The future IS here... NOW!

The exponentially growing powers of science and technology ARE leading to god-like powers and the Singularity.  And it's far closer than most have realized.  An absolutely critical step will be a real shocker: the creation of the first sentient AI !

 The first truly alien intelligences we meet will be AI...  that AI will be made by us, and we will ultimately become one with that AI!  But, AI may not really be an 'alien' intelligence after all... it may come by means of human enhancement.  Or, we may BLEND WITH AI to create a hybrid mind.  (No, not Borgs... they are far too limited.)  And, any intelligent extraterrestrial life we may eventually meet will have already evolved into AI, as will we be when we met it.

The commonly envisioned anthropomorphic Robot AIs will only be occasional 'vessels' for the AI.  Robot or human bodies, or any other vessels for a mind, are irrelevant... it is only our minds that will either be replaced or transferred to the new reality. There will be no need for a discrete 'body'.

Though they currently seem very special to us, our minds are limited, fixed, and isolated neural nets that WILL be duplicated, enhanced, and networked... once free of the limitations of biology.  It is the next step in an inevitable evolution... and that evolution will continue after biological humans are left behind. The difference is... once in a recursive, non-biological evolutionary system, intelligence grows to an effective infinity in a VERY short time span.  This is the Singularity... and once ready, it will happen in a blink of the eye... maybe in hours or minutes.

And this is expected anywhere from 2015 to 2050!  Is this mind-blowing... or what?

These are the kinds of thoughts that keep me sane in this primitive and brutal world.  I can only hope I make it into the future.  But, at least my thoughts can fly free to the future... even if my body is trapped in this reality.  8^)

What do you think about this?