A Singularity-Denier is someone who denies a utopian Singularity will happen by year 2045 at the latest. Deniers either forecast a possible dsytopia, or they predict the Singularity happening later than year 2045, or they say a Singularity can never happen. Singularity-Denial is denial of technological utopia occurring by year 2045 at the latest.
editing in progress
Singularity-Denial is incredibly destructive. The level of destruction is comparable to The Holocaust.
People initially experience difficulty appreciating how the issue of Singularity-Denial is comparable to the Holocaust.
DAILY GLOBAL MORTALITY
In the year 2010 the daily global death toll was 150,000.
Aubrey De Gray Chief Science Officer of the SENS Foundation states around 150,000 people die throughout the world each day. It is difficult to appreciate this amount of people dying each day. It is shocking to contemplate 150,000 people dying daily. Approximately two thirds of these deaths are regarding old-age. Contemplating this shocking amount of deaths helps people overcome any difficulties they experience regarding comprehension of the atrocity caused by Singularity-Denial. Once you begin to comprehend the atrocity of 150,000 people dying daily you can begin comprehending the atrocity of Singularity-Denial.
- The Singularity will create immortality.
- Denial of the Singularity delays the Singularity.
- Delaying immortality causes enormous loss of life.
All the daily deaths, or at least 94% of them, will be prevented when the Singularity occurs. Delaying the arrival of the Singularity causes massive loss of life. Singularity-Deniers hinder the arrival of the Singularity. Delaying the Singularity is the greatest Weapon of Mass Destruction humans have ever known.
DAILY GLOBAL MORTALITY RATES BEYOND YEAR 2010.
Global mortality rates are decreasing. Medical improvements mean less people die each year. Shortly before the Singularity (perhaps in the year 2040 or 2035) it is possible the daily mortality rate could drop to 100,000 or 75,000. Perhaps in the year 2040 or 2035 daily global mortality could drop to the low number of 10,000. Forecasts of mortality presented here, regarding a delayed Singularity, are inevitably imprecise (they are estimates). Regardless of your viewpoint on foretasted daily mortality, the level of mortality is shocking in the best case scenario.
ARE IMMORTALITY AND THE SINGULARITY THE SAME ISSUE?
close enough
Sociopolitical-economic attitudes in the year 2010 mean the daily mortality rate of 150,000 deaths is unlikely to decrease before the 2020. Sociopolitical-economic attitudes in year 2010 showed no evidence substantially changing before 2020 therefore we must force attitudes to change. Via raising awareness of the restrictive impact....
Singularity-Denial impacts restrictively upon science and technology. Singularity-Deniers create despair regarding the future therefore investors are less likely to invest in Singularity-related ventures because the Deniers will tell the investors that the Singularity will not happen for a ....
The daily amount of deaths in 2010 is undeniable but Singularity-Deniers sometimes deny the ability of future medical science to completely and perfectly repair our bodies via Stem Cells. In the year 2010 smart-phones are undeniable but Singularity-Deniers will deny the ability of technology to become smarter thereby solving complex problems beyond human capability. Already in the year 2010 medical science can compel Stem Cells to regrow or repair eyes, bladders, windpipes and other body parts. Computers in 2010 already perform amazing feats beyond human ability. Singularity-Denial is idiotic and destructive.
To begin I shall address the worse case scenario regarding Singularity-Denial.
Consider a delayed Singularity based on 150,000 people dying each day; if the Singularity was delayed by only five years then around 273,000,000 people will have needlessly died. The deaths of 273 million people due to a five year delayed Singularity is easily comparable to the Holocaust deaths. Now consider a delayed Singularity based on 100,000 people dying each day, which gives a death total of 182,000,000 for a five year delayed Singularity. Each year of delayed-Singularity creates enormous loss of life. The amount of deaths due to a 5 year delayed Singularity causes more loss of life than the holocaust.
Cynics could say the amount of daily deaths due to delayed Singularity is over-exaggerated. Cynics could insist the delay will only be a few months, or maybe pessimistic people will insist this speculation regarding immortality is irrelevant because immortality will never be achieved. If we reduce the daily deaths to 75,000 per day this nevertheless gives a monthly death-toll of 2,250,000, which is a horrific amount of deaths I do not want on my conscience.
Singularity-Denial is the biggest atrocity in the entire history of the human race. If the Singularity is delayed by five years based on only 10,000 people dying each day this creates a death-toll of 18,250,000.
