I am a former Depth Psychology Researcher and Writer. Now more interested in the Technological Singularity due to its potential to vanquish suffering. I regard the Technological Singularity as a Science of High Probability. Not only is it a serious scientific hypothesis (see below) but we also see the accelerated progress being made yesterday, today, tomorrow, all the time. However, the risks that come with technological advance need to be dealt with too... by the smartest of people! We should not halt technological progress because of the risks. Life has got better because of technology despite the downsides. For example we live longer and healthier lives. So enormous improvements to the modern world are highly probable. But this does not mean that I expect Utopia to emerge in the next 30 to 35 years. Psychology is in its infancy. I accept that problems concerning bodily diseases and bodily pain will be largely or entirely vanquished and this will prevent psychological distress emerging. However there are extremely difficult issues that thinkers within science (including the Singularity) havent even started to address. For example 'memory deletion'. Memory deletion seems wise for someone suferring from PTSD but there are others whom it is difficult to tell whether it is their own fault or others who are the cause of their misery. If you argue that it will be up to the individual whether or not to allow a memory to surface into consciousness then this poses ethical dilemmas as well. Surely a child couldnt make such a decision for him or herself? A child has to learn right? A child cannot just control what enters consciousness from a very early age? Meanwhile, I am open-minded on Post-Scarcity emerging thanks to the Singularity. Clearly if people have less financial worries then that is good for their psychological health. Indeed, I do think that it is highly probable that the Technological Singularity will reduce the quantity of issues that one has to be distressed about. This will then bring to collective light (for the first time ever) just how much psychological distress is self-induced and how much is misinterpretation and how much is due to other people in ones life. But then technology will have these issues to deal with. A very early start in psychological technology has been invented by Ariel Gartens company called Interaxon. Interaxon deal with mind-controlled technology.--------------------- In general I take the Singularity as a Science of High Probablity because it isnt simply guess work. Graphs from the past show progression of information technologies that always reach an exponential curve. (tech progress is ultimately exponential not linear). However this does not apply to psychology. However again... this is complex because technology will be increasingly applied to the mind. But it has definitely not been made clear how these technologies will eliminate psychological suferring. We merely have bits and pieces of early info on this such as DBS, Interaxons technologies, Kurzweil saying that we will be able to stop nanobots firing in our mind. But so many questions. It is easier to imagine how technological progress will come close to establishing a utopia for the physical side of life... i.e., by vanquishing the physical/vanquishing the meat... but it is far more difficult to see how technology will create a psychological utopia. We cannot vanquish the mind in order to experience a healthy mind. I am not saying that there are certainly no answers. But I do not think that the answers to the psychological side will all emerge over the next 30 to 35 years. ----------------------------------- My most recent paper uploaded is titled 'The Singularity is Near: Here's the Proof!'. Uploaded on 30th January 2012. MY PROFILE: Paul Budding Date of Birth: 8th October 1973 Address: 26 Ludlow Crescent, Redcar, Cleveland, TS10 2LQ Email: paulbudding@yahoo.co.uk Web pages: http://www.docstoc.com/profile/paulbudds