we can create anything with singularity like magic

he term "singularity" refers to a point in a system past which the normal rules no longer apply. So a Technological Singularity would be a theoretical point in technological development beyond which things are incomprehensible to anyone who came before. You'll often see people referring to "the technological singularity" as though it merely refers to the point where we have truly sapient AI, but it's actually much more complex than that. Predictions of what life will be like after a Singularity are by definition impossible — the nature of human life and even the concept of intellect may change completely. The guesses in fiction usually lean very utopian or dystopian. Occasionally, post-Singularity beings/societies might simply be disinterested in 'lesser' beings, have goals that aren't obviously 'good' or 'bad', or vanish with no one knowing what it means. Or any combination of those — for example, in Vinge's Transcend they mostly don't care and then disappear within years or sooner. The concept of the Singularity gained much popularity in the 1990s and 2000s as computers and information technologies entered an exponential development phase, which many predicted to be indefinite. Moore's Law is perhaps one of the most notorious of such predictions. That said, the idea of the singularity has lost ground as many wild projections of the future of technology have been dashed by physics. Moore's Law reaching its end before flash memories and processors could even come close to the incredible capacity of the human brain, for example, has left many with that familiar feeling of Sci-Fi disillusionment that snuffs out any hope of one day witnessing Clarke's Third Law with one's own two eyes. Nevertheless, the idea of the Singularity has had a huge influence on Speculative Fiction, and it is still treated quite seriously by authors, academics, and futurologists alike. In fact, so many writers wish to cash in on the concept that its trappings and terminology are sometimes used even in stories where the developments shown may not seem advanced enough to seem like an actual Singularity. On the utopian end, writers explore many different improvements: an end to death, scarcity, and the errors of ignorance and stupidity. There is the prospect of self-editing, mental and physical: people finally able to be whatever we wish to be. A singularity may produce Sufficiently Advanced Aliens, with the power to create whatever we can imagine. The author gets to play with characters who are as much of a Super Weight as they'd like. The story may focus on having them achieve higher levels of evolution. A singularity can be transcendent; we hack the cracked walls of reality itself and move on to better things. We might end up as snooty toga-clad points of light obsessed with mathematics. Others see no end: endless ecstatic ascent. Expect someone to start talking excitedly about Evolutionary Levels and Goal-Oriented Evolution, despite both ideas being a case of Artistic License – Biology and computer technology having nothing to do with biological evolution anyway. On the dystopian side, it could be as simple as many or all of us (pre-Singularity beings) die in an explosion or some other immediate effect of the Singularity, or a Singularity attempt. We might be killed off over time - on purpose, or simply squashed underfoot like ants. Many or all of us may be enslaved, or harnessed in some way, sometimes as part of the "body" or "mind" of the new post-Singularity being(s). In these cases a liberation movement is likely to be underway. We could be caught up in some kind of holy war between good and bad post-Singularity entities, or maintaining or breaking a Balance Between Good and Evil. The Singularity may not only turn and bite us but go on to devour the entire Universe. Post-Singularity beings are likely to be or quickly become the Powers That Be, and they can open up any of the usual super-powerful villain tropes, allowing our plucky heroes to demonstrate their chops, perhaps aided by the arrogance of power. Authors tapping the more unique opportunities in the trope will welcome the challenge of breaking the Sliding Scale of Villain Threat. The story, or part of it, could take place as the Singularity unfolds, allowing a series of Boss Battles in between minion fights as the main bad guy or group gains power. The patterns and pathways made possible in The Singularity are so various that authors have probably pursued only a fraction of what is what could be. It is an excellent handwave or a literal Deus ex Machina for writers struggling with the impossibility of plots - just bring in cosmic entities many orders of magnitude greater than themselves or the reader. One of the major hazards of the Singularity is more power than the author knows what to do with. The singularity, as some kind of Lotus-Eater Machine, is