[Rhapso]

I think a way to look at it is this: The singularity happened, likely sometime in the 90s. It was, what any singularity is, the point where what came before it is not useful to predict what came after.

It is no surprise that the event defined by our inability to predict past it did not work out in the way we imagined.

[ghostbrainalpha]

By that definition there would be MANY singularities throughout history. Pretty much anything that caused a paradigm shift would fit, for example "the printing press", "the atom bomb", or "the internet".

It is definitely an interesting way of looking at things, but I think waters down the "singular" part of the singularity too much.

[AnimalMuppet]

Well, the printing press was a singularity in the availability of information. The atom bomb was a singularity in defense and war. The Singularity is supposed to be a singularity in everything, or at least in enough of them that we can become gods (immortal, all-knowing and close enough to all-powerful).

And this discussion prompts a new thought: What are the military applications of The Singularity? (Don't bother saying that we're all going to live in peace and harmony after it happens. We won't.)

[ghostbrainalpha]

It isn't that we all live in peace and harmony, but any conflict would happen so rapidly and conclusively that 99% of time after the Singularity would be peace time.

[lostmsu]

Very much not necessary. You clearly haven't played the paperclips game.