Understanding the Technological Singularity: Vernor Vinge Interview

For those of you who are new to the concept of the coming technological singularity, this NPR podcast, featuring Vernor Vinge (pronounced vin-gee), a retired San Diego State University Professor of Mathematics, computer scientist, and science fiction author, will be well worth your time. In it, he talks about AI as refering to "amplified intelligence" rather than artificial intelligence, among other highly visionary predictions. About Vernor Vinge:

He is best known for his Hugo Award-winning novels A Fire Upon the Deep (1992) and A Deepness in the Sky (1999), as well as for his 1993 essay "The Coming Technological Singularity", in which he argues that exponential growth in technology will reach a point beyond which we cannot even speculate about the consequences. (From Wikipedia)

The brief podcast gives a nutshell description, salient in spite of its brevity, of the singularity. A very worthwhile few minutes. Click here to listen.

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