The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (134 page)

silicon chips, 113, 119, 122

        number of, 351, 591
n

        number of components on, 41–42, 111–112, 351, 526
n

        three-dimensional, 113

silicon intelligence, 376

silicon lithography, 113

Silk, J., 502
n

Silva, R. A., 560
n

SIMD (single instruction multiple data) architecture, 118, 119–120, 229

Simmel, F. C., 560
n

Simon, Herbert A., 264, 273, 569
n
–570
n

Simon, S. M., 586
n

Simone
(movie), 315

simplicity:

        brain design and, 446–449

        Einstein’s views on, 39, 519
n

        equivalence principle and, 136–138, 536
n

        of neurons, 143–144

Simpson, Michael, 236

Sims 2
game, 341

simulations:

        brain,
see
brain simulations

        existential risks and, 404–405

Singer, Maxine, 418

Singer, W., 176, 543
n

Singularitarian, 369–390, 593
n
–594
n

        alienation and loneliness of, 370–371

        meaning of being, 371–373

        understanding and, 370

        use of term, 7, 370, 498
n

Singularitarian Principles, The
(Yudkowsky), 498
n

Singularity:

        concept of, 5, 7–9, 498
n

        consciousness and, 374–382, 384–385

        countdown to, 17,
17
, 18,
18

        death and, 326

        as economic imperative, 96–110, 524
n
–526
n

        Epoch Five and, 14,
15
, 20–21, 205

        Epoch Six and, 14,
15
, 21

        GNR age and, 205, 206

        goal of, 364

        history of use of word, 22–24, 485–487

        identity and, 382–387

        meaningful statements about the nature of life after, 29–33

        passivity and, 374

        powering of, 243–250

        principles involved in, 25–29

        religion compared with, 370, 374

        time frame for, 123, 135–136, 226

        as transcendence, 373, 375, 387–390

        von Neumann’s views on, 10

Singularity.com, 489

Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI), 598
n
–599
n

Sinnott, Susan B., 563
n

Skaletsky, Helen, 549
n

Skarda, Christine A., 538
n

skeleton, 307

skepticism, 12–13, 263

skills:

        backing up of, 323

        downloading of, 300

        formation of, 178–179, 194, 202, 260–261, 309

        human longevity and, 329

skin, 242, 307

skin cells, 213, 214, 223

        transdifferentiation and, 223, 471, 557
n

Sky & Telescope
, 342–343,
343

Slack, Jonathan M. W., 557
n

Smalley, Richard E., 234, 236–241, 246, 254, 432, 559
n
, 560
n
, 561
n
, 564
n

smallpox, 398, 402

Smart, John, 24, 35, 358, 370, 504
n
, 507
n
, 592
n

Smart-Airport Operations Center (SAOC), 284

smart dust, 334

Smith, Huston, 387, 594
n

Smith, K. R., 553
n

Smith, Quentin, 500
n
–501
n

Smith, Tony, 565
n

Smolin, Lee, 360, 361, 362, 364, 592
n

Smoller, Joel, 504
n

snails, consciousness of, 466, 467

Snider, S., 586
n

snowflakes, 93

Snyder, Allan, 161

Snyder, Lawrence H., 179

Sobel, Dava, 590
n

soccer, software for, 288

social institutions, conservatism of, 472–473

Social Security, 97–98

software, 5, 100, 259

        AI systems’ monitoring of, 284

        algorithms, 428, 438–442

        auditory, 148

        for chess, 274–278,
274
, 441, 459

        complexity of, 428, 437–438

        as composing universe, 86

        consumer power and, 104

        criticism from, 428, 435–442

        deflation and, 102–103

        development of, 97, 107, 437, 534
n

        for dyslexic students, 175, 337, 589
n

        genetic algorithms and, 271

        genome compared with, 206–207

        hardware vs., 102, 428, 435, 438, 439, 445

        human intelligence modeled by, 25, 126, 127;
see also
brain reverse engineering

        irreversible, 130

        longevity of, 325–330

        military uses of, 279–280

        for molecular manufacturing, 231

        price-performance of,
103
, 436, 438

        productivity of, 428, 437

        
responsiveness of, 436

        self-organization in, 151

        for space exploration, 280–281

        for speech recognition, 5,
103
, 146, 153, 184, 268, 436, 438, 529
n
, 570
n

        sports, 288

        stability of, 435–436

        for strong AI, 261–262

        of universal computer, 91, 523
n

        viability of, 325

software viruses, 241, 255–256, 333, 423

        biological viruses compared with, 413–414, 416

        dealing with, 413–414, 416, 417–418, 426

        Internet information on, 594
n

        nanobots and, 406–407

        self-modifying, 416

solar cells, 397, 457

solar energy, 234, 243, 244, 246–251, 340, 434

        calculation of, 248, 566
n

        cost of, 249–250

        Matrioshka shells and, 351

solar panels, 246, 248, 249, 250, 251, 421, 434, 457

solar system:

