Singularity is the idea that as technological ability increases exponentially, humans will have to one day merge with machine. This is brought primarily by the observation that as we develop new technology, that technology allows us to develop newer technology even more rapidly. It is predicted that the growth of technology will increase exponentially and eventually computers will have the ability to process more quickly than the human brain. These computers would then be able to create better technology themselves, things humans are incapable of. In 1965 I.J. Good wrote, “Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make. This is the point where man is forced to combine with this technology to be able to keep up with the more powerful computers. Lev Grossman of Time Magazine wrote, “Maybe we'll merge with them to become super-intelligent cyborgs, using computers to extend our intellectual abilities the same way that cars and planes extend our physical abilities.
What frightens many people is the idea of the effect of this merging on human behavior. Humans are the most unique race on Earth, as we have the ability to think and be creative instead of just reacting instinctively. What would the world be like today is nobody ever thought the impossible and had a creative idea?
Computers as we currently perceive them do whatever they are commanded to do, and nothing else. They are much less complex than the human brain and cannot take in as many factors as the human brain. They are also not creative and not able to create new thoughts (or coding), they only have what they are programmed with. This would destroy the future of humanity as nothing new would ever be created. Scientists can attempt to incorporate all possible ways of thinking into the computer, but then ideas would again never be creative. Human thought may be able to be simulated, but I don’t think it will ever be able to be replicated.
This idea of singularity ties in greatly with Brave New World. Society in the novel is driven by two things: consumption and production. In order to increase production and consumption the government breeds and brainwashed people into becoming machine like in order to be more efficient. The strive for efficiency led people to lose their sense of humanity and state of mind.
