I've always been somewhat skeptical of the idea of the Technological Singularity. It always sounded a bit too grandiose and overblown - too much like the "Rapture of the Nerds" it is often derided as.

However, recently I have become less sure. I've started following all sorts of technological news recently - not just advancements in computers and computer science, but also robotics, logistics, and all sorts of other fields. And my current reading of Wired For War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century by P. W. Singer only drives home that technological advancement is incredibly fast now. In many fields, capabilities of certain types of technology double on a regular basis - from 18 months to as quickly as every nine months. And exponential growth is something incredibly powerful.

Perhaps we really will develop artificial superintelligences far surpassing humanity (not just individual humans - the whole of humanity) in a few decades. Perhaps the technological singularity will come. But even if it doesn't, it is becoming increasingly obvious to me that we are at the very beginning of a major paradigm shift in our civilization - perhaps even the biggest our species has ever seen.

It is both an exiting and a terrifying time to be alive.