Critics (deniers) could perhaps insist the Singularity and immortality are two separate issues, but from my viewpoint the inextricable interconnectedness of immortality and the Singularity means these two issues the same issue. There are many aspects to the Singularity. Consider Artificial Intelligence and nanobots: AI and nanobots are distinct issues on their own, but AI and nanobots are also inextricable aspects of the Singularity. Immortality, nanobots, and AI could arrive five or ten years before the Singularity. Despite some aspects of the Singularity happening slightly before the Singularity all the diverse aspects of the Singularity are parts of the Singularity. Immortality is utterly synonymous with the Singularity. Immortality and the Singularity are essentially identical issues. Immortality and the Singularity are so intimately linked that we can comfartable classigy them as the same issue.
Singularity-Deniers are worse than Holocaust-Deniers. Singularity-Deniers could theoretically be compared Nazis committing mass murder.
Via the mechanism of Self-Fulfilling-Prophecy the critics, cynics, sceptics, naysayers, or pessimists can easily cause the Singularity to be delayed.
The Singularity will create immortality via technological utopia. When the Singularity arrives (or shortly before the Singularity) people will cease to die from old age, disease, accidents, murder, and war. All death will be abolished therefore nearly all the 150,000 daily deaths occurring in the early part of the 21st century will cease. Despite immortality a small percentage of people will always choose to die, and they will have the right to end their lives, but almost everyone naturally wants to live. When the Singularity happens everyone will have the choice to live. In the future everybody can avoid death if they wish.
Singularity-Deniers are indirectly causing massive loss of life for each day they delay the Singularity. Deniers of utopia are complicit in a heinous atrocity. People who delay the Singularity via their cynicism, pessimism, and scepticism are delaying the speed of technological progress therefore abolition of death is delayed.
Perhaps the doubters (the deniers of the Singularity) are now beginning to grasp the horror of their negativity. Based on 140,000 daily deaths for each month the Singularity is delayed at least 29 million people will die. If the Singularity is delayed by six months around 176 million people will needlessly die. Based on 20,000 daily deaths the monthly death total is 600,000 and the six month total is 3.6 million. Do you want to delay immortality by six months? Would you be happy if could be proved your negativity had delayed the Singularity by only a few days?
I have presented some unrealistically low figures regarding daily mortality rates (10,000 and 20,000).
Based on current attitudes to the Singularity (immortality) the daily mortality rate in the year 2010 (150,000) is not likely to improve significantly until around 2020. Currentattitudes towards the Singularity mean daily mortality will not reach the low level of 20,000 until sometime between the years 2030 and 2040 The optimism,,,,,,
The daily death toll will decrease during our approach to the Singularity, but the nature of the Singularity is "explosive growth" therefore the majority of gains will not happen until we are very close to the Singularity. Already it is likely the Singularity has been delayed because the stifling nature of religion has historically hindered scientific progress. In the year 2010 the Church hinders science via objections to Stem Cell research, human cloning, and synthetic life.
Prior to the Singularity, the precise number of needless deaths due to a delayed Singularity is difficult to calculate because it cannot yet be proved, beyond doubt, the will Singularity will occur. Only after the Singularity has been proved can we begin to look back a see how many needless deaths were caused due to a delayed Singularity and who caused them. In a Post-Singularity world we will be able to determine how many years the Singularity was delayed due to the Galileo_affair. In the future we will be able to determine the length of delay caused by Christian people refusing to accept the Darwinian Theory of Evolution. In the future, post-Singularity, we will be able to determine the damage Creationism has inflicted upon scientific progress.
The difference between historic deniers of scientific progress and current deiners of scientific progress is that many deniers alive today will be alive when the Singularity happens and then they can they can be held guilty for the atrocity they have inflicted upon the human race.
People who contribute to the Singularity being delayed are contributing to needless death. Furthermore, when immortality arrives it is likely that nobody will want to kill themselves because the Singularity will create utopia, everyone will be perfectly happy.
The pessimism of a vicious circle is truly vicious indeed. The cruel self-defeating ideology of dystopian despair is exceedingly harmful because such pessimism has the potential to delay the Singularity thereby causing needles death.
Singularity-Deniers cause needless death and suffering. Stop the Singularity-Denial.
Singularity-Deniers could actually be compared to Nazis because denial of the Singularity has
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Singularity Deniers have blood on their hands
Singularity-deniers should be compared to Holocaust-deniers because their flawed logic is a comparable idiocy, but the prime reason for comparing Singularity deniers to Holocaust-deniers is that denial of the a Singularity occurring in the near future hinders progress thereby causing many needless deaths.
Singularity Deniers could possibly be compared to Nazis because via engaging in Singularity Denial the deniers could potentially be complicit in the deaths of millions of people if the denial causes a delay in the Singularity. Prior to the Singularity it cannot be proved the deniers are actively participating in the deaths of millions of people, therefore Post-Singularity it will be the task of super-intelligence to retrospectively ascertain the level of guilt (the amount deaths caused by denial) relative to each individual denier.
Singularity-deniers can also inflict great pain for the living because they can cause people to feel immense despair regarding the future. Telling people the future is hopeless and that the Singularity will take much longer than expected to arrive is exceedingly cruel. Singularity-deniers are engaging in self-harm and harm to others. Singularity-denial could be described as a form of manslaughter or homicide
Awareness of the coming utopia gives people hope but Singularity-deniers want to cruelly suppress that hope via flawed delusional logic.
Singularity-Denial should be made a criminal offense but in practice it would be a difficult offense to apply prior to the Singularity happening because defendants could argue there is no proof the Singularity will happen, therefore I suggest delayed prosecution of Singularity -Deniers whereby they will only be prosecuted after the Singularity happens. Supreme AI could would have the brainpower to decide accurately how many years months the Singularity Denier delayed the Singularity by and therefore the precise amount of people the Singularity Denier had killed would be known in the future after the Singularity happens and punishment can then be belated applied.
Although the phrase Singularity-denial and Singularity deniers has been used before I am the first to use it in the context of comparing Singularity-deniers to Holocaust-deniers therefore please note for the record that I originated this concept of Singularity-Denial on 4th December 2010
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It is alleged that over-exaggeration can occur due to researchers and publishers in the sci-tech arena wanting to make their gains seem better than they are so they can acquire increased funding or revenue.
If this does happen, over-exaggeration to gain greater funding/revenue, is this a bad thing?
MORE FUNDING AND INTEREST EQUATES SPEEDIER AND GREATER GAINS.
We ARE very close to a tipping point therefore the balance is delicate and slight things can have BIG consequences.
Increased funding will increase the rate of progress.
This is a classic example of self-fulfilling prophecy (despite constantly mentioning self-fulfilling prophecy I imagine many of you have not yet read up on it).
The claims maybe untrue, or over-exaggerated, but the very nature of the untrue claims actually cause the claims to become true: it is a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby actions and expectations cause increased funding, which allows for greater research, which increases the rate of progress, thus the initial allegedly untrue claims subsequently become true - fantastical targets are met.
You can do anything if you put your mind to it.
My utopian vision is not really a case of mind over matter because the references I cited were true. Self-fulfilling prophecy in this cases works against the truth of utopia, because untruthful expectations regarding slow progress cause a decrease in funding therefore due to the decreased funding progress IS slower than expected.
Please don't mess things up with your negativity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-fulfilling_prophecy
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Deceitful Religious Smearing
Christain Rapture is a religious event falsely applied to the Singularity
Singularity-Deniers will often resort to unfair insults towards Singularitarians. When people are incapable of logical and rational debate they will resort of insults, calumny. "Smearing" of a person's character is a common feature associated prejudicial beliefs. "Smearing" is an unthinking lynch-mob mentality. Singularity-Deniers will utilize unjustified religious smears to cast aspersions upon the concept of a utopian Singularity. People who resort to smears and insults commonly do so because they are unable to engage in logical rebuttal of an ideology. Smears indicate a dearth of intellect. The idea of smearing is to throw muck at your opponent with the hope that if you throw enough muck some will stick. The religious smearing of Singularitarians by Singularity-Deniers is a very mendacious form of denigration. The Singularity is not a religion but Singularity deniers will often try to smear the Singularity with religious terminology, thereby via association to something irrational (religion) the deniers feel they can prove the supposed irrationality of the Singularity. This religious smearing is a form of attack which is exceedingly deficient in logic. Logic for a rational person must always be the prime form of discourse but logic is absent from in the discourse of Singularity-Deniers. Unfairly and unjustly associating a rational concept (the Singularity) with an irrational concept (religion) does not refute the logic of the Singularity, but the deniers feel they can successfully taint the Singularity via associating it with religion. Many people will not believe such a ridiculous smear but a significant potion of people will dismiss the Singularity due to the smear.
