Summary: Amidst the gloom that blankets America, there is evidence that a discontinuity in history approaches – a technological singularity. It could blow away many of today’s problems. Let this help dispel our fears and give us cause to celebrate. In the New Year, we can begin to prepare for what is coming.
“Everything that can be invented has been invented.”
— Attributed to Charles H. Duell, Director of US Patent Office 1898-1901. The quote is as false as the idea it expresses.
Wonders might await us that we cannot even imagine, just as the people of 1850 could not imagine the world of 1950. The rate of economic growth will accelerate, bringing more security and prosperity to the world. Pollution as we know it will be almost gone by 2100. The world will become a garden again as the population crashes. In the 22nd century we can repair the damage done in the 21st as the world’s population grew to 10 or 12 billion. Our next big challenge will be managing the political and social disruptions created by the coming new technologies.
Humanity rose by creating singularities
History, from the Serengeti Plains to the Apollo moon landings, is a series of singularities. Fire gave us power over the environment. Agriculture gave us control over our food supply. Writing allowed better accumulation of knowledge across generations. The industrial revolutionn broke us free from the Malthusian limits on our population and wealth.
Each singularity took us into an unknowable future. For a fun illustration of this see “Early Holocene Sci-fi” by Pat Mathews.
Shaman: I have foreseen a time when everybody can have all the meat, fat, and sweet stuff they can eat, and they all get fat.
Chief: You have had a vision of the Happy Hunting Grounds.
Shaman: It is considered a great and horrible problem! People go out of their way to eat leaves and grass and grains, and work very hard to look lean and brown.
Chief: You’ve been eating too many of those strange mushrooms, and are seeing everything backward.
The singularity that just ended
“The Singularity has happened. We call it ‘the industrial revolution’ or ‘the long nineteenth century.’ It was over by the close of 1918. Exponential yet basically unpredictable growth of technology, rendering long-term extrapolation impossible (even when attempted by geniuses). Check. Massive, profoundly dis-orienting transformation in the life of humanity, extending to our ecology, mentality and social organization? Check. Annihilation of the age-old constraints of space and time? Check.”
— “The Singularity in Our Past Light-Cone” by Cosma Shalizi (Assoc. Prof of Statistics at Carnegie Mellon).
Industrial revolutions do not just solve problems. They make them irrelevant – to be replaced by the problems of a more stable and prosperous world. Each is a leap forward followed by a period of consolidation.
An industrial revolution began in 1700 (to pick an arbitrary date) and ended with WWII. Here is a brief description of how it changed the world on a scale we no longer remember. Its momentum boosted per capita GDP in the developed nations through the 1960s. Few noticed it ending. Even in the 1960’s people expected a future of rapid technological progress. But all we got was the manned space program (an expensive trip to nowhere) and the supersonic transport (a premature technology), and radical but narrow changes in communication and computers.
Few predicted this slowdown. One who did was the great physicist Albert Abraham Michelson in Lights waves and their uses
“The more important fundamental laws and facts of physical science have all been discovered, and these are so firmly established that the possibility of their ever being supplanted in consequence of new discoveries is exceedingly remote. …Many instances might be cited, but these will suffice to justify the statement that ‘our future discoveries must be looked for in the sixth place of decimals.’”
Now the slowing is obvious. The productivity of research – the engine of progress – is slowing as ever more resources are devoted to it (see this NBER paper). See this dismal graph from “Are ideas getting harder to find?“, a 2017 NBER paper by Nicholas Bloom et al. More evidence: growth in total factor productivity peaked in the 1940s, despite the skyrocketing number of researchers. We press the gas pedal ever harder, but the car does not accelerate. Click to enlarge the graph.
Looking at the bottom line, US economic growth has been slowing since the 1970s, as has that of the other developed nations. Many books describe this, such as these.
- The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All the Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better
by economist Tyler Cowen (2011).
- The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality
by journalist Richard Heinberg (2011).
- The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War
by economist Robert J. Gordon (2016); see his articles about this here and here.
by economist 
by journalist 
by economist Robert J. Gordon (2016); see his articles about this 
A new singularity looms ahead
Each year gives more evidence that a singularity lies in our near future, a discontinuity in history that ends our current tech stagnation. We can only guess at what it might bring.
