The Singularity is Farther

or: how to make questions less stupid

“Singularity” means a point beyond which progress will not be predictable.

In one sense, the singularity has always been behind us. We can’t really predict anythiing. We call the discoveries we make knowledge and its DEFINITION is somethinig we didn’t know before (and hence mgith now change everything going forward, again in ways we might not even predict now that we have the new knowledge, much less before we got it)

In another sense, new knowledge does grant us predictive ability (or explainability), meaning we can see a little farther into the universe (or galaxy), explain a little more (how light bends around massive black holes and spacetime is curved), thereby pushing away what we previously perceived as a singularity into something that no longer is, bringint into view the “next” singularity.

What is the significance of reaching “universality”? It seems highly impactful to believe there are worlds beyond (superintelligence, superexponential), versus knowing a real limit (what CANNOT be). conjecturing a limit to energy/economic growth on earth within certain parameters vs KNOWING FOR SURE that a certain growth paradign CANNOT continue seem to be ioncredibly useful things to know when we are faced with the “doing of what is clearly at hand” . Those questions inform hwo clearly what is at hand.

You could say by creating knowledge we are continually bringing more clearly and more to hand that which previously lied dimly at a distance.

• we can see a little further
• we can bring soemthing new, different or more to hand
• we conjecture what we can do at hand

But even Deutsch conjectures a “universality”, a “Limit to Growth”, a science of can and can’t.

So we need to know when our assertion of a limit is too bold or strong enough to work within.

Why is Deutsch’s claim of us people reaching a universality different than Kurzweil’s Singularity?

(always ask how does answering this qeustion matter for us today? (what does it inform what wwe can do clearly at hand?))

maybe the question becomes more useful (less stupid) when we have a different set of things (a different adjacent possible)

Axioms

all questions need to be processed through the lens of what can we do with this now?

some things have an intrinsic value to do now and need not answer further. What will you do with your knowledge of japanese? Ma’am, I am doing it. In this case the lens question is answered by I am doing it (if it can be done in 60 seconds, just do it and no further frameworking is needed.)

but others DO serve the growth cycle of knowledge which contains conjecture, and error correction. those questions need to be processed into the adjacent possible

Reading list

The Singularity is Near

The Singularity is Nearer

The Beginning of Infinity