Here follows my response to the article titled "Holy Singularity!" by Extropia DaSilva, published via H+ magazine.
I don't think the Singularity is or will be "holy" in any sense of the word. I reject the word "holy" in all connotations regarding the Singularity because of it's linkage to religion. Of course I do make occasional exceptions for Cheesy satire.
It is a logical fallacy to assume commonality indicates a shared identity, ethos, or cause. For example the ground can be wet due to rain but not all cases of the ground being wet means it has rained. A burst water pipe could make the ground wet but clearly it is fallacious to talk about the similarity between rain and burst water pipes. Petrol (Gas) is also wet but petrol is very different to water. My point is that a burst water pipe (or petrol spilled from a filling station) is not rain, and likewise the Singularity is not holy. Consider also how sneezing is a symptom of the common cold. All cases of sneezing should not be linked to the common cold; clearly it's fallacious to state pepper or dust is similar to the common cold. Pepper, dust, and colds are three very different things despite sharing a commonality; sneezing. Finally to emphasize the point regarding logical fallacies I will give one more example: cars are fast and cheetahs are fast but clearly a car and a cheetah are two very different things despite sharing the "fast" commonality. A car is not a cheetah. If you attempted to tell people cars and cheetahs are the same thing, or very similar, they would think you are insane, or on LSD.
People can be moral without invoking the divine. Molarity is merely rationality, it is a logical mode of social conduct. We can make our world a better place without that improvement being deemed religious. Improving the world (civilization) is not religious even if religions do want to improve the world. Wanting to live in a world free from crime and war does not mean you are holy, it is merely intelligent, sensible thinking. People have imagined curing cancer (or other diseases) for hundreds or perhaps thousands of years; often in our pre-science history and in our current history those imaginings have been based upon a belief in magic, but does this mean when science finally cures cancer that the cure is actually magic due to historical association? Is nanotechnology witchcraft? Is the internet Voodoo? Guilt by association is a logical fallacy. Is highly advanced nanotechnology the Philosopher's Stone for Alchemists?
The phrase ‘The rapture of the nerds’ is a merely a smear utilized when people cannot utilize logical deconstruction to invalidate a premise. If we are intellectuals we should reject the usage of smears. Logical deconstruction should be our prime mode of discourse.
I am intelligent enough to be able to state the Singularity begins with immortality, Post-Scarcity, and limitlessness. As the Singularity unfolds it will likely progress beyond human comprehension; nevertheless we can say it will be ineffable and we can also very logically be assured intelligence will also always be intelligent. I'm an exceptionally intelligent human thus I focus on the Singularity regarding the human benefits. I focus on the beginning of the intelligence explosion, the point where we can clearly see, if we look at the evidence, how medicine will create immortality, how technology will create Post-Scarcity, the point where we can see how intelligence will become limitless. I focus in the human beginning of the Singularity. Even if I did focus on the Posthuman otherness deep beyond the start of the intelligence explosion, which I don't, such a focus on the ineffable nature of highly evolved/evolving intelligence should not denote a contemplation of "otherness" in the sense of religiosity or worship. Merely because something is ineffable this does not mean it is religious.
I have a small amount of experience with extended pleasure and I have never wanted the pleasure to end. The joy of "joy" never wanes for me. For example many lovers say their relationship grows stronger and deeper over the passing years, their love does not wane, but there are many people who fall out of love, they divorce. A passion for life and an appreciation of joy will never wane for a truly intelligent individual, but we live in a world where people do become bored easily if they cannot consume the latest so-called "news" regarding the "Kardashians" (incidentally I have never watched the Kardashians but I seem to have the impression it is a reality TV show? I have a wilful blind-spot regarding that type of nonsense). In the future I suspect everyone will possess my type of intelligence, an intelligence of eternal inquisitiveness, an sharpness of mind where joy never becomes boring because a truly intelligent mind such as mine can always find ways to simulate the senses (intellectual curiosity) regarding the wonder of being alive, possessing consciousness. In the future my greater access to power will truly allow me to unleash my mind thereby experiencing infinite joy and wonder beyond the mundane constraints of a limited civilization where people value banality. A cool drink of water on hot day never loses its zest, in fact the joy of it deepens in tandem with a deepening mind. Greater intelligence allows for a greater appreciation of things, thus the joy of utopia will never wane, in fact growing intelligence will always improve its sweetness.
Progress is simply progress, it is not holy or religious. The Singularity is extreme progress condensed into a short space of time but fundamentally it is no different to the discovery or utilization of electricity, medicine, atoms, DNA, computers. The Singularity is simply science and technology, it is an awareness of scientific comprehension reaching a pivotal point regarding immense empowerment and comprehension of the natural world. Sadly we've seen how some people want to define science and technology in religious terms. When people attempt to classify the Singularity as being religious or holy, they are engaging in, or giving credence to, a modern form of Intelligent Design. Religious people see the religious in everything, even Cheese, or DNA, because, they may say: how can organisms evolve naturally; obviously there was an intelligent designer behind the evolution, and I reply: "Yes, it was the Holy Posthuman Cheese God."
