Accelerating Future Transhumanism, AI, nanotech, the Singularity, and extinction risk.

Why a Singularity Will be Gradual – Sci-Fi Says So

Apparently they talked about the "Singularity" at Worldcon. Here's the summary from Wired:

There was an interesting side discussion about an alternative form of “bootstrap singularity” where humans gradually modify themselves to a point of no-return, but at a pace that still allows the culture to maintain a sense of continuity of identity. Ideas about what type, rate and breadth of change would constitute a singularity were bandied about, leading one panelist to observe that that the singularity, like puberty, might only be recognized after it as happened. We will not see it coming.

I read several summaries of this that all basically said the same thing. I don't have a transcript of what they said, so let me try to say it like they might have said it...

Lots of sci-books I have read and sci-movies I have seen have had enhanced humans as the protagonists, therefore enhanced humans will surely come about before weird enhanced networks of humans with brain-to-brain interfaces, artificial intelligences, or other exotic outcomes that are hard to write stories about or get nerds excited about. Because everything in the human world happens relatively gradually, we can expect that the Singularity will happen relatively gradually as well, as in the introduction of products like the iPod to the world population. Therefore, since everyone will have those products that make you superintelligent at roughly the same time, we won't even notice it happened. Everything will be awesome and just like Accelerando by my favorite author Charles Stross. A Singularity that went too fast to preserve our continuity of identity as a culture would suck, therefore we will definitely make sure it doesn't happen.

Did I get it about right? I hope so.

If a Singularity goes slowly, it will be because a singleton designed it that way.