#singularity

#singularity

The question of whether we are free to act compels us to accept that there are different degrees of determinism and that even freedom and causality might be compatible. That was already announced by Saint Augustine, for whom divine providence did not preclude free will. An incompatible position, in which determinism excludes true freedom, could hardly be reconciled with such indisputable phenomena as spontaneity, repentance, rebellion, or resistance, and the capacity for the future, which only finds their place in freedom.

In The Singularity is Nearer: When We Merge with AI, the futurist Ray Kurzweil imagines the point in 2045 when rapid technological progress crosses a threshold as humans merge with machines, an event he calls "the singularity." Although Kurzweil's predictions may sound more like science fiction than fact-based forecasting, his brand of thinking goes well beyond the usual sci-fi crowd. It has provided inspiration for American technology industry elites for some time, chief among them Elon Musk.

In 2000, Bill Joy, the co-founder and chief scientist of the computer company Sun Microsystems, sounded an alarm about technology. In an article in Wired titled 'Why the Future Doesn't Need Us', Joy wrote that we should 'limit development of the technologies that are too dangerous, by limiting our pursuit of certain kinds of knowledge.' He feared a future in which our inventions casually wipe us from the face of the planet.