Sometimes the biggest disasters aren't noticed at all β no one's around to write horror stories.
Vernor VingeRead
Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that advancements in technology will soon lead to the development of superhuman intelligence, which could ultimately change or end human dominance.
Vernor Vinge's quote reflects a profound concern about the future trajectory of technological development, specifically in the realm of artificial intelligence. He predicts that within the next thirty years, we will possess the tools necessary to create intelligence that surpasses human capabilities. This advancement could signal the end of the human era, as entities with superhuman intelligence may outpace us in terms of decision-making, understanding, and control over our lives and society.
Themes
TechnologyIntelligenceFutureHuman EraSuperhuman
In practice
Example use cases
During a tech conference discussing the future of AI, this quote can serve as a cautionary note about the rapid advancements in technology.
More from Vernor Vinge
All quotes βWe will soon create intelligences greater than our own ... When this happens, human history will have reached a kind of singularity, an intellectual transition as impenetrable as the knotted space-time at the center of a black hole, and the world will pass far beyond our understanding.
Vernor VingeRead
Little fish risking everything for a piece of godhood...and not knowing heaven from hell, even when they find it.
Vernor VingeRead
The problem is not simply that the Singularity represents the passing of humankind from center stage, but that it contradicts our most deeply held notions of being.
Vernor VingeRead
Similar quotes
Persons grouped around a fire or candle for warmth or light are less able to pursue independent thoughts, or even tasks, than people supplied with electric light. In the same way, the social and educational patterns latent in automation are those of self-employment and artistic autonomy.
Marshall McluhanRead
If the Internet teaches us anything, it is that great value comes from leaving core resources in a commons, where they're free for people to build upon as they see fit.
Lawrence LessigRead
Measured in time of transport and communication, the whole round globe is now smaller than a small European country was a hundred years ago.
John Boyd OrrRead
Ultimately, users visit your website for its content. Everything else is just the backdrop.
Jakob NielsenRead
Disclosure and transparency are the currency of the Internet, and they are at odds with authoritarianism.
Evan OsnosRead
We might possess every technological resource... but if our language is inadequate, our vision remains formless, our thinking and feeling are still running in the old cycles, our process may be 'revolutionary' but not transformative.
Adrienne RichRead