Metaphysical Gap: A Critical Analysis of the Idea of a Technological Singularity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37482/2687-1505-V247Keywords:
artificial intelligence, problem of consciousness, technological singularity, technological progress, transhumanism, transhumanist cosmic visionsAbstract
The next stage in the development of human history is often described by futurists and the proponents of transhumanism as a global technological singularity. The main objective of this paper is to show that the idea of the possibility of a technological singularity is a result of the total dependence of mankind on technology, which caused the metaphysical mutation of consciousness. The article examines the concept of technological singularity, according to which, the exponential growth of artificial intelligence and nanotechnologies will usher in a moment of irreversible change for humanity. The paper presents a brief comparative analysis of Russian cosmism and transhumanist cosmic visions. The author investigates transhumanists’ views on the metaphysics of personality, consciousness and singularity as well as demonstrates the incoherence of the attempt to reduce the notion of personality to intelligence only. It is argued here that the belief in the possibility of a technological singularity and a postsingular world is largely a result of humankind’s total dependence on technology that challenges to transform all aspects of human life. In the face of a growing dependence of mankind on technology, the gap between a human being and technology is being filled by artificial intelligence, which takes on the role of the subject. The idea of an explosion of superintelligence is a consequence of the ongoing global transformation in all spheres of life, when the lines between the real and the virtual worlds are blurred. The author links the emergence of the idea of a technological singularity with a metaphysical break, i.e. a gap between human consciousness as a human essence and existence in the world of the technosphere, where a human being transfers his/her role as a subject to technology. The uncontrollably accelerating technological progress leads not to the dominance of the machine supermind, but to existential meaninglessness and anthropological catastrophe.
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Good I.J. Speculation Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine. Adv. Comput., 1966, vol. 6, pp. 31–88.
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Moravec H. Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence. Cambridge, 1988. 214 p.
Disco C., van der Meulen B. Getting New Technologies Together: Studies in Making Sociotechnical Order. New York, 1998. 373 p.
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Dinerstein J. Technology and Its Discontents: On the Verge of the Posthuman. Am. Q., 2006, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 569–595.
Drexler K.E. Engines of Creation. Garden City, 1986. 298 p.
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Lanier J. Jason Lanier on Staying Human. 26 January 2010. Available at: https://www.zocalopublicsquare. org/2010/01/26/you-are-not-a-gadget-by-jaron-lanier/books/readings/ (accessed: 9 May 2022).
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Baudrillard J. Simulacra and Simulation. Ann Arbor, 1994. 164 p.
Nicolescu B. Technological Singularity – the Dark Side. Transdiscipl. J. Eng. Sci., 2016, vol. 7, pp. 43–48. DOI: 10.22545/2016/00076
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