The Technological Singularity

This volume contains a selection of authoritative essays exploring the

central questions raised by the conjectured technological singularity.

In informed yet jargon-free contributions written by active research

scientists, philosophers and sociologists, it goes beyond philosophical

discussion to provide a detailed account of the risks that the singularity

poses to human society and, perhaps most usefully, the possible actions

that society and technologists can take to manage the journey to any

singularity in a way that ensures a positive rather than a negative

impact on society. The discussions provide perspectives that cover technological,

political and business issues. The aim is to bring clarity and rigor

to the debate in a way that will inform and stimulate both experts and

interested general readers.

Introduction (Stuart Armstrong). - PART 1: RISKS OF, AND RESPONSES TO, THE JOURNEY TO THE SINGULARITY. - The Risks (Roman Yampolskiy & Kaj Sotala). - The Responses (Roman Yampolskiy & Kaj Sotala). - PART 2: MANAGING THE SINGULARITY JOURNEY. - How Change Agencies Affect Our Path Towards a Possible Singularity (Ping Zheng, Mohammed Asif Akhmad). - Agent Foundations for Aligning Machine Intelligence with Human Interests: A Technical Research Agenda (Nate Soares and Benya Fallenstein). - Risk Analysis and Risk Management for the Artificial General Intelligence Research and Development Process (Anthony Barrett, Seth Baum). - Diminishing Returns and Recursive Self Improving AI (Roman Yampolskiy, Andrew Majot). - Energy, Complexity, and the Singularity (Kent Peacock). - Computer simulations as a technological singularity in the empirical sciences (Juan Duran). - Can the Singularity be Patented (David Koepsell). - The Emotional Nature of Postcognitive Singularities (Jordi Vallverdu). - A Psychoanalytical Approach to the Singularity: Why We Cannot Do Without Auxiliary Constructions (Graham Clarke). - PART 3: REFLECTIONS ON THE JOURNEY. - Reflections on Vinge s Singularity Vision (James Miller). - Singularity Blog Insights (James Miller, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Stuart Armstrong, Scott Siskind, Scott Aaronson. - Appendix: The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era (Vernor Vinge).