Annotated Bibliography
Anonymous. "The Cutting Edge: A Moore's Law for Razor Blades?" Editorial. The Economist 16 Mar. 2006. Http://www.economist.com/. Web. 25 May 2011. <
This article makes fun of the idea of the singularity by making parallels to increases in the number of blades on razors. It takes a satirical tone towards the idea of the singularity, but raises valid concerns about increasing something like a razor has tons of other aspects that it affects.
Grossman, Lev. "2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal." TIME. 11 Feb. 2011. Web. 25 May 2011.
This article explores the history of the technological singularity dating back to 1965 and in particular its popularization by Raymond Kurzweil in his 2005 book. Kurzweil believes that the technological singularity is a forgone conclusion because of the predictions of Moore's Law. However, there are many critics of the theory, some who believe that there are functions our brain can perform that cannot be replicated by a computer.
Kennedy, Andrew. "Interstellar Travel: The Wait Calculation and the Incentive Trap of Progress." JBIS 59.7 (2006). Print.
This article by the British Interplanetary Society challenges some of the underlying concepts about increases in technology. It points out that historically although long-term growth does occur, there are shorter term ups and downs. One important aspect is that we must integrate newer technologies with older technologies.
Markoff, John. "Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man - NYTimes.com." Editorial. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/. 25 July 2009. Web. 25 May 2011.
In a conference held in February 2009, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence made an attempt to assess the possibility of the loss of human control of computer-based intelligence systems. They discussed ways to ensure that artificial intelligence research stays focused on the progression of technology for the good of humankind while ensuring that it doesn't compromise our safety.
Modis, Theodore. "The Singularity Myth." The Singularity Myth. Growth Dynamics, 2 Nov. 2006. Web. 25 May 2011.
Modis gives a mathematical refutation of Ray Kurzweil's claims about the exponential
growth of technology by analyzing several cases of exponential growth (including world
population and oil production) limited by carrying capacity. This perspective is very grounded and draws on examples that illustrate the concerns of critics very clearly.
Moore, Gordon. "Cramming More Components onto Integrated Circuits." Electronics 38.8 (1965). http://download.intel.com/. Web. 25 May 2011.
Moore predicts that transistor counts will double every year, implicating an exponential growth in computing power that potentially has no limitations. He later revised this statement in 1975 to say that transistor counts would double every two years. This paper had a profound impact on singularity theorists and critics alike, and it is featured as a prominent source for almost every related piece of literature.
"Tech Luminaries Address Singularity - IEEE Spectrum." IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News. June 2008. Web. 26 May 2011.
This article gives a variety of opinions and predictions from noted singultarians and critics. Backgrounds and quotes give a good picture of each commenter's point of view.
Vinge, Vernor. "Vernor Vinge on the Singularity." MINDSTALK -- Damien R. Sullivan. 31 Mar. 1993. Web. 26 May 2011.
This is one of the most popular early writings on the idea of technological singularity.
This article coined the term "technological singularity" and claimed that our old models
for predicting technology break down. Vinge gives a hypothesis for how singularity
might come about, elaborating a bit on Intelligence Amplification as opposed to Artificial Intelligence.
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