Singularity: the idea that man will eventually be taken over by technology. Lev Grossman wrote an article in the Times Magazine called "2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal" in which he talks about an extremely intelligent man named Ray Kurzweil who developed a computer that could write music when he was only 17 years old and who believes we are approaching singularity. "Kurzweil believes that we're approaching a moment when computers will become intelligent, and not just intelligent but more intelligent than humans. When that happens, humanity-our bodies, our minds, our civilization- will be completely and irreversibly transformed"(Grossman1). Kurzweil believes that this is inevitable and cannot be avoided. He believes that the end to human civilization is coming very soon because computers and getting faster and faster every day and eventually they will be at the same level with human intelligence. This is the idea of artificial intelligence because it is technology based and not man based. Artificial intelligence could lead to the idea of sharing the planet with another form of intelligence that is computers. Theories about artificial intelligence have gone as far as people thinking that "maybe we'll merge with them to become super-intelligent cyborgs, using computers to extend our intellectual abilities. Maybe the artificial intelligences will help us treat the effects of old age and prolong our life spans indefinitely" (Grossman1).
A group of people that believe in Singularity also believe that it can make people's lives longer. They believe that artificial intelligence can be used to defeat Biological boundaries that most people see as permanent. They believe that they can stop death and they believe that old age is actually just a sickness that can be cured and allow people to live longer or even forever. Kurzweil talks about the fact that many people are open to the idea of computers becoming more intelligent than people but the idea of increasing life is more controversial because it interferes with people's religions and their ideas of life and death. Singularity is an idea that is believed by some, where others find it very ridiculous, but Ray Kurzweil believes it is inevitable and will happen because of the exponential growth of technology.
Brave New World is very similar to this article in the fact that they create people with technology. People no longer come from a mother of father and are part of a family. They are created by machines and their intelligence and place in society is predetermined. They are not given a choice to be their own individual person. Bernard is one of the major characters that recognizes this. He is part of the World State but he feels as though there could be something more. In Chapter 6 he goes on a date with Lenina and takes her to look at the sea. Bernard says, "it makes me feel as though... as though I were more me, if you see what I mean. More my own, not so completely a part of something else." (Huxley 90). Bernard wants to believe in the idea of being authentic and original not copied. He believes that the World State has just made him part of the part of a manufactured society and he wants to be his own free thinking person. Brave New World is like the Time Magazine article in the fact that technology is taking over the civilization because they have machines who are manufacturing people and determining when and where everything will happen. The civilization is not man based or based on each person's individual intelligence. It is all based on how smart the technology has allowed them to be. In the book people and technology have already merged together because people aren't created through families they are not even allowed to create their own happiness or expand their own intelligence. It is given to them through machines.
I think in the context of today's society we could be in danger of technology taking over. I think the Times Magazine article makes a good point in saying that technology really is growing faster and faster every day. The Apple Company is a good example of this because almost every other month they are coming out with a new IPad or a new IPhone that is increasingly faster and has more applications. People are extremely dependent on technology to the point that if it was taken away from them they probably wouldn't know what to do. In a sense people are merging with technology and that could take away their chances to be authentic and have the ability to be their own free thinking person. I think that within Brave New World Bernard is just being romantic into thinking that there is some pristine state that man can achieve because the World State controls everything that is going on with technology which doesn't allow man to achieve anything for himself. Within today's society Bernard does make a good point that people are loosing themselves to technology because they don't really think for themselves. They have technology to think for them. They now no longer have to be authentic because technology thinks the same for everyone. They also have technology to connect to friends for them. There is no more writing letters to people you haven't seen in a while when you can just log on to Face book and that problem is taken care of. I think people within the world today do have to watch and be cautious of how fast technology is growing so that we do not loose ourselves and our own individual intelligence. We don't want the world ending up where computers are smarter than we are and no longer our own person just like what happened in Brave New World and the predetermined assembly line people.
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