As we analyze the projections of
exponential growth pertaining to technology, we arrive at an idea some have
referred to as the Singularity. The Singularity is actually a concept coming
out of physics which can describe the point at the center of a black hole where
all time, matter, and energy converge into one singular point and the very
fabric of physics is torn into pieces. The concept of a wormhole is that at
this point of singularity the physical state of the universe begins to fold in
on itself creating a vacuum sucking everything from one point and expelling it
out another. This would be like the connecting point of a circle. It is the
starting point and ending point at the same time. It would be a loop of never
ending time, matter, and energy. Ergo, the Singularity would be the point where
we witness the beginning, end, and everything in between. Philosophically, the
Singularity is the culmination of all that was and all that will be into one
central location, time, and space. Singularity, in the philosophical sense, is
the final realization of all known Truth.
Our religion is a philosophy. It
is a set of beliefs guiding our worldview, influencing our behaviors, and
regulating our understanding of the after-life. Those that consider themselves
“very religious” pay close attention to the philosophical tenets of their
shared organized religious beliefs. Others who consider themselves “unreligious”
tend to pay closer attention to their existential intellectual observations
when building a life philosophy. One group might be considered more stable and
rooted in the philosophies which have been proven out over the test of time.
The other group might be considered more nimble and sensitive to the evolving
culture and world in which they presently live. The overall positive or
negative evaluation of either group is wholly dependent upon the perspective
one has at the moment of analysis. The ultimate conflict between the two groups
is that the “very religious” see reality through the lens of their established
philosophy while the “unreligious” develop their philosophy based on the lens
of their own life experience. One believes that the entire grocery store of
existence fits into their philosophical grocery cart. The other carefully
chooses items off of the grocery shelves of existence in order to fill their
philosophical grocery cart as best they can.
The Singularity, as discussed by Ray Kurzweil, is a point
where informational and technological growth have increased exponentially along
a long enough timeline that human ability to contain it, or even continue to
fathom its full implications, fails entirely necessitating an evolutionary
watershed moment where biological humans begin to mesh with technology and become
cyborgs. The idea is that assimilation with such a rapidly advancing technology
would be preferable to being left behind and eventually eliminated by a race of
cybernetic intelligence that might look upon a purely biological human as we do
an ant or a mosquito. Kurzweil’s Singularity is the coming together of humanity
and technology in a way that blurs the lines between the two entirely resulting
in a new form of existence which supersedes its predecessors.
Most religions (philosophies)
share similar ideas of a spiritual Singularity. Whether discussing an
after-life or contemplating an end-times scenario, various ideas of being
reunited with one’s God, Creator, or Energy Source seem to look like a
spiritual wormhole where one has looped back at the very end to the source of
the very beginning. Singularity with one’s God, whether that God be energy or a
being or a cosmic consciousness, seems to be an overwhelmingly accepted
philosophy professed by every major religion, science, and belief system
throughout all of human existence. For the most part we can all agree that we
return to the original base form from which we have come indiscriminate of what
our primary life experience has been. “Ashes to ashes…dust to dust.”
As one’s philosophical views
become more forward-looking and organic, it becomes easier to navigate meaning
in the contemporary world that we live in. With the exponential growth of world
population, energy consumption, need for natural resources, and technology it
seems highly unlikely that the philosophical worldviews established over the
last 5,000 years could account for ALL that is happening now and about to
happen in the next 50 years. For instance, technologically, the world of 2000
BC was much more similar to the world of 1500 AD than 1900 AD is to today. That
means that the previous 4000 years of human existence are incredibly similar
when using the last 150 years as a template of comparison. And it is certain
that what is technologically possible 50 years from now is nowhere close to
proving realistically viable today. This is the result of exponential growth in
knowledge which spurns exponential growth in technology which spurns
exponential growth in pursuit of Truth (or philosophy of existence).
In this sense, philosophical
Singularity is the compressing together of these elements (knowledge,
technology, and truth) into one singular place at one singular time when the
very fabric of existence is torn and the beginning intersects with the end
creating a loop, or wormhole, where all reality, perspective, and philosophy
come together fully unified and fully revealed. For most, this spiritual
Singularity is called “afterlife” or “judgment day”. It is where all
misconceptions are left behind and truth is revealed without distraction of
alternative theories. It is where truth becomes self-evident and reality is no
longer dependent upon perspective. In a sense, this spiritual Singularity is
the focal point of our most predominant religious philosophies from the ancient
Egyptians to the American Indians to the contemporary Christians. Achieving spiritual
Singularity with one’s deity drives the daily behaviors, politics, economics,
and overall worldview of the majority of past and contemporary human society.
