This graph is cited as evidence for what phenomenon? In other words, fill out the blanked portion in the title "Countdown to ???".
Answer: The "technological singularity". The graph plots in logarithmic scale the time between successive paradigm shifts in the history of human evolution versus the absolute time of their occurrence. The negative slope suggests that these shifts are happening at an exponentially faster rate. By extrapolating the trend, one might conceive of a singularity point where these shifts start happening at an ever-accelerating phase resulting in vast leaps in technology and a drastic change in society. The concept was first proposed by Vernor Vinge, a professor at UCSD (and also the author of the excellent sci-fi novel A fire upon the deep). You can read more about it here. Divya, Iam, Mihir, Shash, Mekie, Hirak, Rajesh, Vikrant and Rahul Trivedi got it. Well done.
Answer: The "technological singularity". The graph plots in logarithmic scale the time between successive paradigm shifts in the history of human evolution versus the absolute time of their occurrence. The negative slope suggests that these shifts are happening at an exponentially faster rate. By extrapolating the trend, one might conceive of a singularity point where these shifts start happening at an ever-accelerating phase resulting in vast leaps in technology and a drastic change in society. The concept was first proposed by Vernor Vinge, a professor at UCSD (and also the author of the excellent sci-fi novel A fire upon the deep). You can read more about it here. Divya, Iam, Mihir, Shash, Mekie, Hirak, Rajesh, Vikrant and Rahul Trivedi got it. Well done.
9 comments:
singularity!
Countdown to Singularity
Cool
"Singularity". Ray Kurzweil. This NYTimes article explains it well
Singularity
technological singularity
Singularity
Technological singularity.
this is called the countdown to singularity... hypothesis that the end result of this accelerated development is a singularity....
The "Singularity"
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