The Singularity is here. So am I.

Dear Nick, 

    Wow, this blog is awfully dark.  Seems rather appropriate.  It looks like space - like dark empty airless space.  Our words are the stars.  

Kate

The One Machine

Kate,

You were busy writing a paper last night while I was reading Wired last night next to you so I didn't want to interrupt you. However, there was the most amazing little article in the "Infoporn" section of the magazine about what the author, Kevin Kelly, is calling "The One Machine." Basically, all of the computing power in the world is becoming completely accessible from anywhere through devices like my iPhone or your XBox 360. While not everything is completely linked, we are, in effect building synapses in a giant, electronic brain. "By 2040, the planetary computer will attain as much processing power as all 7 billion human brains on Earth."

Crazy!

Kelly continues by talking about how the humans that program and access this global brain are really important components because we provide the input, the data, the raw materials that this One Machine needs for its prime objective: processing. The article finishes this: "We are headed toward a singular destiny: one vast computer composed of billions of chips and billions of brains, enveloping the planet in a single sphere of intelligence. "

It's not said, but doesn't this smack of the singularity? It's everywhere...

- N


P.S. Even weirder than the article is the appearance of an excerpt from the article spontaneously in my first draft of this post. WTF?

A Better Topic Could Not Have Been Made

Right before I registered the blog, I found this awesome special report on the singularity by IEEE Spectrum.  I mean, really, could a better feature have been created for kicking off our blog about the singularity?  I don't think so...no, not at all.

Here's the link (Kate, I know you've looked at some of this already, of course):  

The Singularity:  A Special Report

The gang's all here, so to speak.  Kurzweil, Lanier, Vinge, Minsky.  (Where are the women of the singularity, I ask you?)  Check out the helpful PDF chart to find out which researchers are looking into which topics.  Read about predictions for the actual date of change, watch video interviews with luminaries from all over the map.  Spectrum really hits this survey course in singularity studies out of the park.  

I personally thought that Vernor Vinge's video clip was the most intriguing, but I'm curious what you both think.  

Yours,

- N

The First Post Is Now

Kate (& Dusty, I hope):

Well, here it is. A harebrained idea from a few months back, The Singularity Is Now is online and ready to take on a life of its own. Kate, you've assured me that epistolary blogs are few and far between. I hope this is the case, because I think this style is not only going to make the blog more interesting to read, but also offer the most possibilities for exploring the topics we post about in a connected, conversational way. It's going to take deep connections to put together the pieces of the singularity puzzle and I think that the two (or three!) of us are up to the task.

But it's not all so serious of course. We should look at this as a chance to post things that are just gob smackingly nifty. And comics. Like Dresden Codak...I mean, it's all the man talks about! So, if you find anything that's just spectacularly cool, post it up. The popular media surrounding our present - on the verge of major change - is just as telling of our progress as articles about technical advancements. Maybe even more so?

I'm really excited to get started (as if you couldn't tell from my multitude of exclamation points.) So, "Hello, world!" and welcome to the birth of the singularity!

- N