The Singularity is Already Here
The technological singularity…is a hypothetical future point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unforeseeable consequences for human civilization.
- Wikipedia entry on the technological singularity
Although we might not feel that we have past into the technological singularity, much of it may already be here. What we imagine the post-singularity world to be like is largely here. We’ve quietly surrendered control of vital parts of our lives to algorithms, from how we connect and communicate to how we manage our finances. Turns out that it’s just not as flashy or interesting as some had hoped.
Most of social media is just algorithms that present us content they think we find engaging from people we don’t know, who we’ve never met, and have no idea how to contact us. Americans spend over 1,000 hours on social media each year (2.7 hours per day) getting news and staying connected to their culture. All of this is mediated by algorithms. Even the things we share with friends and family are dictated by what we see in our feeds and share with others (this has gone so far that some of my own conversations with friends are just an endless stream of reels/tiktoks the algorithm has shown us and we are now sharing). Perhaps the most fundamental human activity, interacting with other humans, is now veiled by an algorithm.
The stakes in social media aren’t high–if the algorithm doesn’t work, you can just stop looking at your phone–but we’ve seeded significant control to machines even in high stakes areas like finance. 60-70% of all trades on US, European and Asian exchanges are executed by algorithmic traders. High-frequency trading algorithms execute strategies at speed, capitalizing on minute price fluctuations while influencing market stability. Even personal finance is controlled by algorithms–robo-advisors use data-driven models to build investment portfolios, and loan approvals often rely on algorithmic risk assessments. Essentially, algorithms have become the engines driving the speed, efficiency, and sometimes the volatility of the modern financial system.
I won’t say that the singularity is here in full-force. It’s not (where’s my flying car?). But in crucial ways, our world is already looking much like a post-singularity. Every day we cede more control over important facets of our life and future to algorithms. This isn’t necessarily bad, there are many things that computers can do much better than humans. But it’s important to notice what’s happening, because we might not need anything like true super-intelligent computers to start living in a post-singularity world.