The Singularity is not "a symbol of our perpetual desire to progress toward a state of holiness." The Singularity is simply the very rapid progress of science and technology, it is science and technology reaching a point where humans are liberated from the constraints of the natural world, which has always been the purpose of science; we have sought comprehension of matter to empower ourselves. Knowledge is power thus we create mechanical hearts ("Heart Stop Beating") to prolong our lives, we regenerate organs via Stem Cells, we communicate instantly with the world via the internet, we create nuclear power, solar power, wind turbines, and many other modern devices. The Singularity is a symbol of science, it symbolises our perpetual desire to increase our knowledge, our intelligence, which is why it is called an intelligence explosion, you could also call it a science explosion. It is definitely NOT holy, or religious, unless you see the entire world as being religious which some religious people do.
Doctors make the world a better place, they cure disease, they ease suffering, but this ever advancing path towards utopian medicine does not mean doctors are angels of agents of God. When doctors can grant immortality this will not be religious, it is simply medicine. When I switch on a light, or power-up my computer this is not a miracle by God, it is not magic or religious or holy. When 3D-printing allows me to create any object I desire this will not be holy transubstantiation. 3D-printers of the future may feed more than 5,000 people from a limited amount of matter but it won't be a miracle, it will be science and technology.
If you want to call something holy I would call Cheese holy, or maybe plumbers are holy too because rain comes from God and plumbers direct God's water through pipes. Do you understand logical fallacies now?
Sunday, 8 July 2012
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Helpful Online Tools
These tools are useful to me. Maybe you will appreciate them too.
Pastehtml.com died shortly after posting this but I found a great replacement http://bo.lt and then Pastehtml came back. Pastehtml may or may not be currently be working; if it is working it has one minor advantage over bo.lt because it allows you to do anonymous pastes.
■ Online html editing. With pastehtml you can paste a permanent copy of your html (permanent as anything is on the ever-changing web): http://pastehtml.com/
Bo.lt does almost everything pastehtml does or did. With bo.lt you can upload html files and you can make a copy of any page from anywhere on the web. I had heard about bo.lt, but as a replacement it did not immediately come to mind, thankfully this page http://www.labnol.org/internet/archive-web-pages/20192/ alerted me to bo.lt.
Here's a bolt of the page responsible for my discovery: how_i_discovered_bolt. If you are experimenting with html this page is also useful: http://www.onlinehtmleditor.net/
■ Freeze a copy of a web-page: http://freze.it/
■ Image creation, photo editing: http://www.sumo.fm/#create http://www.sumo.fm/. Note also the free software GIMP.
■ Simple note pad: http://www.editpad.org/
■ Useful dictionary not usually displayed in search results: http://www.collinsdictionary.com/
■ Quickly choose colour codes: http://www.colorpicker.com/
■ Stopwatch timer: http://www.online-stopwatch.com/countdown-clock/full-screen/
■ World time-zones, current times: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
■ Virtual keyboard: http://gate2home.com/English-Keyboard
■ If you need to discover the true location of a URL then use URL X-Ray: http://urlxray.com/
■ Geometric shapes (includes html hex codes): Geometric_Shapes_Unicode_block
■ Remove line breaks from text: http://www.textfixer.com/tools/remove-line-breaks.php/
■ w3schools.com web tutorials: http://www.w3schools.com/
If you are looking for news about future tech I have aggregated some feeds here: http://singularity-2045.org/cuiptf.html. Finally here are two useful futurist G+ pages:
Pastehtml.com died shortly after posting this but I found a great replacement http://bo.lt and then Pastehtml came back. Pastehtml may or may not be currently be working; if it is working it has one minor advantage over bo.lt because it allows you to do anonymous pastes.
We are finally back. Our registrar Internet.bs has shut down the site for a week for abuse complaints. Suggestions?
— PasteHTML.com (@pastehtml) July 16, 2012
■ Online html editing. With pastehtml you can paste a permanent copy of your html (permanent as anything is on the ever-changing web): http://pastehtml.com/
Bo.lt does almost everything pastehtml does or did. With bo.lt you can upload html files and you can make a copy of any page from anywhere on the web. I had heard about bo.lt, but as a replacement it did not immediately come to mind, thankfully this page http://www.labnol.org/internet/archive-web-pages/20192/ alerted me to bo.lt.
Here's a bolt of the page responsible for my discovery: how_i_discovered_bolt. If you are experimenting with html this page is also useful: http://www.onlinehtmleditor.net/
■ Freeze a copy of a web-page: http://freze.it/
■ Image creation, photo editing: http://www.sumo.fm/#create http://www.sumo.fm/. Note also the free software GIMP.
