The Singularity
Categories: Tech
Charlotte likes to think of herself as a reasonable person, but there is nothing that freaks her out more than the thought of computers and robots becoming sentient and taking over the planet. Think about it: military weapons that choose targets all on their own. Microwaves that decide what’s for dinner. Smart door locks that let people into our home even when we’re not wearing pants. It’s the stuff of nightmares.
That point in time...that terrifying moment when artificial intelligence becomes so artificially intelligent that it is officially uncontrollable...has a name. “The singularity.”
According to popular theory, the singularity will begin when one A.I. machine decides to go through a self-improvement update, gets carried away, goes through a bajillion updates, and suddenly morphs into a terrifyingly superintelligent being whose intellectual capacity far exceeds that of any human ever. Once that happens, other machines will catch on, and before we know it, we’ll all be living the Terminator movies. Not only will we not be able to control them, but we won’t even be able to understand them. And if that’s not enough to keep Charlotte awake at night, many experts predict that it’s only a matter of time before it happens. Of course, maybe the machines won’t go all Terminator on their human creators. Maybe instead, they’ll save the world from poverty, hunger, disease, and reality TV. But, uh...Charlotte’s not betting on it.
