The singularity movement is like Skull & Bones for Silicon Valley intellectuals. WHO's singularity is what should be asked? Anyone can riff about collective mind. This is an age old notion (Buddhist interconnectedness, Emerson's oversoul..), but when you try to push YOUR brand of interconnectivity over others it all falls apart or turns to fascism.
Sometimes we need to unplug from eachother to just be with our cultures, ethnicities, families, selves, only from these smaller vantage points can important criticisms come.. especially important when the collective mind gets on a bender or positive feedback loop or some other irrational bubble, economic or religious or social. Those who enjoy the fruits of singularity must be aware of those who cannot or aren't allowed to tap in. But more importantly we must be able to rest, reharge, and labor in multiplicity. perhaps web 3.0 will see a return to semi-privacy and diversity, typical tower of babel phenomenon... we didn't start the fire...
There was a good talk on this BBC podcast "thinking allowed" about social capital and criticisms of that concept, where they raised the problem with thinking abt all social networks as the same thing. some social networks like international finance are more powerful than others, you cant talk about there being "one" singularity yet, it's many competing collectives right now.
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