Are we seeing what this is. .?!

[Frostyfrozen]

Hi all
Just a question have we thought of what we are doing here. Is this a step to that singularity people talk of? Is this a community formed in the world of tomorrow clawing to be heard and understood as past human community's struggled to survive in the new world!
Maybe we have supporters not contacted yet?
(@ work so cant surf and paste but can suggest and see)

[Atlantea]

That's a very interesting idea and question.

I don't know how to answer that save to say that it makes me stop and wonder.

[Vulpy]

I personally view virtual communities like this as the natural progression of humanity, post-Industrial. I'd elaborate more, but it would really all just be me expounding on that one theme. You can also watch some Ghost in the Shell episodes and get some of the same arguments presented in a much more palatable fashion. ^.^

[Segev]

This is not the "singularity," no, but it is a natural and fascinating evolution of culture in a vastly-more-connected world.

To answer the OP directly, the "singularity" is the point at which technology fundamentally alters how we live. We've technically had a few; they generally usher in new "Ages." Most recently, the Industrial, Automotive, and Information Ages have rolled out due to such singularities fundamentally changing how things go. This community is an outgrowth of the Information Age.

The proverbial singularity, the mythical grail version that futurist philosophers like to romanticise, is actually even bigger. Kind of a singularity of singularities. You'll note that the Stone Age was millenia long, and the Bronze and Iron ages were many centuries each. Since the Industrial Age, we've had the Ages happening over the course of decades. It's accelerating, as technology bootstraps faster and faster.

We're still building on the past, however. Using new tech to advance to still newer, but it's still cascading.

"The Singularity" that futurist philosophers like to discuss is the point at which man and machine are so intertwined that one is actively improving the other. Machine and man become less and less distinguishable, and we reach a point where technology is advancing itself, and we are directing our own evolution through technology. The ways this manifests vary from philosopher to philosopher, from fiction writer to fiction writer, but the core of "The Singularity" is that we are no longer building better tech and still evolving, but rather are using tech to improve ourselves, and our tech is improving itself while we direct its improvements.

[Rotten Luck]

Duex EX: human revolution anyone?

Hmm you know wish we could get that IP.  A Duex Ex: MMO might be interesting.  Buying augment and customizing your characters body.  Need some power armor for those who don't go the augment route...

Oh well another day dream.  We got to focus on getting this dream a reality.

[Segev]

*cough* Part of the reason I got my Ph.D. in Computational Intelligence is because I want to eventually be working with nanites and human augmentation. >_> <_<

(But I wouldn't trust nanites to run around my body if I didn't have conscious control over their swarm's behavior; thus, the first step THERE is neural interfacing. Which is why my dissertation is on (artificial) Spiking Neural Networks and making them able to operate on real-world data.)

[Frostyfrozen]

Mmm and this is what I get for skimming the tech and science mags.   
On to the next thought for a new angle to Save CoH   
But what a romantic I must be to see this fight as a step in Man's understanding & taming of the cyber world.

[Segev]

Mmm and this is what I get for skimming the tech and science mags.   
On to the next thought for a new angle to Save CoH   
But what a romantic I must be to see this fight as a step in Man's understanding & taming of the cyber world.

Oh, it probably is. Just a step, though, in a graduated progression, rather than a pivotal moment.

[Mister Bison]

It's more of a revolution from educated people, as we make a "power" from ourselves that will take the place of the vacuum that the previous power (NCSoftcore) created when retiring.

We will "take" the power from them, and impose ours. Either in preventing the closure, or into breaking free from their dominance.

And isn't the "singularity" when the science of mankind will produce intelligence so sophisticated it'll overpower ours ?

[Segev]

And isn't the "singularity" when the science of mankind will produce intelligence so sophisticated it'll overpower ours ?

That is one of a few forms the futurist philosophers I keep referencing have hypothesized. In that version, we invent A.I., and A.I. gets so smart it can invent better A.I., which makes better still, and technology runs itself while we either become obsolete or become second-class citizens enjoying the fruits of our robot masters' labor. (The dystopian versions have us sad because of it, if not outright thrown out as wastes of resources; the utopian versions have our efforts not amount to much since machines do it better, but we live in ever-increasing luxury as long as we don't mind being leeches.)

The version I think is more likely, particularly given what I know of C.I. and the problems we face in developing "true A.I.," is that we'll find a way to not just neural interface with computers, but ways to make that interface a union. Not "mankind becomes a hive mind," but "you can augment your mental faculties with computers that become a part of your thought-space." The computational and memory power of a computer wedded to the learning and intuition of a human, combined with the ability to start forging artificial Neural Networks that complement, mirror, and compensate for failing portions of your wetware will lead to extreme advances in basic human intellect.

In short, we'll be the technology as we improve ourselves. There is no A.I.; it's just us, being better and more in direct control of our machines than ever.