The futuristic term "technological singularity" is increasingly entering our lives. According to the most pessimistic forecasts of scientists and various experts, no later than 2030, this concept will become part of our reality. So what does this mysterious phrase mean? Numerous modern encyclopedias interpret the technological singularity as a hypothetical moment when technological progress will acquire such a speed and complexity that will be inaccessible to human understanding.
In other words, artificial intelligence will reach such a level of development at which a person may turn out to be an unnecessary, if not a dangerous competitor to "smart" electronic creatures. For more than a decade, futurologists and science fiction writers have been scaring us with a possible "revolt of the machines." But only relatively recently this hypothetical problem has been seriously discussed in scientific circles.
The term "technological singularity" was first used in an article by mathematician and writer Vernon Vinge, presented in 1993 at a symposium hosted by NASAwith the Ohio Aerospace Institute. Soon, the events predicted by the scientist and comparable, in his opinion, with the very appearance of man on the planet, began to come true.
The first manifestation of such a key and epoch-making event as a technological singularity was not long in coming. The turning point in human development and people's consciousness was the year 1997. In May of that year, the one and a half ton electronic "monster" Deep Blue, equipped with 250 processors, designed by specialists from IBM, defeated the hitherto undefeated world champion Garry Kasparov in a stubborn and intense chess duel. At that moment, it became clear that the world would never be the same again…
The course of this duel, perhaps the most significant confrontation in the history of human civilization, deserves special attention. The grandmaster won the first game without any problems. At the beginning of the second, Kasparov, trying to lure his electronic opponent into a clever trap, sacrificed two pawns.
Deep Blue this time was thinking (if you can call it that) for an unusually long time - almost a quarter of an hour. Although before that I spent no more than three minutes on making decisions. And only when there was a real threat to be in time trouble, the machine made a return move. The result was bleak for the human mind. The machine did not accept the sacrifice, it won the game…
The next three ended in a draw. But the computer won the last game in brilliant style, notleaving the man no chance. In it, Deep Blue simply defeated the great grandmaster. So, humanity has learned about a new generation of electronic machines, the intelligence of which surpasses the human. And who have just amazing learning ability.
Modern cars have gone even further. Neuroscientists claim that the computational capacity of the human brain is about one hundred trillion operations per second. The average person's conscious memory is only 2.5 gigabytes. And the operating speed of today's supercomputers is a speed of 115 trillion. As for the size of the storage device, you can not expand. At the same time, they do not know fatigue, poor he alth, doubts, hesitation, and other human weaknesses. Therefore, futurologists believe that the technological singularity is inevitable.
Of course, modern biotechnologies are quite capable of providing mankind with the means to improve natural intellectual abilities. Which will lead to the emergence of such a phenomenon as the singularity of consciousness. In this case, the person runs the risk of becoming part of the machine-human interface. And then it will be impossible to predict the further development of our civilization, based on the principles of sociology and habitual behavioral norms. The situation will simply get out of human control in the traditional sense.
