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Borrowedshorts t1_j1i2uv9 wrote

My honest opinion is that those who are optimistic about the singularity don't truly understand it. Your entire life and everything you know will be entirely upended. The pace of change will be greater and hit with more ferocity than we can even comprehend. Maybe you think your life sucks now and the singularity will somehow make it better, but it will truly be an alien world from everything you now know.

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Krillinfor18 OP t1_j1i6xfe wrote

This position intuitively makes sense, but i don't agree.

I don't believe there is any reason to think any of us will be forced to adopt new technological advances beyond what we are comfortable with. Nobody is going into Amish communities and forcing them use cellphones.

It will probably be a bit scary to live next door to a god-like being that used to be a person, but we will have the autonomy to choose how much of that technology we want to integrate into our own lives, like we always have.

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ThePokemon_BandaiD t1_j1itbed wrote

That doesn’t mean it won’t cause serious societal upheaval in the meantime

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Fe_Ubermens t1_j1mtrav wrote

I think this is plainly incorrect just from observing the general history of civilization. As technology progresses, society at large shifts around the emerging accepted tech, so even previously “mundane” or “standard” things become integrated into the new paradigm. Without a phone, computer, or car, the average person would struggle immensely, yet all of these tools are optional in the most worthless and impractical sense of the word.

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Frumpagumpus t1_j1ju1hw wrote

i think there are a lot of aspects of it you can anticipate even if it is incredibly alien, you might not be right about everything but you will probably be right about some things.

its quite possible to speculate about cultural changes that might arise from near lightspeed communication, thinking at 5 gigahertz, brain encryption, software brain cloning, software brain merging even though those are all alien scenarios to our current daily lives, you can draw boundaries around the space of possibilities and you might be right about them.

i have no idea what comes after a dyson swarm but I doubt it will be finished (assuming no ai ruin, which you can also speculate about) sooner than a hundred and fifty years, maybe even 500 years from now which is pretty far out.

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Maleficent_Cloud5943 t1_j1jb7xl wrote

You’re speaking as though you already know what the outcome is going to look like. You might as well pull out some tarot cards and a crystal ball while you’re at it. All we have are shifting, estimated probabilities that vary wildly from person to person, whether they’re experts of completely ignorant of the topic. If you believe that all the variables going into those probabilities are static, and therefore there can only be one possible outcome, do you really think that corresponds with what we already know about how things work?

Black-and-white thinking is considered a cognitive distortion for a reason. It's rampant even in so-called “intellectuals,” because it makes reality more palatable. But almost everything about reality resides in a gray area--especially enormous concepts like the singularity. All the variables are in flux, and our decisions and actions *now* will have an impact on the outcome. Sure, we all know that positive actions can sometimes result in negative outcomes, and vice-versa, but there is a much greater tendency for positive actions to result in positive outcomes. The more people who are trying to create a positive outcome to the singularity, the greater our chances are at realizing that outcome; whereas, if everyone just throws their hands up in the air and declare that we’re all doomed, then we’re tipping the probabilities in that direction. I choose the former. We should all be fighting tooth and nail to create a positive outcome.

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WarImportant9685 t1_j1l4y6m wrote

Bruh, he literally said he doesn't know what will be the future after singularity.

How can you say that he claims he is speaking as though he knows the future?

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Maleficent_Cloud5943 t1_j1l9j2j wrote

He didn't even imply that. Wtf are you talking about?! Borrowedshorts literally said “those who are optimistic about the singularity don't truly understand it.”

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