important scientific information.\u00a0For example, NASA recently admitted\u00a0it has lost the ability to recover much of the\u00a0computer data from some of the Apollo missions and the\u00a0Moon landings. Thus certain kinds of vitally important and unique knowledge as well as history or cultural traditions\u00a0are\u00a0lost forever. To know if we are getting a good deal or not, we must fist quantify the data losses and compare them to the potential gains. Yet, at the break-neck speed we\u2019re moving forward few\u00a0have time for such calculations.<\/p>\n It seems that we live in an analog\u00a0universe with infinite resolution \u2013 both zooming in and out, as far as we can. The process of digitization captures a mere fraction of it. Just like a compressed\u00a0.mp3 file captures only a part of the\u00a0actual musical\u00a0performance, this process\u00a0creates symbols which are digital representations\u00a0of the real thing. The fear\u00a0is we may end up losing awareness that the digital realm is a realm of symbols \u2013 a\u00a0mere reflection of the true analog universe, ending up\u00a0in\u00a0Plato\u2019s Digital Cave of Illusions.<\/p>\n 9.\u00a0Computronium\u00a0and Matrioshka Brains\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n As far as we can tell it seems we live in a universe full of dumb matter. This, of course, makes for a pretty dumb universe too.<\/p>\n However, extrapolating from our own development, it would appear that as time goes by\u00a0there is a movement from less towards more intelligence in the universe. Thus, given enough time, more and more of our planet and, eventually our universe, is likely to contain and consist of\u00a0more and more\u00a0intelligent matter.\u00a0This process is likely to continue until\u00a0Moore\u2019s Law<\/a>\u00a0collapses and an equilibrium is reached. Such a\u00a0theoretical arrangement of matter \u2013\u00a0the best possible configuration of any given amount to achieve a perfectly optimal\u00a0computing device,\u00a0is the substrate also known as computronium.<\/p>\n A Matrioshka brain is a hypothetical megastructure of immense computational capacity. Based on the Dyson sphere, the concept derives its name from the Russian Matrioshka doll and is an example of a planet-size solar-powered computer, capturing the entire energy output of a star. To form the Matrioshka brain all planets of the solar system are dismantled and a vast computational device inhabited by uploaded or virtual minds, inconceivably more advanced and complex than us, is created.<\/p>\n So the idea is that eventually, one way or another,\u00a0all matter in the universe will be smart. All dust will be smart dust, and all resources will be utilized to their optimum computing potential. There will be nothing else left but Matrioshka Brains and\/or\u00a0computronium\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cNASA are idiots. They want to send canned meat to Mars!\u201d Manfred swallows a mouthful of beer, aggressively plonks his glass on the table. \u201cMars is just dumb mass at the bottom of a gravity well; there isn\u2019t even a biosphere there. They should be working on uploading and solving the nanoassembly conformational problem instead. Then we could turn all the available dumb matter into computronium and use it for processing our thoughts. Long-term, it\u2019s the only way to go. The solar system is a dead loss right now \u2013 dumb all over! Just measure the MIPS per milligram. If it isn\u2019t thinking, it isn\u2019t working.\u201d (Accelerando<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Charles Stross<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n 10. Fear of Change<\/strong><\/p>\n Fear of change and\u00a0fear of the unkown are\u00a0deeply embedded in the human psyche:\u00a0We all want to be comfortable.\u00a0Not knowing<\/a>\u00a0is very, very\u00a0uncomfortable. Realizing\u00a0that the\u00a0coming change is\u00a0radically unique \u2013 both\u00a0in scale and unpredictibility,\u00a0is even more discomforting.<\/p>\n When it comes to survival nobody likes surprises. So we take it as a matter of both personal as well as collective security to\u00a0model and at least roughly foresee\u00a0the future.<\/p>\n The singularity is a radical change of arguably cosmic proportions which is by definition\u00a0impossible to model, let alone\u00a0predict.\u00a0Thus, there is no surprise\u00a0it evokes\u00a0very deep insecurity and primal fear.<\/p>\n The question is: Are you afraid?! Are you not very,\u00a0very afraid?!<\/p>\n