Space travel can bring a vast increase in resources. In the distant future, planetary engineering might make us independent of Earth’s vicissitudes.
Genetic engineering can liberate humanity from random evolution, bringing the freedom to shape ourselves.
New energy sources, such as fusion can provide ample clean power for a growing world. It has reached a new milestone, as private capital moves in.
New industrial methods are coming. Such as learning the mysteries of catalytic chemistry. Our bodies do near-miraculous chemical processes at room temperature. This will also transform agriculture into a more eco-friendly cornucopia.
Semi-intelligent computers (aka “artificial Intelligence”) can supplement our minds, just as machines supplemented brawn – boosting productivity and hence economic growth. In the more distant future, perhaps they will end our solitude and free us from limitations of biological intelligence.
A longer vital lifespan can change humanity in ways we cannot imagine. In George Bernard Shaw’s Back to Methuselah
These are only plausible innovations. Who knows what we might achieve in the future?
What is a singularity?
There are many different concepts of a singularity, some contradictory. A key aspect is that we cannot see through a singularity in the physical universe (e.g., a black hole). Its first mention was by the great John von Neumann (1903-57), paraphrased by Stanislaw Ulam (BAMS, 1958).
“One conversation centered on the ever-accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue.”
The public learned about it from Vernor Vinge’s 1986 book Marooned in Realtime
There are several kinds of technological singularity, described in this excerpt from “Three Major Singularity Schools” by AI researcher Eliezer S. Yudkowsky.
“Singularity discussions seem to be splitting up into three major schools of thought: Accelerating Change, the Event Horizon, and the Intelligence Explosion. The thing about these three logically distinct schools of Singularity thought is that while all three core claims support each other, all three strong claims tend to contradict each other.
Accelerating Change.
“Core claim: Our intuitions about change are linear; we expect roughly as much change as has occurred in the past over our own lifetimes. But technological change feeds on itself, and therefore accelerates. Change today is faster than it was 500 years ago, which in turn is faster than it was 5000 years ago. Our recent past is not a reliable guide to how much change we should expect in the future.
“Strong claim: Technological change follows smooth curves, typically exponential. Therefore we can predict with fair precision when new technologies will arrive, and when they will cross key thresholds, like the creation of Artificial Intelligence.
“Advocates: Ray Kurzweil, Alvin Toffler (?), John Smart.
Event Horizon.
“Core claim: For the last hundred thousand years, humans have been the smartest intelligences on the planet. All our social and technological progress was produced by human brains. Shortly, technology will advance to the point of improving on human intelligence (brain-computer interfaces, Artificial Intelligence). This will create a future that is weirder by far than most science fiction, a difference-in-kind that goes beyond amazing shiny gadgets.
“Strong claim: To know what a superhuman intelligence would do, you would have to be at least that smart yourself. To know where Deep Blue would play in a chess game, you must play at Deep Blue’s level. Thus the future after the creation of smarter-than-human intelligence is absolutely unpredictable.
“Advocates: Vernor Vinge.
Intelligence Explosion.
“Core claim: Intelligence has always been the source of technology. If technology can significantly improve on human intelligence – create minds smarter than the smartest existing humans – then this closes the loop and creates a positive feedback cycle. What would humans with brain-computer interfaces do with their augmented intelligence? One good bet is that they’d design the next generation of brain-computer interfaces. Intelligence enhancement is a classic tipping point; the smarter you get, the more intelligence you can apply to making yourself even smarter.
“Strong claim: This positive feedback cycle goes FOOM, like a chain of nuclear fissions gone critical – each intelligence improvement triggering an average of>1.000 further improvements of similar magnitude – though not necessarily on a smooth exponential pathway. Technological progress drops into the characteristic timescale of transistors (or super-transistors) rather than human neurons. The ascent rapidly surges upward and creates superintelligence (minds orders of magnitude more powerful than human) before it hits physical limits.
“Advocates: I. J. Good, Eliezer Yudkowsky.”
Prepare for the future
Why are so many so gloomy about our future? We have survived ice ages, pandemics, natural disasters (e.g., the eruption of Toba, which exterminated most of humanity), and our own mistakes. Our history gives us good reason to look to the future with anticipation, not fear. Remember that as our elites attempt to lead us by arousing fears. Do not fear the future. Have faith in America.
