When and how did you learn about the idea of ”Technological Singularity"?

Submitted by yottawa t3_11423ai in singularity

How and when did you learn about the idea of ”Technological Singularity"? What has been the effect of this idea on you? What was your initial reaction?

As far as I can remember, I first came across this idea on a popular science website two years ago. I remember getting really excited reading the article, it's the kind of thing I'd never thought about before. I felt that my assumptions about the world were about to change radically. It was a big moment of questioning for me. My vision has expanded.

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AdorableBackground83 t1_j8tu3ia wrote

The first time I heard the word “singularity” was actually in a movie called “Transcendence” starring Johnny Depp.

There was a scene where Depp gave a comical speech of what happens when computers have the brainpower of the entire human race.

It looked interesting to me as a rebellious high school student and as a result in my free time I looked up advanced technologies and came across lectures made by some well known futurists like Peter Diamandis and obviously Ray Kurzweil.

They strongly believe that it will happen by 2045 and I thought to myself in 2014 “that’s only 30 years from now”.

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BigZaddyZ3 t1_j8tyx6q wrote

Years ago I used to go on Google and search up the latest technology advancements (just cause I thought some of the stuff was really cool.) This eventually led me to stumble across futurism/AI focused websites. Which is where I was first introduced to the concept iirc.

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cocopuffs239 t1_j8u4gvg wrote

I believe my first time hearing about it was 2012. My buddy and me both found out about it together. Ray kurzweil is a very convincing person. Ever since I'm been screaming it to everyone

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tsarnick t1_j8u64s0 wrote

In 2006 I watched the movie Waking Life and saw Eamonn Healy talking about the telescopic nature of evolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJHXDfVFlZs I was excited and looked up "neohumans" (which he mentions), which led me to transhumanism and then the technological singularity. I have been hooked on the idea ever since.

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RabidHexley t1_j8u6wyi wrote

I can't remember when I first thought about it. I think the first time I really conceptualized the idea of truly Advanced, self-improving AI and its implications was the first time I read The Last Question by Issac Asimov sometime between 2004 and 2006 as an early teenager.

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sgjo1 t1_j8ua11z wrote

Wikipedia in the mid-2000s. Kurzweil’s first two books on the topic were out by then.

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RiotNrrd2001 t1_j8ucrdc wrote

I think I came across the term first in the late nineties or maybe early 2000's. People were claiming we'd make it there sometime around 2012. Of course, various other apocalypses were also converging on 2012 (Mayan calendar myths, massive asteroids, probably zombies I can't remember all of them), although I have to say that my big memory for that year was that it wasn't quite as apocalyptic as feared\hoped (depending on your outlook). That years singularity was pretty disappointing as well, as it turned out.

Maybe the next one will be too. It's only hype until it isn't, of course, but until it isn't I expect most of it still will be.

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Verzingetorix t1_j8ugcwv wrote

FutureTimeline.net induced rabbit hole. Somewhere in the second half of the 00s.

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meyotchslap t1_j8uisvi wrote

Vernor Vinge’s Peace War books from the early 80s

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WikiSummarizerBot t1_j8uk8bn wrote

Replying to teletubs33 (#1,837,676)

The Spike (book)

>The Spike is a 1997 book by Damien Broderick exploring the future of technology, and in particular the concept of the technological singularity. A revised and updated edition was published in 2001 as The Spike: How Our Lives Are Being Transformed by Rapidly Advancing Technologies, New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2001, ISBN 0-312-87781-1 he ISBN 0-312-87782-X pbk. Library of Congress T14. B75 2001.

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onyxengine t1_j8uo6rw wrote

Robot carnival anime from the 80s put me onto the vibe was always super into sci-fi. I wanted to build robots as a kid, so awesome Kurzweil interviews as a kid.

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peterflys t1_j8uptlt wrote

Replying to Verzingetorix (#1,837,371)

Same here. Then I saw Transcendent Man which dove into way more detail. I even picked up Singularity is Near shortly after that but found the book basically contained everything the documentary already went over. The doc came out circa 2010.

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TheSecretAgenda t1_j8uwr6o wrote

I took Ray Kurzweil's book The Age of Spiritual Machines out of the library around 2003. I read The Singularity Is Near a few years later. So, I have known about the Singularity for about 20 years.

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meatlamma t1_j8v92m8 wrote

Kurzweil & Drexler, around 2000

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Daealis t1_j8vg7b8 wrote

Kurzweil interview I think. Or maybe in his earlier books. Somewhere around 2010ish.

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Bierculles t1_j8x2a6u wrote

Fairly recently, i stumbled upon this entire AI thing a bit more than a year ago, it was a few months before DALL-E 2 took off. I think someone randomly recommended this sub somehwere on reddit. Reading about the singularity and all that it entails was one of the most interresting things i've read in my life. At first it felt like a fantastical idea that sounded like some batshit sci-fi shenanigans, until i actually started reading up on those AI models and realised that this is real, scarily so.

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_Usari_ t1_j8y06a2 wrote

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (early 2000s PC 4x game). I barely played the game but I read the strategy guide. The technological singularity is one of the apex researches in the game tech tree. The lore was very Interesting reading for a young teenager.

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Thundergawker t1_j8z74e7 wrote

i feel like i deduced it based on learning a bunch of history and reading about and thinking about the future

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