        computational limits and, 349–351, 435

        expansion beyond, 351–353

        intelligence in, 374

        mass of, 349, 350–351, 590
n
–591
n

solvents, halogenated organic, 253

soma (cell body), 124, 155,
192
, 208

        memory function in, 170–171

somatic gene therapy,
see
gene therapy

Sommer, Fritz, 160

Somorjai, Gabor A., 567
n

Soros, George, 394

sound:

        foglets’ control of, 28, 310

        localizing of, 123–124, 148, 184

        patterns of, 297

        in phonemes, 268

        processing of, 123–124, 172, 530
n

        virtual reality and, 105, 310, 312–313, 318

Southern California, University of, 116, 188

Soviet Union, bioweapons program in, 393

space, 23, 520
n

        curvatures in, 520
n

        empty, 355

        energy generating in, 246, 247, 250

        expansion of, 354

        exploration of, 280–281, 352–353, 412

        general relativity and, 500
n

        quantum gravity and, 14

        special relativity and, 520
n

Space Elevator, 250

Space Solar Power satellite, 250

Space Technology 5 satellites, 281

space-time, wormhole in, 140

SpamBayes, 268

spam filters, 267–268

special relativity theory, 341, 354, 520
n

species, extinction of, 222, 409, 511
n

“Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine” (Good), 22

speech recognition, 122, 265, 286–288, 337

        author’s work with, 268, 278, 294, 570
n
, 599
n

        Markov models and, 153, 268, 278

        neural nets and, 268

        search engines and, 286–287

        software for, 5,
103
, 146, 153, 184, 268, 436, 438, 530
n
, 570
n

sperm cells, genetic information altered in, 552
n

Spike, The
(Broderick; 1997), 24

Spike, The
(Broderick; 2001), 24

spikes, 161, 169–170, 445–446, 530
n

        defined, 154

        growth of, 171

spike trains, 170

spinal cord, 163, 171, 181, 193, 203

        injury to, 308

spindle cells, 191–194,
192
, 468

spines, 151, 162, 171–172, 180, 197

        defined, 171

        growth of, 173,
174
, 202

spintronics, 112–113, 116–117, 119, 529
n

spiral ganglion, 165

spirituality:

        Dembski’s views on, 475–477

        of nonbiological intelligence, 377

        in the physical world, 387

        transcendence and, 387–390, 475–476

Sporns, O., 540
n

sports, 288, 341

spybots, 406–407

spy satellites, 281

squid neurons, 155

SRI International, 282

Srivastava, Deepak, 562
n
, 563
n

standard of living, 106

Stanford University, 114, 176

Staring into the Singularity
(Yudkowsky), 35

stars, 281, 342, 344

        collapsed, 141

        in Drake equation, 345, 346, 347

        Dyson Sphere and, 350

        formation of, 360

        sun, 349–351, 591
n

        Vega, 355–356

Star Trek
, 348

Stein, Ben, 586
n

stem cells:

        adult, 223, 556
n
, 557
n

        autologous, 216

        controversy over, 222, 431, 471

        neural, 177

Stenger, Victor, 499
n

Stenner, M., 591
n

Sterling, Bruce, 588
n

Stix, Gary, 529
n

stock, stock market, 103, 525
n
–526
n

        AI applications in, 284

        price of, 13, 108, 109–110

stories:

        as composing universe, 5

        principles of fields as, 167

Störmer, Horst, 253

strawberry genes, 551
n

stream separation, 123

string theory, 359, 360

stroke, 144, 173, 188, 210, 212

strong AI, 259–263, 289–300, 422

        brain reverse engineering and, 84, 93, 194–195, 293, 294, 407, 461

        Church-Turing thesis and, 454

        criticism from ontology and, 430, 458–469