The Sixth Extinction.

There is no question that technological growth trends in science and industry are increasing exponentially. There is, however, a growing debate about what this runaway acceleration of ingenuity may bring. A number of respected scientists and futurists now are predicting that technological progress is driving the world toward a "Singularity" -- a point at which technology and nature will have become one.

"We are on the edge of change comparable to the rise of human life on Earth," San Diego University Professor of Computer Science Vernor Vinge first warned the scientific community in 1993. "Within 30 years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will end."

Some scientists and philosophers have theorized that the very purpose of life is to bring about the Singularity.

The true believers call themselves "extropians," "post-humans" and "transhumanists" and are actively organizing not just to bring the Singularity about, but to counter what they call "techno-phobes" and "neo-luddites" -- critics like Greenpeace, Earth First!, and the Rainforest Action Network.

In April 2000, a wrench was thrown into the arrival of the Singularity by an unlikely source -- Sun Microsystems' Chief Scientist Bill Joy. Joy co-founded Sun Microsystems, helped create the UNIX computer operating system, and developed the Java and Jini software systems -- systems that helped give the Internet "life."

In a now-infamous cover story in Wired magazine, "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us," Joy warned of the dangers posed by developments in genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics. Joy's warning of the impacts of exponential technologic progress run amok gave new credence to the coming Singularity. Unless things change, Joy predicted, "We could be the last generation of humans." Joy has warned that "knowledge alone will enable mass destruction" and termed this phenomenon "knowledge-enabled mass destruction" (KMD).

Joy understands that the greatest dangers we face ultimately stem from a world where global corporations dominate -- a future where much of the world has no voice in how the world is run. The 21st century GNR technologies, he writes, "are being developed almost exclusively by corporate enterprises. We are aggressively pursuing the promises of these new technologies within the now-unchallenged system of global capitalism and its manifold financial incentives and competitive pressures."

In his 1972 speech "The Android and the Human," science fiction visionary Philip K. Dick told his audience "machines are becoming more human. Our environment, and I mean our manmade world of machines, is becoming alive in ways specifically and fundamentally analogous to ourselves." In the near future, Dick prophesied, a human might shoot a robot only to see it bleed from its wound. When the robot shoots back, it may be surprised to find the human gush smoke. "It would be rather a great moment of truth for both of them," Dick added.

A 1998 Harris poll of the 5,000 members of the American Institute of Biological Sciences found 70 percent believed that what has been termed "the sixth extinction" is now underway.

A simultaneous Harris poll found that 60 percent of the public was totally unaware of the impending biological collapse.
Clamor Magazine