It would be perfectly reasonable to assume that extropian and transhumanist concerns are very recent manifestations in the timeline of philosophical thought. It would be reasonable to conclude that such concerns can only have been born out of the collision between 20th/21st century technological developments, post-industrial infrastructure and the captivating imaginations of science fiction writers who saw this stuff from miles off (and didn't need to give any rationale to their hypotheses).
Indeed, if you're focused on the esoteric language of the Singularity and the characters who speak it, you would be entirely forgiven for thinking that this is an intellectual/cultural movement that could only exist now, in this space between foresight and actuality.
But give a thought to the religious thinkers from centuries gone, the Mahayana Buddhists with their beautiful concept of the Bodhisattva who holds back from entering nirvana until everybody has found enlightenment. Then there's Hindu belief in the cycle of aeons or yugas... a constant revolution of phases in which humanity grows towards transcendence and then starts again after reaching a Singularity, of sorts. And if you think this chimes with Nick Bostrom's Simulation Argument, then consider the Gnostics who propose that we are indeed living in an artificial reality controlled by a demiurge or creator God.
It's not too much of a leap of thought before you begin asking whether we might have already reached the event horizon of superintelligence, perhaps many times over, leaving us to wander as we will through a programme... perhaps a programme of our own design.
Indeed, if you're focused on the esoteric language of the Singularity and the characters who speak it, you would be entirely forgiven for thinking that this is an intellectual/cultural movement that could only exist now, in this space between foresight and actuality.
But give a thought to the religious thinkers from centuries gone, the Mahayana Buddhists with their beautiful concept of the Bodhisattva who holds back from entering nirvana until everybody has found enlightenment. Then there's Hindu belief in the cycle of aeons or yugas... a constant revolution of phases in which humanity grows towards transcendence and then starts again after reaching a Singularity, of sorts. And if you think this chimes with Nick Bostrom's Simulation Argument, then consider the Gnostics who propose that we are indeed living in an artificial reality controlled by a demiurge or creator God.
It's not too much of a leap of thought before you begin asking whether we might have already reached the event horizon of superintelligence, perhaps many times over, leaving us to wander as we will through a programme... perhaps a programme of our own design.
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