Summary: “I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don't want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment.” - Woody Allen “Singularitarianism”. Remember the name. It is the most respectable of the quasi-religious movements to come out of Californian techno-libertarianism. Its basic beliefs are that: * computers are about to become better problem-solvers than humans * humans, still in charge, will get the computers to make nano-robots that can repair organic tissue * we will also direct them to the problem of downloading our consciousness onto digital back-up systems *our conscious selves will then be able to replicate, be uploaded into other physical devices, etc * nano-technology, consciousness engineering and old-fashioned big iron computing will solve any problems of energy supply and climate control that might limit the infinite plenty ahead * humanity will thus create the kingdom of heaven and live eternally in a world of plenty, all of it built by the people and technologies of Silicon Valley The movement's Pope is Raymond Kurtzweil, an otherwise thoroughly bona fide inventor and entrepreneur. Its Mecca is in the area between the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto and Mofett Field airbase, with Google's headquarters a stone's throw away. There, Kurtzweil presides over the Singularity Institute, which, like the early Church councils, is busy working on the details of eternity. What if they were right? Should we want eternity on those terms? Is it really time to put an end to death
