Seeing as this is a green blog, the real question is what impact this will have on the environment

Two obvious options: one, Earth will return to nature as we all decide to live in computers rather than in the meat. Or two, there won’t be one, because those trees and plants and giant carnivorous snails are matter which could be turned into computronium to run AIs and other people on (and besides, we can duplicate it all infinitely in virtuality anyway). Assuming we don’t all eat ourselves with grey goo, that is.

Charles Stross’s Accelerando has a nice look at what a Singularity might look like, and its not pretty. I’m inclined to agree with him (and the rest of the Scots Trots SF clique) that weakly godlike entities who live in computers are about as likely to care for people and things which don’t as the Great Old Ones are.

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MichaelT

Good on ya.
The Robot Series converged with the Foundation Series after being separate for over 30 years, and brought out many interesting aspects of Asimov’s vision. Perhaps most striking was the development of the mind to use the vast resources it contains that are virtually not used at all today – perhaps the making ourselves into that better species that you talk of.

Anyway. Happy Sunday to you, I hope your weather is as delightful as mine right now, viva wireless networking and sun-loungers

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Dave S, no, I don’t remember reading that. I was just always averse to the idea that we should aim to create a species better than ourselves. I preferred the idea that we’d make ourselves into that better species.

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Sorry cyBorgs – slip of the middle digit – wouldn’t happen if winwows 32767 worked consistently. Damned Microcorp!

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MichaelT

>>
What I was far more interested in was how artificial intelligence would combine with natural intelligence
>>

Ooooooo
The Robot Series. I think R.Daniel didn’t make it, but the one known as The Millenium Man did! UNless you mean cynorgs that is??!

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I spent far too much time reading about all of this back when I was 13-14. What I was far more interested in was how artificial intelligence would combine with natural intelligence rather than whether that artificial intelligence would be created. I’m waiting for the day when people can travel across the internet.

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Methinks the car industry is already half way there. The average car contains more intelligence than the average driver.

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We were meant to have HAL by 2001, but I think we are still quite a long way from achieving that sort of intelligence.

I doubt if we can predict what the effect of such technology (AI) will be; we’ll just have to wait and see how it turns out.

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PS I think you might find that E.E.(Doc) Smith was first when he referred to “the singularity in the lens”. the grey lensman series.

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Frog
Do you remember Asimov’s shortest short story?

If you do, ’nuff said!

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