Stories tagged with "singularity"

The Spike and the Peak

Posted by Ugo Bardi on February 8, 2009 - 9:34am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
Tags: ai, artificial intelligence, heinlein, m. king hubbert, peak oil, singularity, spike. [list all tags]


The figure above, from Robert Anson Heinlein's "Pandora's Box" (1952), is perhaps the first graphical representation of the concept that technology is not only progressing, but progressing at an exponentially growing rate. Today, this concept goes sometimes under the name of the "technological spike" or the "technological singularity". However, we see also increasing concerns about peak oil and, more in general, about "peak civilization". Will the future be a spike or a peak?

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The Ultimate Fight?: The Singularity v. Resource Depletion and the Limits to Growth

Posted by Prof. Goose on June 29, 2008 - 3:00pm
Topic: Miscellaneous
Tags: kurzweil, moore's law, original, peak oil, quickening, resource depletion, singularity [list all tags]

It seems to me that one way the problems we are facing can be analyzed is as a "race." The factors/variables contributing to said "race" are captured by the following concepts:

-The Singularity or "The Law of Accelerating Returns", a concept most attributed to Ray Kurzweil. Other corollarial concepts to this idea include Moore's Law and The Quickening.

-And in the other corner, resource depletion/peak oil/net energy and the consequences/limits of exponential growth (population, pollution, and the like).

I had been thinking about this idea for a while, mentioned it to my colleagues, etc. Then I saw this piece by John Tierney entitled "Malthus v. the Singularity" at the NYT a couple of weeks ago, which has kept it on my mind. My questions for you and some other ideas are under the fold.

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