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Are we supposed to take interest in this particular pointless flamewar? Or is this just meant as a spark to start our own here?

grandalf 17y ago
I had no idea there was any controversy about it, but there are a LOT of other beliefs that are logical consequences of a belief in the singularity. I describe the most notable of these below: * when I say "belief" in the singularity, I of course mean the provisional (falsifiable but currently un-falsified) idea that the concept of the singularity is plausible, even inevitable The key logical consequence is the idea that it is possible that your own life is simply an experiment being run on a computer at some point in the future, as an attempt to understand the past or even to test some hardware or software. If you believe that it will be possible for a human to exist in silico, then there will inevitably be millions of experiments in which entire lives (or even civilizations, etc.) are carried out for no purpose other than the whims of the experimentor. The scale of the inevitable (to the singulatarian) experimentation is so mind boggling that it's hard to even consider what it means, much less its impact on the probability that your own life -- your very existence -- is taking place inside such a simulation. Consider, for example, that upon reaching the singularity it wil be possible to simulate the entire history of humanity on earth (and every moment of consciousness of every conscious being). Now suppose it's possible to do this once per year or once per second. This means that the probability that your own conscious state is actually taking place in one of those simulations (rather than in reality) approaches 1.
- calambrac 17y ago
  You're missing my point. The linked article is just a mild flamewar between its two participants ("You're a cult" vs. "You're an asshole for calling us a cult"). There's nothing new or interesting in there.
  - grandalf 17y ago
    true... but I do think the stuff I mentioned in my comment is interesting -- and in a sense the same sort of stuff that cults/religions do actually discuss. I guess there is some irony in that.

grandalf 17y ago

I had no idea there was any controversy about it, but there are a LOT of other beliefs that are logical consequences of a belief in the singularity. I describe the most notable of these below: * when I say "belief" in the singularity, I of course mean the provisional (falsifiable but currently un-falsified) idea that the concept of the singularity is plausible, even inevitable The key logical consequence is the idea that it is possible that your own life is simply an experiment being run on a computer at some point in the future, as an attempt to understand the past or even to test some hardware or software. If you believe that it will be possible for a human to exist in silico, then there will inevitably be millions of experiments in which entire lives (or even civilizations, etc.) are carried out for no purpose other than the whims of the experimentor. The scale of the inevitable (to the singulatarian) experimentation is so mind boggling that it's hard to even consider what it means, much less its impact on the probability that your own life -- your very existence -- is taking place inside such a simulation. Consider, for example, that upon reaching the singularity it wil be possible to simulate the entire history of humanity on earth (and every moment of consciousness of every conscious being). Now suppose it's possible to do this once per year or once per second. This means that the probability that your own conscious state is actually taking place in one of those simulations (rather than in reality) approaches 1.

calambrac 17y ago
You're missing my point. The linked article is just a mild flamewar between its two participants ("You're a cult" vs. "You're an asshole for calling us a cult"). There's nothing new or interesting in there.
- grandalf 17y ago
  true... but I do think the stuff I mentioned in my comment is interesting -- and in a sense the same sort of stuff that cults/religions do actually discuss. I guess there is some irony in that.