Transhuman Singularity

Here lies what remains of the human species totally consumed by our own doings. Don't touch visiting aliens, some very toxic radioactive stuff, oh and please excuse the heat and all the greenhouse gases. We were blessed with such great potential and a planet of vast natural resources, but squandered them all in our inability to get along with each other, too slow to change our ways, to adapt, so sorry . . . all gone now.

What a discouraging and depressing epitaph for human beings! War, disease, poverty and hunger, overpopulation, pollution, nuclear proliferation, multiple-species extinction, and what now looks like catastrophic global warming.

Compounded problems of a world pushed to the precipice of extinction by 6.7 billion breathing, eating, and defecating people all wanting consumer goods beyond the planets capacity.

Hold on there you say! Why so pessimistic? Not all is bleak and dark. What about the human survival instinct? We should be able to solve these problems, we are millions of evolved years old. Even if we created these problems ourselves, we are now developing the tools and knowledge to solve them as well. If proper action is taken by a majority of humans, we can do this. We can survive! However, we should redefine our definitions of “prosper” and our goals for survival.

There are so many of us human beings and we can hardly agree on anything . . . What levels of survival are we willing to accept? Can we balance our personal limitations of greed, anger and ignorance against those of compassion, understanding and compromise for all? Is love for our fellow humans enough? I hope so, because our survival as a species may well depend on it.

Now I would like to say something about the Technological Singularity.

The Technological Singularity is prophesied by some to be a cure for all our ills. Technological snake oil sold as a scientific nirvana. A time of unlimited information and possibilities with artificial super-intelligence, boundless energy, and great opportunities for whom? What about us humans?

Creation of artificial intelligence must be coupled with the extension of our human brains to elevated our very understanding of this complex society we have created and live in. Through eventual “neural-integration” with the Internet we may ultimately produce a technological “Group Mind” encompassing the whole planet and filled with productive thoughts for humanity. This is what I personally believe the Internet will ultimately become in our not so distant future.

Our problems may become more solvable as a result. I leave you with these hopeful thoughts for the alternatives: extinction, a reset of civilization, hostile AI('s), maybe too horrible to consider.