Logged in to the aggregator and saw this - Just earlier today I saw a question Phil Wolff asked me about when I thought the Singularity would come...
Not really sure - I think we've got some time - since the software side of things has does not seem to be advancing as fast as I earlier thought.
By the way - I heard an interesting article on NPR (I think) about non-binary computing - Quantum Computing- but computing using the property of very small matter, such as individual electrons, that it is in more than one place at a time.
Codebreakers seem to be very interested in this , since working computers of this type would test solutions simultaneously rather than sequentially. Not sure how to test for the answer, but it reminded me of a company I started called Alantos Pharmaceuticals.
When I wrote Alantos original business plan (Therascope back then) we described a nano-chemical version of this quantum computing concept as a means to elucidate small molecule drugs. We did not describe it in these terms but in fact it is fascinating to think that we've described and built a company around this and actually received funding to get it off the ground.
Furthermore, it is producing results, but it is not a quick process - quicker than high-throughput screening, but we're still in the Wright brothers era of quantum computing systems. Bottom line, the Singularity is probably at least 100 years off!
Ray Kurzweil and Bill Joy About the 21st Century.
In this long text published by CIO Magazine, Ray Kurzweil writes about the dangers introduced by new technologies. More specifically, he gives his views about genetic engineering, nanotechnology and robotics (collectively known as GNR).
In his conclusion, he says that "we need to understand that these technologies are advancing on hundreds of fronts, rendering relinquishment completely ineffectual as a strategy. As uncomfortable as it may be, we have no choice but to prepare the defenses."
As a matter of coincidence, Fortune interviewed Bill Joy a day after he left Sun Microsystems. And of course, he talked about the article he wrote for Wired in April 2000, "Why the future doesn't need us," in which he said that rapid advances in GNR could endanger our lives.
This summary contains essential quotes from both articles, but read them in their entirety if you have some time.
[Smart Mobs]
6:37:31 PM 
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