The Singularity is Coming

It is not uncommon for popular culture to pick up on a concept from science and twist it until it is nearly unrecognizable. The concept of the "technological singularity" is no exception. Still, when the singularity is talked about as "the machines taking over" or the point at which we all "upload our consciousness to the cloud", we have strayed so far from the term's original meaning that it is worth revisiting what the term was meant to convey. Since humans first picked up two stones and hit them against each other to create a tool, we have worked to advance technology. An interesting thing about technology, though, is that each advance in technology typically relies on those that came before it. A blacksmith can craft all manner of useful implements, but only because they have a hammer, anvil, forge and bellows which had to have been created by someone else using technology. But it's not just the case that each technological advance relies on those that came before it. Rather, it se