■ Simple note pad: http://www.editpad.org/
■ Useful dictionary not usually displayed in search results: http://www.collinsdictionary.com/
■ Quickly choose colour codes: http://www.colorpicker.com/
■ Stopwatch timer: http://www.online-stopwatch.com/countdown-clock/full-screen/
■ World time-zones, current times: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
■ Virtual keyboard: http://gate2home.com/English-Keyboard
■ If you need to discover the true location of a URL then use URL X-Ray: http://urlxray.com/
■ Geometric shapes (includes html hex codes): Geometric_Shapes_Unicode_block
■ Remove line breaks from text: http://www.textfixer.com/tools/remove-line-breaks.php/
■ w3schools.com web tutorials: http://www.w3schools.com/
If you are looking for news about future tech I have aggregated some feeds here: http://singularity-2045.org/cuiptf.html. Finally here are two useful futurist G+ pages:
Add Post-Scarcity Warriors on G+
Follow Singularity 2045 on Google+
Saturday, 9 June 2012
The Religious Plumbers Association
Consider plumbing being a religion. Is plumbing religious? Consider it.
Making a religion out of plumbing is very ridiculous similar to how making a religion out of technology is very ridiculous.
Oh holy water pipe, I plumb you, I connect a system of pipes to a sanitation-plant. My holy pipe-wrench is my rod and my staff, comforting me as I walk through the dark sewers looking for a leak. The leaks overflow but surely my holy PTFE tape can fix them.
Holy plumber in the sky, plumber or all plumbers, we lift up our hearts to the Lord Plumber. We will dwell forever in the superbly plumbed house of the Lord.
Religious people are very welcome to support the idea of Transhumanism but this does not make Transhumanism a religion any more than plumbing is a religion.
Transhumanism could be compared to the battle to eradicate Malaria, except instead of only eradicating Malaria, Transhumaism wants to eradicate all disease and improve our lives in many other ways. The battle to eradicate Malaria is not a religion (science and technology are utilized not prayers) but religious people are welcome to join the battle. I think the mistake many people make regarding Transhumanism is that they can’t believe we could ever eradicate all disease; thus when Transhumanists think radical technology is very possible the cynics will say Transhumanists are part of a cult partaking in magical fantasies because curing cancer, putting a man on the Moon, eradicating Malaria, or stopping the ageing process are all impossible feats.
Putting a man on the Moon was impossible in the year 1918.
The impossibility of doing something depends upon your point in history, thus if you lived in the year 1212 people would probably have labelled you a witch or insane if you attempted to explain Bluetooth, the ISS, or mechanical hearts (yes mechanical hearts actually exist today and have been transplanted successfully).
The problem with Singularity/Transhuman cynics and castigators is that they are not aware of all the technological evidence available, the evidence which demonstrates a truly radical explosion of technology in the not too distant future, thus the tangible path of science seems like a fantasy or a religion, but the Singularity/Transhuman is merely plumbing.
Is plumbing a religion?
Making a religion out of plumbing is very ridiculous similar to how making a religion out of technology is very ridiculous.
Oh holy water pipe, I plumb you, I connect a system of pipes to a sanitation-plant. My holy pipe-wrench is my rod and my staff, comforting me as I walk through the dark sewers looking for a leak. The leaks overflow but surely my holy PTFE tape can fix them.
Holy plumber in the sky, plumber or all plumbers, we lift up our hearts to the Lord Plumber. We will dwell forever in the superbly plumbed house of the Lord.
Religious people are very welcome to support the idea of Transhumanism but this does not make Transhumanism a religion any more than plumbing is a religion.
Transhumanism could be compared to the battle to eradicate Malaria, except instead of only eradicating Malaria, Transhumaism wants to eradicate all disease and improve our lives in many other ways. The battle to eradicate Malaria is not a religion (science and technology are utilized not prayers) but religious people are welcome to join the battle. I think the mistake many people make regarding Transhumanism is that they can’t believe we could ever eradicate all disease; thus when Transhumanists think radical technology is very possible the cynics will say Transhumanists are part of a cult partaking in magical fantasies because curing cancer, putting a man on the Moon, eradicating Malaria, or stopping the ageing process are all impossible feats.
Putting a man on the Moon was impossible in the year 1918.
The impossibility of doing something depends upon your point in history, thus if you lived in the year 1212 people would probably have labelled you a witch or insane if you attempted to explain Bluetooth, the ISS, or mechanical hearts (yes mechanical hearts actually exist today and have been transplanted successfully).
The problem with Singularity/Transhuman cynics and castigators is that they are not aware of all the technological evidence available, the evidence which demonstrates a truly radical explosion of technology in the not too distant future, thus the tangible path of science seems like a fantasy or a religion, but the Singularity/Transhuman is merely plumbing.
