The 110th U.S.
Congress, released a report on the Singularity, in
2007:
Every
exponential curve eventually reaches a point where the growth rate becomes
almost infinite. This point is often called the Singularity. If technology
continues to advance at exponential rates, what happens after 2020? Technology
is likely to continue, but at this stage some observers forecast a period at
which scientific advances aggressively assume their own momentum and accelerate
at unprecedented levels, enabling products that today seem like science fiction.
Beyond the Singularity, human society is incomparably different from
what it is today. Several assumptions seem to drive predictions of a
Singularity. The first is that continued material demands and competitive
pressures will continue to drive technology forward. Second, at some point
artificial intelligence advances to a point where computers enhance and
accelerate scientific discovery and technological change.
In other
words, intelligent machines start to produce discoveries that are too complex
for humans. Finally, there is an assumption that solutions to most of today’s
problems including material scarcity, human health, and environmental
degradation can be solved by technology, if not by us, then by the computers we
eventually develop.
Warning: VERY
LONG.
.