Human No More (9-26-11)

It has sparked the interest of many the world over. It has been called the “rapture of the geeks.” It has induced wonder, fear, and caution. It has drawn both adamant supporters and cynical skeptics. It is the Singularity.

In Lev Grossman’s article, “2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal,” the author discusses the Singularity and its potential. The Singularity is the transformation of the human species into something that is no longer human, something that is integrated into technology as technology advances at an exponential rate. The idea is that as computers get stronger and faster, artificial intelligence will match and even exceed human intelligence. Human consciousness is to be emulated. The leading spokesman for Singularity, entrepreneur and inventor Ray Kurzweil, has even gone to propose that one day the human species will be functionally immortal. 

According to executive director of IEEE Spectrum, Glenn Zorpette, the Singularity is simply an irrational concept and fear . He remains skeptical that the human brain can be effectively reverse-engineered. “What we do know is that the brain’s complexity dwarfs anything we’ve managed to fully understand, let alone build.”

However, despite what the future holds, Grossman holds that Kurzweil deserves merit for being correct about the present. He commends Kurzweil for taking the future seriously. He’s “taking the long view and looking at the big picture.” In fact, several notable authors such as Alfred Huxley have also looked at the big picture and conjured up a dystopian future.

In Alfred Huxley’s Brave New World, the novelist paints his readers a world in which people work for technology. Humans are bred and conditioned to be efficient parts of a well-oiled machine. Though they seemingly have what they believe is happiness, they are indeed restricted and limited in being truly human, deprived of having human emotions and complete free will. In Huxley’s novel, the character Bernard expresses a desire to be an individual, to be more on his own, “not so completely a part of something else.” He wants to be happy in his “own way...not in everybody else’s way” (91).

In Brave New World, Bernard is unlike most of the other characters. As opposed to merely accepting the status quo, he exhibits a desire to be his own individual, to be a human as humans are today. And as Kurzweil enthuses about the Singularity, Huxley—through  characters like Bernard—warns of a society in which humans are no longer human in nature.