Singularity
Man´s Last Invention: The coming age of an artificial intelligence explosion
First coined by John von Neumann in 1958, the term “Singularity” describes a hypothesis that developments in science – especially in the fields of informatics, nanotechnology, and biology will ultimately lead to the invention of an artificial general intelligence (AGI). Ray Kurzweil, the director of engineering at Google, predicts the singularity to occur around 2045, while other AI experts show a median value of 2040.
Once such an AGI is available, it will start iterative self-improvement cycles: Each upgrade would be faster and more intelligent than its predecessor, causing an ever accelerating, exponentially growing intelligence explosion, resulting in a superintelligence that far exceeds all human intelligence. Theoretically, this super-AGI could increase its capabilities towards an a finite time point at which the magnitude of knowledge converges to infinity (Singularity).
After only a short period of time, its capabilities would outpace any human innovation effort. Thus, “singularitians” argue that a super-AGI will be the last innovation mankind has to make. After that point exponential advancements in basically all areas could be expected. Kurzweil even says that "technological evolution is an outgrowth of – and a continuation of biological.
FUTURE FACT
“By 2045, people will be able to upload their entire brains to computers”, says Ray Kurzweil, the leading futurist and director of engineering at Google.