For More Information
Ideas! For ideas how to spend your holiday cash, see my recommended books and films at Amazon. Also, see a story about our future: Ultra Violence: Tales from Venus.
To learn more about the coming singularity.
- The Wikipedia entry about the singularity is excellent.
- These two Wikipedia entries provide a good introduction to the theories underlying these two visions of the future: endogenous growth models and exogenous growth models.
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about forecasts, about the new industrial revolution, about good news for America, and especially these…
- The coming big inequality. Was Marx just early?
- Do we face secular stagnation or a new industrial revolution?
- Economists show the perils and potential of the coming robot revolution.
- Potentially horrific effects of drugs and machines making people smarter & stronger.
- The coming Great Extinction – of jobs.
- Comparing our stable lives to the previous period of rapid disruption.
- The fast rise and fall of two industries show the coming singularity. Let’s prepare now.
- A Timeline for the Extinction of Jobs by Machines.
Visions of our future
Our future might see accelerating growth leading to the unimaginable. These two books sketch out what might lie ahead.
Marooned in Realtime
The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology
Sounds good Larry. Do not fear the future. Have faith in America, yes. But have more faith in God. Fixing the moral mentality of America is the #1 priority. Right now encouraging virtue doesn’t appear to be an overarching priority on anyone’s agenda except perhaps Donald Trump, an unlikely advocate for sure.
‘The Founders’ Unchanging Principles of Liberty’
https://nccs.net/blogs/articles/the-founders-unchanging-principles-of-liberty-1
Very quaint that you believe in a god.
I want to thank you, specifically, for bringing this particular tidbit to my attention. It has come up when I have had conversation with people about various forms of inevitable imminent doom, and I’m old enough to remember a couple of others. I predict there will be another round of doom if Betelgeuse actually does go supernova.
But the logic behind population total declines is so simple – almost hilariously so. I do wonder where the population will eventually stabilize, though. May I live long enough to see it be a problem!
Have a happy new year.
SF,
The world’s population can fall a long way, with much of it still being crowded.
Japan’s government has worried about its overpopulation since the Meiji Restoration in 1868, when its population was about 3 million. They had 50 million in 1910; 100 million in 1967, and peaked at 128 million in 2010. Its population is not 126 million. At 50 million it would be a wonderful place again.
Getting there will be difficult – just as all progress is difficult. The ecological damage done by 10 or 12 billion people will be immense, more so by the poorer areas industrializing (as we see with China). But it can all be fixed.
KIRK: Captain to crew. Those of you who have served for long on this vessel have encountered alien lifeforms. You know the greatest danger facing us is ourselves, an irrational fear of the unknown. But there’s no such thing as the unknown, only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood. In most cases we have found that intelligence capable of a civilisation is capable of understanding peaceful gestures. Surely a lifeform advanced enough for space travel is advanced enough to eventually understand our motives. All decks stand by. Captain out.
Larry, in terms of fear and our self appointed rulers, we discuss complacency. Part of that, IMO, is that it is easier to be complacent than paralyzed by fear. Often we have discussed how our desires are served by the press, and the presses corruption. Today’s article gives information to power reason and hope over fear and complacency. Perhaps it will encourage us to think about acting.
I find in the exerts you have provided about the possibility of singularities, an emptiness with respect to our emotional needs, even though Ray Kurzweil wrote “The Age of Spiritual Machines.” The point is that although we have our emotional needs, part of these needs are having something to do.
So, I ask: What do these three speculated singularities propose we have that fulfills the feedback loop of emotions and work?
I remember one SF work, sorry can’t remember the name, where they had continual parades, continual concerts, and those who made a living by betting that they could watch a concert and tell you what piece of music it was. The point being, the author put in a human response for adapting. Do these three have such prognosticated?
John,
“What do these three speculated singularities propose we have that fulfills the feedback loop of emotions and work?”
There is no ur-problem that is the source of all ills. There is no one master solution that solves all problems. That’s not how life works.