Is plumbing a religion?
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Singularity Explanation For Cynics
Occasionally I try to counter Singularity-cynics. This is my latest attempt. Below you will find various examples of radical news about science and technology breakthroughs from 2009 up to June 2012.
Skeptics often state the Singularity is not likely to occur for at least 100 years. Some skeptics make ludicrously lengthy forecasts, tremendously silly; they claim the Singularity could be 500 years away or they claim it will NEVER happen, they are ignoring the evidence. The reality is it will happen by year 2045 at the latest.
Recently there have been some great advances in science and technology therefore cynics could easily overcome their skepticism if they considered the quotations below regarding tangible progress, great achievements already made.
After considering what is already possible today, the cynics need to consider how things will have progressed within 10, 20, or 30 years. The future is already here with us. Consider this blog, a technological marvel, where I can share text, pictures, and videos with the whole world, very quickly. Information can easily be created and hyperlinked. People can then easily share the information via various sharing options. The future is NOW. We will become more futuristic each year. We are progressing at an accelerating rate.
We are living in futuristic times now. The best is yet to come. Often people cannot see the advancement in front of their eyes, thus they cannot see how technological utopia will occur by 2045 at the latest.
The list of breakthroughs is endless. Consider Darker-than-black metamaterial. Consider how researchers recently discovered how to make virtually limitless supplies of hydrogen via a totally Green process. Intel recently created a solar powered CPU called "Claremont", which in addition to Intel's Hybrid Memory Cube is a bold stride forward for energy-efficient computing. Solar cell efficiency is expected to increase dramatically in the near future (note also the carbon nanotube breakthrough for improved solar cells). There is also an ongoing debate regarding progress towards a cold fusion 'Energy Catalyser', which will create limitless supplies of energy.
Robots
Consider the issue of robots. It is worthwhile to note Big Dog and Alpha Dog. Note also a BBC report, from 3rd October 2011, which explains how the robot revolution is upon us. Robots are evolving rapidly. Robots are becoming more human, which Heather Knight marvelously demonstrates via progress in social robotics.
Robots can now actually think, they can learn from experience thereby solving problems. Within the workplace there is a major transformation occurring regarding robotics. Continually robots are becoming more human, note how Boston Dynamics created the humanoid PETMAN robot. Note also how the ASIMO robot by Honda has been updated, so it can now run, hop, walk up and down stairs, and it can walk backwards; it also has good manual dexterity allowing it to pour drinks. Already we are on the cusp of tiny robots being able to repair hearts.
3D-Printing
In addition to the robot revolution there is the 3D-printing revolution to consider. Everyone is talking about the 3D-printing revolution. The most conservative sources recognise the revolutionary potential of 3D-printing. Already we can print food and body parts, such as a kidney, and this technology will certainly mature rapidly.
In the future we will be able to print anything, therefore it is unsurprising to note the Pentagon is investing in 3D-printing. In the future it will be easy to print circuits into or onto 3D-printed objects. Printing microchips in our own homes will be easy in the future. 3D-printers are rapidly becoming more sophisticated able to print using multiple materials, ice, bendy materials, or even drugs; they can even print crude glass via a raw input of sand. It is also possible to 3D-print muscle. 2012 is the year when it became possible to 3D-print a titanium jaw and successfully replace the original for an 83 year old woman. It is clear 3D printing will change the world. The Pirate Bay is also interested in 3D-printing.
Designer electrons and more...
Humans are able to make great scientific breakthroughs, proven by the links collated in this blog-post, but humans alone are not the prime agents of the Singularity. The Singularity hinges upon Artificial Intelligence. AI will truly explode our understanding. When powerful AI has been created, equal to human intellectual capability, the changes will begin happening VERY quickly. We will witness an intelligence explosion. We will also be able to take drugs to augment our brains. Imagine what will be possible when there are thousands or millions of artificial brains hundreds of times smarter than the smartest human brain. Already interesting biotechnology possibilities are being explored; graphene nanoribbons grown inside carbon nanotubes are an interesting breakthrough; and the new ‘FeTRAM’ memory uses 99% less energy than Flash memory. It is also worthwhile to consider prospective Smart Clothing.
