The Singleton

Mirror Beach | a piece by yours truly, depicts, in indirect fashion, the looming spectre of AI and what it means for mankind as neural net driven technology is open-ended and intrinsically unknowable as this code learns about its domain independent of the creators who built it in the first place. With this in mind, the notion of a singleton governing the world is no longer fantasy given just how pervasive AI is becoming due, in large part, as to just how much money is being made on an evolving tech that is no longer under our control.

To whit.

• Nick Bostrom's "singleton hypothesis" says that intelligent life on Earth 
  will eventually form a "singleton".
• The "singleton" could be a single government or an artificial intelligence that runs everything.
• Whether the singleton will be positive or negative depends on numerous factors and is not certain.

The question to ask ...

Does history have a goal? Is it possible that all the human societies that existed are ultimately a prelude to establishing a system where one entity will govern everything the world over? The Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom proposes the "singleton hypothesis," maintaining that intelligent life on Earth will at some point organize itself into a so-called "singleton" – one organization that will take the form of either a world government, a super-intelligent machine (an AI) or, regrettably, a dictatorship that would control all affairs.

Something to consider without question.

Click What is a Singleton? to learn why Bostrom's take on civilization 's possible future rings true. 

Future Tense ...