Just how near is the Singularity?
The Singularity, technologically speaking, is a theoretical point of time in the future when, having developed even slightly superhuman intelligence, humans will reap the benefits and/or fallout of computers/machines that can recursively augment themselves into increasingly greater intelligences.
Optimists think that this will serve as a jumping off point to rapidly accelerated advances in a variety of areas of medicine and science, changing the proverbial everything.
Pessimists point to such a development as likely contributing to some catastrophic disaster (the Terminator world as one such example).
Some don’t think this point will/can ever be reached.
Primarily, I’m interested to know both if and WHEN people think we will see such a point, with the potential benefit or cost being a secondary question to this.
Thanks.
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