technological singularity

English

Etymology

Popularized by Vernor Vinge in 1993,[1] by analogy to the gravitational singularity in black holes, where the conventional laws of science are thought to no longer apply, resulting in a breakdown of predictability.[2]

Pronunciation

Noun

technological singularity (plural technological singularities)

  1. A hypothetical future event in human history caused by the ever-increasing ability of new technology to speed up the rate at which new technology is developed.
    Synonyms: singularity, Kurzweil singularity, Singularity
    • 2015, Murray Shanahan, The Technological Singularity, MIT Press, →ISBN, page xx:
      For the consequences for humanity, if a technological singularity did indeed occur, would be seismic. What are these potentially seismic consequences? What sort of world, what sort of universe, might come into being if a technological singularity does occur?

Translations

See also

References
  1. Vernor Vinge (1993) “The Coming Technological Singularity”, in Acceleration Studies Foundation‎: “I think it's fair to call this event a singularity ("the Singularity" for the purposes of this paper). It is a point where our old models must be discarded and a new reality rules.”
  2. Amnon H. Eden, James H. Moor, Johnny H. Soraker, Eric Steinhart (2013) chapter 1, in Singularity Hypotheses: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 5: “The gravitational singularity metaphor thus reinforces the view that the change will be radical and that its outcome cannot be foreseen.”
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.