Technology

Ray Kurzweil, a futurist and director at Google, predicted singularity would occur around 2045, and yet staggering advances in generative AI, including concerns from its godfather, Geoffrey Hinton, suggests it might already have surpassed human intelligence and now has the potential for consciousness.  At issue is a host of ethical concerns, not least of which is its potential to 'turn against' humanity.  On top of this issue there are rising concerns around technological advances in the realms of automated weapons systems, for example, drone warfare, as well as serious issues emerging in biotechnology, including, among others, growing human brain matter for integration into computer systems, CRISP-R genetic engineering, block chain technologies being used by venture capitalists to own people's genomes and sell back to them as tailored medicines.  At issue is that globalised businesses are now beyond sovereign laws to rein in their advances in pursuit of profit, which is a form of market failure leading to Prometheus Unbound.