Technological Singularity

Basic Information

The Technological Singularity is an event which is supposed to occur once artificial intelligence become smarter than humans and able to modify themselves to become even more intelligent, thus leading to exponential technological growth which is impossible to predict.

One of the first novels to explore the concept of the singularity was Vernor Vinge's Marooned in Real Time.

See Also

• Speculative Fiction Tropes
• Transhumanism

• News: Economics Of The Singularity

Sources

Bibliography

1. TV Tropes Wiki entry

2. Wikipedia entry

Game and Story Use

• The similarity between the Technological Singularity and the Rapture has been noted by some observer, and thus might serve a similar role in new religions, especially those who incorporate Transhumanist elements.
• Consider running a game in a post-Singularity world. The posthuman super-intelligences have departed their physical bodies, while those humans who rejected the transformation are stuck in their bodies without computers or other advanced technology. The super-intelligences have become so unfathomable that they have essentially become Eldritch Abominations.
  • Read up on the Cthulhu Mythos for ideas - some Great Old Ones might very well the results of local Singularities.
• As they say, sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic. The singularity will propel a species or culture across the Kardashev Cusp, and unlock all sorts of technology such as artificial intelligence, FTL, quantum computing, genetic engineering, 3D printing, cloning, wetware, computronium, time crystals, psychic powers, immortality, and whatever other applied phlebotinum your setting needs.