I describe something that might help bring prosperity to the world’s poor, greater opportunity to everyone, and address critical problems of polluted air and water – and you want it to do more!
You ask too much for one event. That is a serious problem, blinding you to hope and nurturing disappointment at even the greatest of gifts.
Excellent article, Larry. My only fear for the coming singularity is making sure that me and my family survives it as well as possible. Singularities tend to chew up a lot of people’s lives before they hit the new equilibrium point. As you note in the article, they can also take hundreds of years to complete.
Possible type: “They had 50 million in 1910; 100 million in 1967, and peaked at 128 million in 2010. Its population is not 126 million.”
I assume the “not should be a “now.”
I must have been unclear. I am interested in their thoughts on the subject. If the answer is no, then I can consider on my own, but I have found that interaction brings out better thoughts. I just wanted their thoughts if available.
I do worry that instead of joy and hope, there will be an effort to blind hope and nurture disappointment. That was what I was thinking when I wrote about the press. I think it would have been more apparent if I had stated how the powerful interests poison current good news. I tried to express in the first paragraph stating the article gendered reason and hope.
John,
You ask powerful questions with no simple or clear answers. History tells us that solving problems of the flesh are orders of magnitude easier than those of the spirit.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs provides some essential perspective. A starving family is less concerned with their souls than their bodies. Providing prosperity and security to people might be a requirement for humanity’s spiritual progress.
I don’t disagree. I would like to point out one of the things I have put in my human perversity bin: Preachers and priests have spoken in homilies of how much stronger the church is in times of adversity.
Though this may be a matter of flare prayers, the people attend.
LK: “Providing prosperity and security to people might be a requirement for humanity’s spiritual progress.”
In fact, I think the real challenge to the church on relevancy may not be an outside religious source, but how humans come to grip with prosperity and security on the level that is possible. It will require a lot of spiritual growth no matter how it is addressed.
The other side of the coin: humans make war as easily as religion; they often go together. The challenge to our military complex will be how not to destroy the security and prosperity that provides the wherewith all for the complex.
There should be other unimaginable, at present, challenges thrown in the mix.
IMO, the scenarios in either the path to singularity, or the singularity, or both, will tend to give us the time and necessity of contemplation and spiritual growth as these challenges manifest.
YMMV.
In a few years we’ll be traveling around Mars in a hyperloop powered by cold fusion while genetically perfected humans and super-intelligent robots promptly satisfy every desire that pops into our heads. Sure…
The fantasies about the singularity that you described in your article are so delusional, they can only be interpreted as expressions of faith rather than having any relation to modern science. As someone recently put it, “faith in progress really is the established religion of our time”.
King,
“In a few years …”
That’s a classic form of troll rebuttal: make up stuff, attribute it to the author, then give a nutty reply. If you can’t give a rational rebuttal, then please don’t say anything.
As stated, the previous industrial revolution ran from 1700 to ~1945 – two and a half centuries. This posts discusses the 21st century (the next 80 years). Neither is “a few years.”
The statement would be as ridiculous if I said “in 80 years” or “in 300 years”. People were fantasizing about colonizing Mars and travelling the galaxy over 80 years ago and those breathless claims turned out to be complete nonsense.
The AI singularity hype is a new iteration of the same thing. Actually, it’s not even new – ridiculous claims about AI were being made in the 1950s. The entire field has been marked by cycles of exuberant claims andAI winters when people sober up.
Our history gives us good reason to look to the future with anticipation, not fear. Remember that as our elites attempt to lead us by arousing fears
The idea that our elites discourage these kinds of techno-fantasies is delusional. The underlying message of them all is that the present system can solve any problem with technological fixes so one should sit back and wait for deliverance. Don’t change anything too drastically, it’ll all work out. That’s music to our elites ears.
King Kong,
“People were fantasizing …”
I’m discussing work by experts leading big-budget research projects, not dreamers. If you don’t see the difference, that’s sad.
“The idea that our elites discourage these kinds of techno-fantasies is delusional.”
I said nothing remotely like that.
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The best technological singularity that comes to my mind is Henry Ford and the Model T. A remarkable story with 15 million Tin Lizzy’s built between 1908 and 1927.
The Model T; https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/model-t
Ignore the doomsters and Happy New Year!
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