Singularity Hypotheses: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment

摘要

The volume Singularity Hypotheses, published in the Springer Frontiers Collection, offers much food for thought. It is well organized with twenty essays and commentary that make for stimulating reading. The essays are grouped into four parts, three of which focus on superintelligence (artificial and posthuman) and the fourth deals with skepticism. I have only one complaint: the neglect of some of the most incisive writing on the subject. In particular, I note the absence of (1) the review of Kurzweil's book by Robert Ayres and commentary by Ted Gordon, Theodore Modis, Tessaleno Devezas, and Joseph Coates, in Technological Forecasting and Social Change [1], five well qualified futurists, only one of whom, Theodore Modis, has an essay in this book, indeed an excellent one which engenders an interesting response by Kurzweil and displays the value of the format of Singularity Hypotheses.