The Cassini Division, where a character derides ‘the Rapture for nerds’, the singularity actually happens.
http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/steven/?p=21#comment-181
Insults "kooks" "kooky" "wacky" "woo"
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/11/kurzweil_criswell.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Criswell
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/ray-kurzweils-slippery-futurism/0
gospel
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/08/kurzweil_still_doesnt_understa.php
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/08/ray_kurzweil_does_not_understa.php
Why Do Deniers Focus on Religion?
This phrase "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." comes to mind as a possible reason why deniers persistently utilize religious terminology to attack the Singularity.
The Singularity-Denier doth protest too much regarding religion.
QUOTES by Extropia:
http://www.kurzweilai.net/forums/topic/pz-myers-on-kurzweils-slippery-futurism
Is Max More, founder of the Extropy movement and someone who Ben Goertzel described as being "as close to the “father of transhumanism” as one can get" kooky in the sense that you would have us believe MMG and PZ Myers is? After all, of the technological Singularity he said:
"The Singularity has worried me for years- it's a classic religious, Christian-style, end-of-the-world concept that appeals to people in Western cultures deeply. It's also mostly nonsense...The Singularity concept has all the earmarks of an idea that can lead to cultishness, and passivity. There's a tremendous amount to be done, and intellectually masturbating about a supposed Singularity is not going to get us anywhere" (quoted from 'The Spike' by Damien Broderick).
Or how about:
" I want to sound a note of caution. As the near-universal prevalence of religious belief testifies, humans tend to attach themselves, without rational thought, to belief systems that promise some form of salvation, heaven, paradise, or nirvana. In the Western world, especially in millennarian Christianity, millions are attracted to the notion of sudden salvation and of a “rapture” in which the saved are taken away to a better place.
While I do anticipate a Singularity as Surge, I am concerned that the Singularity concept is especially prone to being hijacked by this memeset. This danger especially arises if the Singularity is thought of as occurring at a specific point in time, and even more if it is seen as an inevitable result of the work of others. I fear that many otherwise rational people will be tempted to see the Singularity as a form of salvation, making personal responsibility for the future unnecessary. Already, I see a distressing number of superlongevity advocates who apparently do not exercise or eat healthily, instead firmly hoping that medical technology will cure aging before they die. Clearly this abdication of personal responsibility is not inherent in the Singularity concept. But I do see the concept as an attractor that will draw in those who treat it in this way. The only way I could see this as a good thing is if the Passive Singularitarians (as I will call them) substitute the Singularity for preexisting and much more unreasonable beliefs. I think those of us who speak of the Singularity should be wary of this risk if we value critical thought and personal responsibility. As much as I like Vernor and his thinking, I get concerned reading descriptions of the Singularity such as “a throwing away of all the previous rules, perhaps in the blinking of an eye.” This comes dangerously close to encouraging a belief in a Future Rapture".
The documentary 'Technocalypse' (which is pro-transhumanism/singularitariansism) informs us that 'technocalypse [means] the convergence of two seemingly unrelated things. The appocalyptic imagination, which has been around for centuries, and the rise of modern technology. And the connection seems to be this: The appocalyptic imagination is based on one fundamental idea. That is, that human life on earth, and earth itself- all existence- is going to be transformed through the influence of a divine intervention. Now, that idea seems to be rooted in human consciousness. But, what is interesting is that now we have the technology to translate some of those fundamental dreams of the human species into reality. The difference, of course, is that it is we human beings that are transforming the earth and transforming ourselves. That's the surpise of history, that a vision that began as a prophetic and religious vision now seems to be in the process of being appropriated by humanity itself".
Establishing a comparison between the Singularity and appocalyptism/ Rapture does not necessarily prove the Singularity is nonsense. If it proves anything, it proves the Singularity is driven by some core human desires. You could say this is strong evidence in favour of arguing if it can be achieved, we shall surely keep trying and trying until it is achieved, and no amount of failed attempts along the way shall discourage us in our pursuit of it. But we should also be wary of a tendency to mistake wishful thinking for reasonable expectations, which is what Max More cautioned against.