IBM expects to create supercomputers the size of sugar cubes running on low power sometime around 2021. Computer efficiency is continually increasing towards an explosive event, which developments such as suffer-efficient inexact chips demonstrate. Computers are always becoming faster, note how the world's fastest supercomputer "K" was upgraded to beat its own record.
http://phys.org/news/2012-02-nanowires.html
3D printing artificial limbs http://youtu.be/fir5HI0Gwrc
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-03/09/230-percent-efficient-leds
Science Ultra-efficient LED puts out more power than is pumped in
A limitless power source for the indefinite future
http://youtu.be/5Uh6b3CDRaA TEDxCaltech - Charlie Marcus - Nanoelectronics and Quantum Computation
artificial graphene
Tratcor beams; synthetic cells, artificial proteins growing electronics; DNA becomes a living flash drive; self-assembled micro-robots; self assembling nano-scale 3D structures; bone putty to heal fractures; mirco-rockets powered by hydrogen bubbles navigate the human stomach; better hydrogen storage; mechanical hears have been transplanted;
Rapid AI-evolution will ensure super-quick progress therefore regarding Drexlerian nanotech or other tricky issues (the speed of light), we will easily surmount all stumbling blocks. I think Drexler's vision of nanotech is very primitive compared to the type of nano-assembly and matter manipulation which will be possible in the year 2045. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in April 2010: "We're gonna turn science fiction into science fact." Additional to the vision of Charles Bolden, astronauts think the impossible is possible. Eric Schmidt also thinks science fiction is becoming a reality.
blog-post is being updated...(arrrgghh too much news Nov 2012)
More News Indicating Our Revolutionary Progress:
Chips the size of blood cells expected before 2021.
"In less than a decade, that smartphone you're holding could have 32 times the memory, 20 times the bandwidth and a microprocessor core no bigger than a red blood cell..."
Stanford researchers build transparent, super-stretchy skin-like sensor
Bullet-proof skin, various examples of invisibility cloaks, or space-time cloaks, or plasmonic cloaking, or slowing light down until it stops. Invisibility cloaks are clearly science fiction but it is a fiction that is becoming real. https://plus.google.com/u/0/112564607617850290297/posts/VU2BX61V3wX
Nano and DNA
Magnetic bacteria for future bio-computers the bacteria can eat iron and create magnets inside themselves.
Rewritable memory has been encoded to DNA. Complex nano-structures have been built from synthetic DNA, which is the beginning of bio-nanobots able to seamlessly interface with our bodies and minds. Research in continually progressing to successfully interface microchips with biology. Nanoparticles can self-assemble into nanorods. Self-assembling plastic nanofibers have been created. It is actually possible to active genes via wirless remote control. Technology is continually becoming smaller and more efficient, which tiny nanotransitors born in a near vacuum demonstrate. Interesting metamaterials are being developed. We can create synthetic platelets. We have created DNA logic gates for bio-computers, which is also possible with yeast cells and E. coli bacteria. Self-assembling nanodevices can move and change shape on demand (DNA robots), and DNA has been used to create an artificial neural network. artificial protein
Nanomaterials boost computer speed and improve memory; DNA nano-robots for targeting cells and delivering drugs;
Four-wheeling on the nanoscale: single-molecule vehicles go for a spin
http://phys.org/news/2012-02-nanowires.html
A nano ‘car’ with molecular 4-wheel drive
Stem Cells and Immortality
Stem Cell regeneration can fully cure or partially heal a wide variety of aliments. There has already been very tangible results regarding the healing of humans via Stem Cells. The list of medical solutions is growing each year. I have complied are reasonably complete list of Stem Cells breakthroughs, which considering the newness of this area of medicine the achievements are already extremely impressive.
The question is: how will this area of medicine progress by the year 2045? If the rate of progress continues at the 2012 rate then the progress will be truly astonishing, but if the rate of progress speeds up due to the development of AI and a general consolidation of knowledge then the progress will be utterly mind-blowing!
Consider these burgeoning Stem Cell achievements up to June 2012: bone surface repair; completely new bones grown from fat cells; a cure for graft-versus host disease; the repair of hearing; breast regeneration; heart muscle regeneration; healing heart attack scars; regrowth of joints; growing new hearts for rats or humans; facial bones; teeth; synthetic organs coated in stem cells; potential cures of strokes; the repair or complete growth of livers (Japan liver breakthrough); neck vertebrae; eye structures; neurons; eye damage in various circumstances and in various places around the world, note also a Stargardt's disease trial; Septo-Optic Dysplasia entails a variety of aliments which can be imporved via Stem Cells; spray on skin is possible; we can repair limbs; transplant a new trachea for adults or children; we can create urethras; bladders; anal sphincters are possible; a revolutionary injection to cure arthritis; creation of new hips; repairing lungs or thyroids; curing emphysema; repairing pancreatic tissue via the creation of pancreatic cells and intestinal tissue; and there is hope for treating Alzheimer's because skin cells can be transformed into neural Stem Cells, furthermore memory has been restored in rodents. Muscular dystrophy and diabetes have been cured in mice. AIDS has actually been cured by Stem Cells regarding gene therapy (delta 32 mutation for CCR5 receptor). Stem Cells can also be engineered to create HIV-destroying weapons in mice. Veins treated with the patient's own Stem Cells have been transplanted. Paralysis cures are looking hopeful. Protecting bone marrow from damaging chemotherapy is also a possibility. There are various cases where Stem Cells from umbilical cord blood has significantly healed children suffering from cerebral palsy. The not too distant future we will likely use Stem Cells to considerably extend our lives. Research indicates wrinkles will be curable and baldness too. Stem Cells will eventually cure everything such as Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease and more. Stem Cell could actually increase our intelligence.
sperm http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20168914
There is a growing field of knowledge to eliminate ageing, we are taking steps towards steps towards eternal life, via switching off genes regarding ageing, or rejuvenating old stem cells to stop or reverse ageing. In the future we will all be immortal spacemen, the symptoms of growing old will be cured.
