aquarius

Good point. If some kind of measures aren't taken to control the growth of human population it's either the singularity or bust. The danger with the singularity is that it may lead to a bust anyway. These are certainly perilous times. We have to get this right.

But what happens when it's able to fool you into believing it's aware of it's own existence? Artificial intelligence will likely always be just an illusion. However, one day the illusion will be so convincing it won't matter whether or not it's really thinking.

I agree. The only way to argue the literal interpretation of the account of the creation related in the Bible is with blind faith. Certainly the Book of Genesis and evolutionary origin are at odds. Most prominent scientists who believe in God may not believe in a personal God. Michio Kaku, in his book "Einstein's Cosmos", conveys Einstein's thoughts on God as follows:

lol. Seriously though, self-improving AI will be so fundamentally different we should resist the temptation to anthropomorphize. Agreed. It's bound to be either profoundly good or profoundly bad from the human perspective.

The goal is for the machine to be able to print all the parts necessary to construct itself. Whether it can print a ball bearing system all in one go I'm not sure. Here's a video introduction to the RepRap self-replicating 3D printer: Here's the RepRap blog with the latest info: http://blog.reprap.org/ You may want to contact one of the developers with specific questions.

Right. I don't think the question is if, but when. If the exponential trends continue Kurzweil's timeline should be accurate. We shall see. It's certainly an exciting time to be alive.

That is precisely the goal behind the RepRap project. Currently, it can only print plastic parts but they're doing research that will allow it to print circuit boards eventually. Check out RepRap: http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome Before too long we'll have self-replicating rapid prototyping machines.