Human intelligence, superintelligence, and intelligence explosion (Alan Turing)

Jack Copland holds (Alan Turing and the Origins of AI) that the earliest substantial work in artificial intelligence was done by the Turing. His vision of machine learning, articulated as early as 1951, is a case in Copeland's point:

If the machine were able in some way to 'learn by experience'... there seems to be no real reason why one should not start from a comparatively simple machine, and, by subjecting it to a suitable range of experience, transform it into one which was more elaborate, and was able to deal with a far greater range of contingencies. ['Intelligent Machinery, A Heretical Theory' BBC 1951]

May we also find in Turing's work his opinion about the the prospects of 'human-level' machine intelligence, superintelligence, and even a process akin to an intelligence explosion?

I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted. ['Computing Machinery and Intelligence' Mind 1950]

Acceleration (Alvin Toffler)

In 1970, Toffler's Future Shock offered penetrating insights into changes that have been taking place. The book however is less known for presenting one of the earliest (if not the first) acceleration  hypotheses:

Western society for the past 300 years has been caught up in a fire storm of change. This storm, far from abating, now appears to be gathering force. Change sweeps through the highly industrialized countries with waves of ever accelerating speed and unprecedented impact. ...

Much of what now strikes us as incomprehensible would be far less so if we took a a fresh look at the racing rate that makes reality seem like a kaleidoscope wild run. For the acceleration of change ... is a concrete force. ...

Motivation (David Chalmers)

David Chalmers' essay "The Singularity: A Philosophical Analysis" clearly sets out the motivation for this volume:

One might think that the singularity would be of great interest to academic philosophers, cognitive scientists, and artificial intelligence researchers. In practice, this has not been the case. ... I think this resistance is a shame, as the singularity idea is clearly an important one. The argument for a singularity is one that we should take seriously. And the questions surrounding the singularity are of enormous practical and philosophical concern. (Chalmers, this volume/forthcoming)

We hope that working towards this volume will help changing the situation illustrated in this quote.