Controlling robots purely via the human mind can already help disabled people. There are many examples of humans interfacing radically with technology in the year 2012, demonstrated in the video below. This is what has already happened. The question we need to consider is how all the various areas of research will link together thereby complementing each other. What will happen in the future? Imagine a confluence of Stem Cells, nanotech, biotech, robots, 3D-printing, and AI, in the year 2045.
Antibodies and light combine for a cancer-killing therapy
The latest news about radical technology can be discovered via Singularity 2045 on G+, which can be viewed via this FEED or below you can add Singularity 2045 to your circles.
Skeptics often state the Singularity is not likely to occur for at least 100 years. Some skeptics make ludicrously lengthy forecasts, tremendously silly; they claim the Singularity could be 500 years away or they claim it will NEVER happen, they are ignoring the evidence. The reality is it will happen by year 2045 at the latest.
Recently there have been some great advances in science and technology therefore cynics could easily overcome their skepticism if they considered the quotations below regarding tangible progress, great achievements already made.
After considering what is already possible today, the cynics need to consider how things will have progressed within 10, 20, or 30 years. The future is already here with us. Consider this blog, a technological marvel, where I can share text, pictures, and videos with the whole world, very quickly. Information can easily be created and hyperlinked. People can then easily share the information via various sharing options. The future is NOW. We will become more futuristic each year. We are progressing at an accelerating rate.
We are living in futuristic times now. The best is yet to come. Often people cannot see the advancement in front of their eyes, thus they cannot see how technological utopia will occur by 2045 at the latest.
● Mircospider-Bots To Improve Our Bodies.
"Ayusman Sen of Pennsylvania State University in University Park and his colleagues have created the self-propelling microspiders using spheres less than a micrometre wide. Each sphere is made up of two halves – one hemisphere is gold, the other silica – and looks like a gold-and-silver Christmas bauble."
"Next, Sen hopes to develop versions of these tiny aquatic spiders that run on chemicals readily available in the body, such as glucose. In the future, more sophisticated microspiders attached to nanobots that detect chemicals secreted by damaged tissue could swim through the bloodstream, weaving a medical glue to help heal tears in vessel walls. Decorated with other micromachines and enzymes, they could swim through the circulatory system scouting out tumours, scouring plaque from vessel walls and helping the immune system battle infections."
It's also worthwhile to note research from Caltech regarding nanospiders.
● Metallic Life. Inorganic Cells (iChells) Created.
"At this stage, the idea of sentient metallic life remains a distant sci-fi dream, but researchers at the University of Glasgow have already birthed iChells -- inorganic chemical cells."
● Artificially Intelligent DNA Created.
"Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have now taken a major step toward creating artificial intelligence—not in a robot or a silicon chip, but in a test tube. The researchers are the first to have made an artificial neural network out of DNA, creating a circuit of interacting molecules that can recall memories based on incomplete patterns, just as a brain can."
● Future Transistors Will Talk With Living things.
"Human devices, from light bulbs to iPods, send information using electrons. Human bodies and all other living things, on the other hand, send signals and perform work using ions or protons."
"Materials scientists at the University of Washington have built a novel transistor that uses protons, creating a key piece for devices that can communicate directly with living things. The study is published online this week in the interdisciplinary journal Nature Communications."
● Artificial Blood Vessels Created Via 3D-Printer.
"Artificial blood vessels made on a 3D printer may soon be used for transplants of lab-created organs. Until now, the stumbling block in tissue engineering has been supplying artificial tissue with nutrients that have to arrive via capillary vessels. A team at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany has solved that problem using 3D printing and a technique called multiphoton polymerisation."
● Aging Process Reversed For Adult Stem Cells.
"Researchers have shown they can reverse the aging process for human adult stem cells, which are responsible for helping old or damaged tissues regenerate. The findings could lead to medical treatments that may repair a host of ailments that occur because of tissue damage as people age."
● The World's first 3D-Printed Car.
"The 'Urbee' was made using a special printer which built up layer upon layer of bodywork - almost as if the car was 'painted' into existence, except using layers of ultra-thin composite that are slowly 'fused' into a solid."
"Experts have said the car uses eight times less energy than a similar vehicle and can go can go 200mpg on the motorway."
● Rat implanted with artificial digital cerebellum.
