ACM TechNews

Technology That Outthinks Us: A Partner or a Master?

New York Times (08/26/08) P. D1; Tierney, John

Computer scientist and science fiction writer Vernor Vinge predicted in a 1993 essay that computer technology would advance so dramatically that a new form of superintelligence would emerge by 2030, an event he dubbed the Singularity. He is concerned about some of the potentially negative effects of such a development, including the possible obsolescence of reading and the abbreviation of people's attention spans. Vinge envisions the possibility of intelligence amplification, in which people steadily increase their intelligence by pooling their knowledge with each other and with computers, perhaps via a direct brain-computer interface. He also projects an alternative scenario in which artificial intelligence trumps human intelligence. He doubts that under such circumstances superintelligent machines would submit to human control or remain confined to laboratories. Vinge has been urging people to get smarter through computer collaboration in order to avoid such a possibility. "I think there's a good possibility that humanity will itself participate in the Singularity," he says. "But on the other hand, we could just be left behind."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/science/26tier.html

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