You've Been Warned

The idea of a technological advance that creates a superintelligence that surpasses that of humans is known as the singularity. The idea has been around for a long time. However, the term technological singularity was first coined in 1993 by a professor, computer scientist, and award winning science fiction author. Vernor Vinge was explaining that trying to predict, let alone even understand, the moment after this advanced intelligence first emerges breaks down much like the predictive ability of physics at the space-time singularity beyond the event horizon of a black hole.

If, in fact, a superintelligence ever does come into existence then I agree it would be beyond our ability to comprehend. However, one thing we can comprehend, at least to this point, is the exponential rate at which computing power accelerates. It's a fairly accepted concept that computer chip power doubles every eighteen months.  In 2010 Google CEO Eric Schmidt stated that every two days we create as much information as we did from the beginning of civilization up until the year 2003. I don't even know what it is now, late in 2012. The reason I included "at least to this point" when describing our comprehension of this explosion is because I think at some point the speed of it all will surpass our human abilities to understand it.

The topic of the coming singularity is not without criticism. Those that argue against the inevitably of such an event counter it simply by stating there is no evidence that advanced processing power will lead to a superintelligence. I have mixed feelings on this entire subject and can't quite pin down where I stand on the issue. I find it fascinating nonetheless. The accelerating change at exponential speed is the most intriguing and interesting part of the subject to me.

Even though I'm incredibly interested in science and computers and technology and quantum physics and math (all the geeky stuff), it's definitely not my strong suit. My talents lie within the area of psychology. I've always been interested in psychology and majored in it in college. I don't have a doctorate in the subject. I've never practiced professionally in the field, nor could I. I've never even really used my degree for anything more than getting a substitute teaching credential. I totally confess I'm not an expert in the field, just a dude that is completely interested in the dynamic of how we tick. Having stated all of that, I'm going to go out on a limb and tell you, at this point in my life, I feel very confident in my ability to understand people and how they view reality.

It is because of this confidence I feel the need to warn you of the singularity that is upon you. In all honesty, I should have authored this piece about a month ago. It certainty was on my mind at that time but I just kept procrastinating. However, there is no more time to put it off because it is here now. We are about to report from beyond the event horizon of a presidential election that is going to be a singularity type event. The accelerating change and exponential speed at which this campaign is going to explode upon us, become our reality, consume us at levels never experienced is going to be hard for most people to comprehend, even just hours before we cross the horizon.

In 2010 the rules were changed for the campaign process. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing political action committees (PAC's) to be able to receive unlimited contributions as long as they didn't donate directly to the candidates campaign. We have yet to experience a presidential election since this ruling came down. Vinge suggested it was nearly impossible to predict beyond the technological singularity and it might be the same for the 2012 presidential campaign singularity. Regardless of the task, I at least feel it necessary to warn of the explosion.

Every year the media tells us this is the most negative campaign in memory. That's only true if you have no memory or no sense of history. There have been campaigns in our past that were downright primitive and tribal. Candidates aired mushroom clouds, indicating a-bomb went off, in commercials on television not too long ago. Before that candidates would point toward very personal shortcomings, going as far as mentioning children out of wedlock, to get any edge on their opponent. This is hardly the most negative election cycle we've ever experienced. It might be the most uninformed, nonsensical, ridiculously silly cycle we've ever seen, but not the most negative.

We will vote for the President on November 6th. That is ten weeks away. We have yet to experience a convention or a debate. This will all take place in a very short period of time. We live in California, a predominantly blue state, and we aren't bombarded with political ads. However, there are many states, swing states, that haven't seen a "normal" commercial in weeks. Literally every single commercial slot has been booked for months in these states. Their interest, even if not by choice, in politics will certainly be piqued because of this overdose of advertising. Every single political story, no matter how trivial, will be covered with intensity and rammed down our throats.

The introduction of the PAC's unlimited funding will not only surface in the presidential contest; it will reveal itself in Senate and House races as well. There will be so much money on hand and too much power at stake for these committees not to attempt to influence local races. Any misspeak by any politician running a campaign will be breaking news and linked to the presidential race. We've already had a taste of it with Todd Akin and his "legitimate rape" comment. It took one day to link that statement to Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan and his "forcible rape" bill co-authored with Akin. This phenomenon will happen over and over again in the next two months.

We are already divided prior to crossing this horizon. We have no desire to compromise and very rarely do we find decent discussion about real issues that confront us. Wait until billions and billions of dollars explode onto the scene and remind us of everything we hate about those who aren't exactly like us. It truly is impossible to predict the outcome of such an event. Normally our apathy wins out and we endure programming changes and plug on. This will be different; it will be unavoidable.

We are going to be shelled with politics like never before in our history as a nation. That in itself isn't a bad thing, but the nature of our current politics is hardly a poster child for government in action in a positive light. We hate politics. We show our hate by ignoring it and knowing nothing about it. We let those in the know narrow the field down to two and we lie to ourselves and say we vote for the lesser of two evils (even though the vast majority of people always vote for one party no matter how evil their candidate happens to be) come election night in November. This time that strategy won't be enough to keep sanity. The singularity will be overwhelming and it will tire us down, it will awe us, it will confuse us, and it will divide us even more.

My best advice includes stocking up on extra water, canned goods, candles, compiling a list of friends you can contact to talk reason with and share lucidity, a strong brain that is exercised and can think for itself and is conditioned to endure long bouts of nonsense and rhetoric, flicking the off setting on the television, vowing to never engage in meaningless dialogue that won't generate a change of opinion or even the slightest of a consideration, and some ball bearings (it's all ball bearings these days).