From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Thu Apr 08 1999 - 19:50:53 MDT
Lyle Burkhead wrote:
>
> Is the Singularity inevitable? In other words, is it going to happen
> anyway, regardless of what any particular person does or does not do? Or
> is it contingent, i.e. something that may or may not happen?
Absolutely contingent. Eat the planet with grey goo, and no
Singularity. But I do think that if the planet isn't destroyed
*completely*, every last human being dead, then the Singularity will
eventually occur - and likewise, with no Singularity, someone will
eventually blow up the planet. There are no realistic stable states
except those two.
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://pobox.com/~sentience/AI_design.temp.html
http://pobox.com/~sentience/singul_arity.html
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.
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