4 ms·

I think it's pretty much SF author Ken Macleod who's labeled it that.

• theblackbox 18y ago
  Yeah I wasn't too sure of the origin, but it does seem to be an esoteric nomenclature and very specific to SF geeks. Now I'm not saying I'm not an SF geek, but first and foremost I'm an agent of the word and find the ambiguities of such a concept as "The Singularity" alienating for both sides. One can't express it to the other because of it's vastness, and the other can't grasp it because it's a poorly conceived metaphor. Hell, for a mind boggling position on where my doubts are loosely based, read the Quine-Duhem Thesis or The Indeterminacy of Translation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indeterminacy_of_translation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indeterminacy_of_translation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duhem%E2%80%93Quine_thesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duhem%E2%80%93Quine_thesis The first states that the search for "meaning" in language is a dead end, due to the problem of translation (an agonising and paradoxical conclusion to realise). While the second states that no scientific theory (that of "the singularity" for instance) can ever be tested or even contemplated in isolation. All knowledge essentially "faces the tribunal of sense-experience, not alone, but as a cohesive unit". So my primary assumption that "singularity" refers to "black wholes and baby universes" refuses the "singularity meme" to be accepted by my cohesive knowledge web... as ever - food for thought peace