"AN ARTIFICIAL cerebellum has restored lost brain function in rats, bringing the prospect of cyborg-style brain implants a step closer to reality. Such implants could eventually be used to replace areas of brain tissue damaged by stroke and other conditions, or even to enhance healthy brain function and restore learning processes that decline with age."
The list of breakthroughs is endless. Consider Darker-than-black metamaterial. Consider how researchers recently discovered how to make virtually limitless supplies of hydrogen via a totally Green process. Intel recently created a solar powered CPU called "Claremont", which in addition to Intel's Hybrid Memory Cube is a bold stride forward for energy-efficient computing. Solar cell efficiency is expected to increase dramatically in the near future (note also the carbon nanotube breakthrough for improved solar cells). There is also an ongoing debate regarding progress towards a cold fusion 'Energy Catalyser', which will create limitless supplies of energy.
Robots
Consider the issue of robots. It is worthwhile to note Big Dog and Alpha Dog. Note also a BBC report, from 3rd October 2011, which explains how the robot revolution is upon us. Robots are evolving rapidly. Robots are becoming more human, which Heather Knight marvelously demonstrates via progress in social robotics.
Robots can now actually think, they can learn from experience thereby solving problems. Within the workplace there is a major transformation occurring regarding robotics. Continually robots are becoming more human, note how Boston Dynamics created the humanoid PETMAN robot. Note also how the ASIMO robot by Honda has been updated, so it can now run, hop, walk up and down stairs, and it can walk backwards; it also has good manual dexterity allowing it to pour drinks. Already we are on the cusp of tiny robots being able to repair hearts.
3D-Printing
In addition to the robot revolution there is the 3D-printing revolution to consider. Everyone is talking about the 3D-printing revolution. The most conservative sources recognise the revolutionary potential of 3D-printing. Already we can print food and body parts, such as a kidney, and this technology will certainly mature rapidly.
In the future we will be able to print anything, therefore it is unsurprising to note the Pentagon is investing in 3D-printing. In the future it will be easy to print circuits into or onto 3D-printed objects. Printing microchips in our own homes will be easy in the future. 3D-printers are rapidly becoming more sophisticated able to print using multiple materials, ice, bendy materials, or even drugs; they can even print crude glass via a raw input of sand. It is also possible to 3D-print muscle. 2012 is the year when it became possible to 3D-print a titanium jaw and successfully replace the original for an 83 year old woman. It is clear 3D printing will change the world. The Pirate Bay is also interested in 3D-printing.
Designer electrons and more...
Humans are able to make great scientific breakthroughs, proven by the links collated in this blog-post, but humans alone are not the prime agents of the Singularity. The Singularity hinges upon Artificial Intelligence. AI will truly explode our understanding. When powerful AI has been created, equal to human intellectual capability, the changes will begin happening VERY quickly. We will witness an intelligence explosion. We will also be able to take drugs to augment our brains. Imagine what will be possible when there are thousands or millions of artificial brains hundreds of times smarter than the smartest human brain. Already interesting biotechnology possibilities are being explored; graphene nanoribbons grown inside carbon nanotubes are an interesting breakthrough; and the new ‘FeTRAM’ memory uses 99% less energy than Flash memory. It is also worthwhile to consider prospective Smart Clothing.
IBM expects to create supercomputers the size of sugar cubes running on low power sometime around 2021. Computer efficiency is continually increasing towards an explosive event, which developments such as suffer-efficient inexact chips demonstrate. Computers are always becoming faster, note how the world's fastest supercomputer "K" was upgraded to beat its own record.
http://phys.org/news/2012-02-nanowires.html
3D printing artificial limbs http://youtu.be/fir5HI0Gwrc
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-03/09/230-percent-efficient-leds
Science Ultra-efficient LED puts out more power than is pumped in
A limitless power source for the indefinite future
http://youtu.be/5Uh6b3CDRaA TEDxCaltech - Charlie Marcus - Nanoelectronics and Quantum Computation
artificial graphene
Tratcor beams; synthetic cells, artificial proteins growing electronics; DNA becomes a living flash drive; self-assembled micro-robots; self assembling nano-scale 3D structures; bone putty to heal fractures; mirco-rockets powered by hydrogen bubbles navigate the human stomach; better hydrogen storage; mechanical hears have been transplanted;
Rapid AI-evolution will ensure super-quick progress therefore regarding Drexlerian nanotech or other tricky issues (the speed of light), we will easily surmount all stumbling blocks. I think Drexler's vision of nanotech is very primitive compared to the type of nano-assembly and matter manipulation which will be possible in the year 2045. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in April 2010: "We're gonna turn science fiction into science fact." Additional to the vision of Charles Bolden, astronauts think the impossible is possible. Eric Schmidt also thinks science fiction is becoming a reality.
blog-post is being updated...(arrrgghh too much news Nov 2012)
More News Indicating Our Revolutionary Progress:
Chips the size of blood cells expected before 2021.
