I've been reading Accelerando - a SF book by Charles Stross and thinking about the Singularity. (great Wikipedia article)

The basic idea of the singularity is that when we can create an artificial intelligence that is as intelligent as a human, that AI will be able to bootstrap itself up and create other AIs that make us look like nematodes. The world would be populated by vast intelligences that could change the way we exist. Some say that humans would be co-opted and merged into the digital intelligence (as in Stross's novel). Some say we would be made redundant.

The singularity could be just a human archetype asserting itself in techie atheists. If we don't believe in God - we still need to have some kind of judgment day.



^A real possibility.

Compassion, mercy and real altruism are human perversions that don't fit into the natural world. Why should we expect vast machine intelligences to have any interest in keeping us around? We would be like the husk of a discarded cocoon.

We had a couple of bush stone curlews nesting in our front yard. The mom sat on the eggs non-stop for about 5 weeks. We felt humbled by the dedication. Each time we pulled out of the driveway the mom would be sitting there, rain or shine.

Two chicks hatched during the middle of the worst storm Brisbane has seen in 20 years.

The mom ate them both and flew away.

Anyway - sorry to be a downer - but sometimes I feel like all of my perception is filtered by primate instinct. We expect mothers to raise their young, we expect our children - biological or technological - to respect and love us.

Prepare for the geek rapture, and repent!