sometimes called the "rapture of the nerds". There are inevitably spiritual overtones to a singularity. Spirituality deals with transcendence; that which lies beyond the everyday. A singularity opens a door to the transcendent, drawing in interested writers. The less hopeful works point out the dangers. Environmental exhaustion. There are all these extinction scenarios so ready to hand. Our extinction by an uncontrollable creation, intelligent or not. There is the question of who inherits the wonders of acceleration: us or our posthuman descendants? Can we coexist in peace? Charles Stross sometimes envisages a runaway singularity as something akin to unleashing an Eldritch Abomination. There's also a question of who, exactly, gets to be part of the Singularity; while technology is progressing at leaps and bounds in the First World, there are plenty of places around the world where people have little-to-no access to the kind of technologies most tropers take for granted, and even within the First World not everyone has an equal share of the pie. Far from ushering in a utopia of egalitarianism and plenty in which everyone is part, there are plenty who argue that the Singularity could just accelerate elitism, creating an exclusive club or over-class where only those who can afford to pay can take part, leading to the creation of a Hive Caste System. Note is also taken of how hard it is to uninvent something without completely halting the inventing species and its descendants. For instance, as time goes on, the probability that mankind will use (or make pocket size) any given Weapon of Mass Destruction increases, while only a similar civilization-ending catastrophe and/or mass Ascension Into Space would result in humans forgetting said knowledge. Of course, a middle path involves either economic collapse or imperfect transcription of knowledge followed by a Feudal Future. Or a merely grimy Used Future, sort of the future equivalent of the Dung Ages. Some writers content themselves with "soft singularities": technologies that cause an unforeseen societal phase change, in the veins of the steam engine, motorized transportation, or computers. Soft-singularity transistors create portable radios and end the tyranny of distance. "Hard" singularities end people; turn them into radio waves. Don't confuse these uses of "hard and soft" with Mohs Scale of Sci-Fi Hardness; some people even consider them opposite in meaning, since the "soft singularity" is fairly plausible according to science as we understand it, while the "hard singularity" is a lot more speculative. This is why stories with a "harder" Singularity are almost always told from the point of view of pre-Singularity beings, since we the audience can relate to them far more easily than with post-Singularity beings. Since Cyberpunk and Post-Cyberpunk are immersed in accelerating, multifarious cross-breeding technology and societal change, singularities form a natural end-point and have traditionally been a part of this genre. The purposes of including a Singularity in the setting of a story, beyond the Rule of Cool, can be to examine the difference between how people of particular political philosophies approach change. In both cases, a singularity is a revolution, but political radicals want to throw away the whole system of society in one go, excited with the possible rewards, where conservatives tend to focus on all the risks, which are appropriately grave. Characters (and writers) of either bent can find much to say about the topic. In order to get around the problems some viewers (are thought to) have relating to the troubles of, say, super-intelligent flocks of pigeons or 12-dimensional hermit crabs, stories set after The Singularity feature a disproportionate number of Space Amish protagonists and Fans Of The Past. See also No Transhumanism Allowed and Transhuman. For other meanings, see Singularity. Examples open/close all folders Hard Singularities Anime and Manga Comic Books Fan Fiction Film Literature Live-Action TV Music Tabletop Games Video Games Web Comics Web Original Western Animation Soft Singularities Anime and Manga Fanfic Film Literature Live-Action TV Music Video Games Web Comics Web Original Western Animation Real Life Alternative Title(s): Technological Singularity Previous Index Next Scientist vs. Soldier Tropes on Science and Unscience Sounds of Science Sufficiently Advanced Bamboo Technology Technological Tropes Technologically Advanced Foe Pro-Human Transhuman Transhuman Super Breeding Program Singer-Songwriter WeAreNotAlone/Tropes Q-Z Sinister Shiv Police State Cyberpunk Tropes Society Is to Blame Single-Task Robot Speculative Fiction Tropes Skeleton Key Scale of Scientific Sins ImageSource/Webcomics Viewers Are Geniuses Show Spoilers Night Vision Sticky Header Wide Load Advertisement:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Infinitely advanced extraterrestrials