"In less than a decade, that smartphone you're holding could have 32 times the memory, 20 times the bandwidth and a microprocessor core no bigger than a red blood cell..."
Stanford researchers build transparent, super-stretchy skin-like sensor
Bullet-proof skin, various examples of invisibility cloaks, or space-time cloaks, or plasmonic cloaking, or slowing light down until it stops. Invisibility cloaks are clearly science fiction but it is a fiction that is becoming real. https://plus.google.com/u/0/112564607617850290297/posts/VU2BX61V3wX
Nano and DNA
Magnetic bacteria for future bio-computers the bacteria can eat iron and create magnets inside themselves.
Rewritable memory has been encoded to DNA. Complex nano-structures have been built from synthetic DNA, which is the beginning of bio-nanobots able to seamlessly interface with our bodies and minds. Research in continually progressing to successfully interface microchips with biology. Nanoparticles can self-assemble into nanorods. Self-assembling plastic nanofibers have been created. It is actually possible to active genes via wirless remote control. Technology is continually becoming smaller and more efficient, which tiny nanotransitors born in a near vacuum demonstrate. Interesting metamaterials are being developed. We can create synthetic platelets. We have created DNA logic gates for bio-computers, which is also possible with yeast cells and E. coli bacteria. Self-assembling nanodevices can move and change shape on demand (DNA robots), and DNA has been used to create an artificial neural network. artificial protein
Nanomaterials boost computer speed and improve memory; DNA nano-robots for targeting cells and delivering drugs;
Four-wheeling on the nanoscale: single-molecule vehicles go for a spin
http://phys.org/news/2012-02-nanowires.html
A nano ‘car’ with molecular 4-wheel drive
Stem Cells and Immortality
Stem Cell regeneration can fully cure or partially heal a wide variety of aliments. There has already been very tangible results regarding the healing of humans via Stem Cells. The list of medical solutions is growing each year. I have complied are reasonably complete list of Stem Cells breakthroughs, which considering the newness of this area of medicine the achievements are already extremely impressive.
The question is: how will this area of medicine progress by the year 2045? If the rate of progress continues at the 2012 rate then the progress will be truly astonishing, but if the rate of progress speeds up due to the development of AI and a general consolidation of knowledge then the progress will be utterly mind-blowing!
Consider these burgeoning Stem Cell achievements up to June 2012: bone surface repair; completely new bones grown from fat cells; a cure for graft-versus host disease; the repair of hearing; breast regeneration; heart muscle regeneration; healing heart attack scars; regrowth of joints; growing new hearts for rats or humans; facial bones; teeth; synthetic organs coated in stem cells; potential cures of strokes; the repair or complete growth of livers (Japan liver breakthrough); neck vertebrae; eye structures; neurons; eye damage in various circumstances and in various places around the world, note also a Stargardt's disease trial; Septo-Optic Dysplasia entails a variety of aliments which can be imporved via Stem Cells; spray on skin is possible; we can repair limbs; transplant a new trachea for adults or children; we can create urethras; bladders; anal sphincters are possible; a revolutionary injection to cure arthritis; creation of new hips; repairing lungs or thyroids; curing emphysema; repairing pancreatic tissue via the creation of pancreatic cells and intestinal tissue; and there is hope for treating Alzheimer's because skin cells can be transformed into neural Stem Cells, furthermore memory has been restored in rodents. Muscular dystrophy and diabetes have been cured in mice. AIDS has actually been cured by Stem Cells regarding gene therapy (delta 32 mutation for CCR5 receptor). Stem Cells can also be engineered to create HIV-destroying weapons in mice. Veins treated with the patient's own Stem Cells have been transplanted. Paralysis cures are looking hopeful. Protecting bone marrow from damaging chemotherapy is also a possibility. There are various cases where Stem Cells from umbilical cord blood has significantly healed children suffering from cerebral palsy. The not too distant future we will likely use Stem Cells to considerably extend our lives. Research indicates wrinkles will be curable and baldness too. Stem Cells will eventually cure everything such as Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease and more. Stem Cell could actually increase our intelligence.
sperm http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20168914
There is a growing field of knowledge to eliminate ageing, we are taking steps towards steps towards eternal life, via switching off genes regarding ageing, or rejuvenating old stem cells to stop or reverse ageing. In the future we will all be immortal spacemen, the symptoms of growing old will be cured.
Controlling robots purely via the human mind can already help disabled people. There are many examples of humans interfacing radically with technology in the year 2012, demonstrated in the video below. This is what has already happened. The question we need to consider is how all the various areas of research will link together thereby complementing each other. What will happen in the future? Imagine a confluence of Stem Cells, nanotech, biotech, robots, 3D-printing, and AI, in the year 2045.
Antibodies and light combine for a cancer-killing therapy
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