Lughnasa \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Harvest Moon<\/p>\n
The singularity is near. \u00a0Can we prevent the takeover of the machines? \u00a0Will technology devour us, turning the master-slave relationship upside down in Nietzschean irony? \u00a0Life with intelligent machines has become a reality already. \u00a0Are we too late, doomed to follow our lemming-like path of one more gadget to disaster?<\/p>\n
Doubt it. \u00a0First. \u00a0Depictions of the apocalypse have been failing since the notion first muscled its way onto the human imaginal stage. \u00a0We’re very good at predicting the end and equally talented at forgetting that it never happened. \u00a0In the Hebrew scriptures there was only one way to tell a good prophesy from a bad one. \u00a0Did it foretell events? \u00a0If so, good prophecy. \u00a0If not, bad prophecy. \u00a0And prophecies of \u00a0the end time have, so far at least, been wanting. \u00a0As proof, I offer the fact that I’m writing about
\nthem.<\/p>\n
Second. \u00a0Events do not occur in a vacuum. \u00a0That is, even if a singularity event or its near cousin came to pass, it would have been preceded by other advances outside of its ambit and the fact of its occurrence itself would shift matters in ways unpredictable. \u00a0These interacting variables would almost certainly create a less dire circumstance than techno-gloomy gusses anticipate.<\/p>\n
Third. Remember Malthus? \u00a0He had a simple idea about food production and the carrying capacity of the earth. \u00a0He bet we would return to subsistence level agriculture once the population outstripped the food supply. \u00a0Hasn’t happened. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Agriculture advances, logistical advances, economic advances. \u00a0Simple ideas tend to leave out the complicated world in which we actually live.<\/p>\n
Finally, will the end come? \u00a0Yep. \u00a0It will. \u00a0There are astrophysical forces at play in the solar system that will finish off life on earth and after that earth itself will be absorbed as our chief ally, Sol, expands into a red giant. \u00a0Will humanity have figured out how to live among the stars by then? \u00a0My guess? \u00a0Yes.<\/p>\n
My sense is that we muddle along more often than anything else. \u00a0And the singularity will be a curiosity of our era. \u00a0Remember 2012?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lughnasa \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Harvest Moon The singularity is near. \u00a0Can we prevent the takeover of the machines? \u00a0Will technology devour us, … Continue reading Is It the End, My Friend?<\/span>