The last great scientist will be the one who starts the singularity, amirite?

Surely this is dependent on whether the singularity will be one event, or the culmination of a series of events.

by elisabethlakin 1 week ago

the last great scientist This is suggestive of one. But if the singularity is the culmination of a number of scientist's work over any period of time, then it's not "a scientist" and therefore no "last great scientist"

by elisabethlakin 1 week ago

every scientists' work is the culmination of those before them there is no scientist after the one who starts the singularity thus they are the last great scientist (you could argue semantics, as they might not be the last great scientist, as another may live longer, but they are making the last great human breakthrough)

by New-Hamster-2064 1 week ago

You're still assuming it's going to be one that triggers it, as opposed to it being a number of activities, by a number of scientists which lead up to it happening.

by elisabethlakin 1 week ago

i'm not talking about all of the scientists who each contribute to it i'm talking about the the one who kickstarts it, it may be the one who presses ‘run' on the program, the one who uploads it to the internet or what have you the singularity is a discrete event that happens at a single time

by New-Hamster-2064 1 week ago

the singularity is a discrete event that happens at a single time This doesn't mean that an individual runs a bit of code and then it suddenly it happens It could be the culmination of four or five events, by a number of different people that result in your "discrete event that happens at a single time" There's no rule that says it's the doing of one person, doing one thing. A rocket lifting off a launchpad is a singular event. A million things happen by hundred different people for that event to take place.

by elisabethlakin 1 week ago

a collaborative inevitability across multiple industries and society-wide demand that doesn't have a clear dividing line cannot, by definition, be started by a last great scientist.

by Sweet-Freedom9412 1 week ago

love how people just say fancy sounding words and act like it proves anything at all what definition are you referring to here?

by New-Hamster-2064 1 week ago

Well, I better brush up on my science skills then! Can't let the singularity start without me, right?

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Based on OP believes, the singularity is going to start without a helluva lot of people.

by elisabethlakin 1 week ago

Anyone care to explain wtf this guy is saying?

by Anonymous 1 week ago

no

by New-Hamster-2064 1 week ago

The the last great scientist was not the one to start the singularity.

by lorna99 1 week ago

some seem confused, i'll try to explain once the singularity is triggered, AI will have the ability recursively improve itself without the input of humans, becoming smarter and smarter human scientists, mathematicians, politicians, will become so much less efficient, and fall so far behind that no more human breakthroughs are made it would be like a human asking a pig to solve quantum mechanics

by New-Hamster-2064 1 week ago

There's also not one clear definition of what the singularity is. Some believe it's a gradual move, others think it's a single event From a quick Google Kurzweil believes that the singularity will occur by approximately 2045. His predictions differ from Vinge's in that he predicts a gradual ascent to the singularity, rather than Vinge's rapidly self-improving superhuman intelligence Two people in one paragraph, two distinct ideas on what will happen.

by elisabethlakin 1 week ago