Review by Marcin Miłkowski

The singularity has become a buzzword, and as all buzzwords, its precise meaning is somewhat hard to grasp. In this helpful volume, the concept is elucidated but also shown to be ambiguous; some believe that there will be superhuman AI that will accelerate in an explosive fashion, while other believe that technology will transform human beings into posthuman cyborgs. Some find the idea abhorrent and offer arguments against the belief in singularity, while others point to constant acceleration of computer power. I believe that a sober discussion is very much needed in this domain, and this volume might as well be the first necessary step to build empirically-driven models which examine the plausibility of singularity scenarios. But one cannot start building a theory before discussing assumptions made in the debate. Hence this volume is indispensable.

Marcin Miłkowski, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences