@Jayne Well, I just read up on it, and it’s an interesting concept. Not sure if amphilotus explained it entirely. In general, it means (according to Vinge), that once AI reaches the ‘superhuman’ state, we will no longer be capable of understanding it (because if we could, then we would be superhuman), and we wouldn’t be able to predict it’s behavior, for the same reason. The general outcome is that then we die out for being obsolete, or something of the sort.
So, I can’t say I’m convinced. Interesting argument, but you’ll have to show me evidence for AI first. We’re getting good at virtual AI, but it’s mostly just more and complicated algorithms, as opposed to a program actually capable of thought and growth. He also bases this on moore’s law, which has broken down at this point, since we are no longer capable of making processors any smaller, due to electron tunneling effects. Quantum computing holds some promise, but that’s still in infancy, so I’ll wait on that. Still don’t think we’ll hit it by 2023, which was Vinge’s prediction.