Re: Singularitarian demographics

From: Charles D Hixson (charleshixsn@earthlink.net)
Date: Sun Aug 06 2006 - 11:05:28 MDT


Joshua Fox wrote:
> I note that the great majority of SL4 members have computer software
> as their primary profession. Why is this?
>
> After all, comparing other philosophies which seek to improve the
> world through some specific technical efforts, the professions of
> interested people and supporters do not show such homogeneity or
> connection to the implementation. For example, most AIDS activists,
> advocates for feeding the world's hungry, people interested in
> stopping global warming, supporters of third-world debt relief, and
> fans of space exploration do not specialize in medicine, agriculture,
> meteorology, finance, or spacecraft engineering respectively.
>
> While one might argue that familiarity with software gives one an
> understanding of AGI, in fact most software development is worlds away
> from true Singularity expertise.
>
> Anyone care to venture a guess as to why the great majority of
> Singularitarians (or at least of the SL4 members) work in a certain
> field? Why do we not see among Singularitarians more psychiatrists,
> psychologists, anthropologists, historians, or biologists, all fields
> which are to some extent relevant to the Singularity? For that matter,
> why do we not see more doctors, non-high-tech business people,
> musicians, or practitioners of other unrelated professions, as we do
> for other movements?
>
> This situation seems less than ideal. Though technical work must be
> done by experts, is not diversity of backgrounds valuable in
> non-specialist discussions of any intellectual pursuit as broad as this?
>
> Joshua
>
It *is* undesirable. Unfortunately, understanding the problems being
argued about requires a lot of technical expertise. More than that,
actually, but that's enough to usually give one a fair chance at
understanding the topic, if not the details.



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