The Economics of the Singularity

The Singularity – a potential future event that represents computers overtaking human intelligence – is one of the most talked about ideas on Big Think. However, here is a perspective that we don’t often see. How will the Singularity impact economic productivity?

You will get $40 trillion just by reading this essay and understanding what it says.

That’s what Ray Kurzweil famously wrote in his 2001 essay, “The Law of Accelerating Returns.” Now that’s a bit hard to grasp. On the other hand, here is how Robin Hanson, an economist at George Mason University in Washington, D.C., put it to NBC News:

The past two singularities — the Agricultural and Industrial revolutions — led to a doubling in economic productivity every 1,000 and 15 years, respectively, said Robin Hanson, an economist at George Mason University in Washington, D.C., who is writing a book about the future singularity. But once machines become as smart as man, the economy will double every week or month.