by Timing and the future has been coming up a lot in my recent work. [My favorite piece is “seeing in multiple horizons“] Whether it’s talking about shale, and how futurists (and others) were talking about non-conventional oil production back in the 1990s. Or a similar story with 3D printing/desktop manufacturing. And now with the Singularity, as audiences are asking questions about it and where it came from.
It’s no long “near” – the [idea of] of the Singularity is “here,” in the sense of entering the mainstream. Hollywood, as is often the case, helps bring an image of the future to a mass audience. In this case it is the rather disappointing treatment of the Singularity in “Transcendence.” There were, of course, the Terminator (way back in 1984) and Matrix series, but they did not make explicit mention of the Singularity. Kurzweil and the Singularity Institute folks are also making pretty regular appearances in mainstream news as well.
On Monday, I talked about it to a group of chemical industry professionals the 2015 Polyolefins Conference. A show of hands suggested about half of the room had heard of the Singularity. And then it came up on a KTRH Houston radio interview yesterday, actually in the context of discussing Michio Kaku’s idea on brain control, which triggered a reference to yet another movie – Total Recall.
It’s usually true that futurists are chewing on issues long before they reach the mainstream (that’s kind of the idea, right?). By the time they get here, we may be a bit bored with them. Friend and colleague John Smart reminded me that I somewhat glibly said I was bored with the Singularity a while back.
The singularity is a bit different in that it’s the concept – not the singularity itself – that is exploding on the scene. I guess I’m just acknowledging the transition – kinda of cool to watch an issue move along the emerging issues curve right before our eyes. Andy Hines
[…] [The idea of] the Singularity is Here […]