Why AI Is Not the Only Risk We Face
The effective accelerationist(e/acc) crowd on 𝕏, which seems to be steadily growing, is focused solely on one kind of singularity: a techno-capital singularity. This is a singularity that’s slightly different from the concept mathematician John von Neumann proposed in the 1950s. Before we proceed, let’s define what a singularity really is. Mathematically, it’s a point at which an equation becomes undefined or behaves unusually. In other words, it’s a point at which an equation breaks down and becomes unusable. John von Neumann’s technological singularity is therefore a point at which the equation we use to predict the future of humanity breaks down. The cause for this is an explosion in technological progress that so fundamentally changes our civilization that we cannot look beyond it today.
A techno-capital singularity includes both technology and economics in the equation. As suggested in Nick Land’s text Meltdown, this is a singularity where techno-economic progress destroys the current social order and fundamentally changes politics. He goes on to suggest that the biosphere is going to be turned into a technosphere but that, I assume, is merely a conjecture because, by definition, one cannot see what happens after a singularity.
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