The Technological Singularity | Jonas Witt | TEDxUniPotsdam

How do you feel about the world? Is it loaded with problems, becoming more and more complex? Does it seem to move a lot faster compared to when you were a child?

In fact, technology and its impact on the world is advancing perhaps faster than ever before, and there is little reason to believe that this will change. An emerging concept from the tech world called the “technological singularity” points to a dramatically different future than most people expect. Although highly controversial, it is worth understanding the fascinating and frightening perspective of Silicon Valley futurists. Jonas Witt is a Medical Doctor with a background in Digital Health who decided not to pursue a clinical but rather a career in Tech. For many years, he developed a passion for accelerating technological developments and their consequences for society. Given that humans have a poor intuition for exponential growth, it is likely that technological developments in the coming years could significantly exceed their expectations. Since 2022, Jonas has co-hosted the podcast Ereignishorizont, where he discusses exponential technological developments with experts from the DACH region.

[edsdinosaurslive]

I can't understand why we aren't all talking about this. I think it is inevitable. I'm hoping for the best and thinking things might get really good if we can just make it through this. I really enjoyed this talk and will share it with some friends. I think this will help get more folks into it. Thanks for putting this together!

[Jacoblydom]

I am convinced that, in just a few short years, we will be utterly surprised that our politicians and public intellectuals were so oblivious to the extent to which technological progress would accelerate. Sure, we've seen more policymakers talk about tech and AI in the past year than ever before, but it's clear that much of this stuff still seems like pure science fiction to them. It will be interesting to watch politicians in the future discuss the best ways to effectively accelerate humanity towards the singularity.

[CristalMediumBlue]

We already crossed the event horizon and are inevitably approaching the singularity faster and faster. The singularity is no longer one possibility, it is the only future of all trajectories.

[daniel_koenig]

Wow, amazing speech and interesting concept!

[Vulcansrulelol]

I'm a simple man. I see "Singularity" in the title of a video and I click.

[VGSammich]

It has begun, I am watching this video a few days after technological singularity has begun at at least one company but likely more. Cool stuff!

[hoagied]

While I love this topic, this speech is a total ripoff of a 2018 speech by Ray Kurzweil at the Nova conference in Belgium.

[trojanhorse]

I would love to see a new series of Visions of the Future by Michui Kaku

[RussInGA]

on a grand timescale we are clearly in the singularity already

[anjafriedrich]

Very interesting topic, we should start thinking about the ethics of the AI development in the future.

[tommiest]

@Jonas Witt: There are a number of lacunae and oversights in your talk. Progress in basic physics has stalled since the 1970s. We still have not cracked controlled nuclear fusion, room-temperature superconductors, or Von Neumann-esque self-replicators. Our ability to travel beyond low earth orbit is not even on par with what was available in the 1970s. Many of the medications that we are using to treat chronic health conditions are the same as they were 10-20 years ago and our ability to treat infection with antibiotics has *decreased* during this same period. The engines that we use for air travel and space travel have not changed dramatically in the last 50-70 years. Therefore, the rate of scientific progress and technological change has actually slowed down since the early 20th century and the developments, when they occur, are not as dramatic in scope as they were during that era. This point is *LOST* on many who *OVER-EMPHASIZE* the exponential increase in our computational ability. Yes, our cell phone's processor is WAY better than what existed during the Apollo era, but they were going to the Moon and we are not!!

[lancequek]

12:37 Ask Masayoshi Son - he would love to tell you about his thoughts and his SoftBank Vision Fund

[janluctavares]

Who created this analogy and where can I read more?

[mathewblackman]

Wisdom. Where is the wisdom singularity?

[rdjg]

Guys, i hope you guys that understand this have a good singularity 😅

[spook]

great speech, looking forward to the AI future :D

[arktseytlin]

well, its mosy about computer tech. In majority of fields there is no exponential growth, and even in computing its questionable.

[trains]

We gained our freedom, over many, many, generations, gradually forgot about life before it, then we saw little danger, in slowly selling it off again, for our convenience, and our "safety".

I get really concerned when I see so many people trying so hard to please their masters. It means that they're being owned by someone

[christopherm]

The negative outcomes seem way more likely. There will be positive things that happen, but the negative things will overshadow those things.

[bobtarmac]

I believe we are on borrowed time. An Ai tantrum will end you, your family, all of us. Ai jobloss, Ai as weapons, the list goes on. Can we please find a way to cease Ai / GPT? Or begin pausing Ai before it’s too late?