The document discusses how the potential future development of artificial general intelligence, known as the singularity, could impact libraries. It considers ideas from science fiction works that envision a future where machine intelligence surpasses human intelligence. The singularity may lead to technologies that vastly enhance human thinking abilities. This could mean that libraries transition to being repositories of older technologies, havens for people who do not use intelligence amplifiers, or even become obsolete if money and jobs are no longer needed. The impact on library budgets is unclear in a post-singularity world.

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BUDGETING FOR LIBRARIES The singularity
and the library
The singularity and the library
Kirstin Steele
The Citadel, Daniel Library, Charleston, South Carolina, USA 227
Accepted 5 October 2011
Abstract
Purpose – This article aims to consider what libraries might be used for after machines become
smarter than humans.
Design/methodology/approach – The article considers how Vernor Vinge’s novel Across Realtime
and his essay “The coming technological singularity” inform possible library futures.
Findings – Libraries might become havens for humans left out of the high-tech future, or museums
for defunct technologies, or vanish completely.
Originality/value – The article expands discussion of the library’s future beyond the foreseeable.
Keywords Future, Intelligence amplifiers, Singularity, Libraries, Forward planning
Paper type Viewpoint
The Singularity is an idea that human intelligence will someday be surpassed by
artificial intelligence, that the first machine we make that is smarter than a human will
be the last machine we need to make, since the machine can then take over inventing
and building. I have found it interesting to ponder how the Singularity might affect
patrons, libraries, and their budgets.
I became drawn to the idea after reading Kurzweil’s (2005) book The Singularity Is
Near. Unfortunately, the concept seems to be written largely in physics, a language I
have not learned. When I saw the 2011 Singularity Summit advertised, I thought such
an event would be beyond my ken, but that it would not hurt to peruse the conference’s
web site: www.singularitysummit.com/ Included amongst the physics books on the
reading list is a reference to Vinge’s (1986a) novel called Marooned in Realtime. I found
a copy included in Across Realtime (Vinge, 1986b). I love that the story presents
versions of the Singularity I can actually visualize. Thus inspired, I found a link to his
1993 essay “The coming technological singularity” (www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/
vinge/misc/singularity.html) via Amazon.com’s author page for Vinge. Although
presented at a NASA program, I found the paper to be quite readable.
Based on Vernor’s word pictures, I can imagine that technology will eventually
become so small as to disappear, and we will be able to access publicly available data
just by thinking about it. I have no idea how it will work; happily, technological
progress is not dependent upon my comprehension. Given the explosion of strong,
small, and addictive personal computing devices (such as my beloved smartphone) and
inventions like electronic paper, it is easy for me to believe that we will break through
the physical membrane restricting our thoughts within my lifetime. The Bottom Line: Managing Library
The most compelling part of the essay for me is when Dr Vinge discusses Finances
Vol. 24 No. 4, 2011
intelligence amplification (IA). I find IA much easier and more natural to imagine than pp. 227-229
artificial intelligence (AI), more like a logical progression than an invention. I often joke q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0888-045X
about Google’s e-mail archives being an extension of my brain, with a better search DOI 10.1108/08880451111193325

2. BL engine. Likewise, in Across Realtime, characters use headbands and other devices to
24,4 extend their thinking abilities and multitask (e.g., have multiple tabs open). Many
inventions across time have amplified humans’ abilities, if not, one could argue, our
intelligence. Shoes, automobiles, and rockets have not only changed how fast and how
far we can travel, but also how we see the world. My car feels like an extension of my
body sometimes; occasionally in dreams I can adjust a crooked parking job just by
228 shifting in my seat. Artificial limbs restore or enhance mobility and grip. Cameras and
telephones and hearing aids permit us to see and hear more and at greater distances;
why should the brain itself be exempt from such boosts? Books and computers, and
especially the internet, have increased humans’ abilities to find and use knowledge, if
not retain it. Fancy how magical it will be to just think of your question and have
answers appear. It is a pretty short hop from typing a search of the world wide web, to
speaking the search, to thinking it. The Internet has become a kind of collective
memory of humanity, a library even, so perhaps one day our minds will become a
collective intelligence, with native searching ability.
What will the Singularity mean for libraries? Will we collect only fiction, music, and
art? Although the word “knowledge” does not automatically connote creative works,
the Internet includes images, music, and other media which are increasingly
searchable. Again, think how much easier it will be to just picture something in your
head and have its metadata appear for you, than to try to describe an image in enough
words to get a good results list. Maybe libraries will remain a virtual gateway to
subscription-based or other restricted data. I suspect there will be enough
“stay-behinds” or “low-techs” remaining, who rebuff intelligence amplifiers out of
distrust or lack of financial resources, to keep traditional librarians in business for
decades to come. Perhaps libraries will become repositories for maintaining previous
generations of IA – books (of course!), computers that read floppy drives (oops, too
late), flash drives and optical discs, and semi-smart phones that understand only one
language. In that case, librarians might be some of the only humans left who have jobs.
From Dr Vinge’s 1993 essay:
We will see automation replacing higher and higher level jobs. We have tools right now
(symbolic math programs, cad/cam) that release us from most low-level drudgery. Or put
another way: The work that is truly productive is the domain of a steadily smaller and more
elite fraction of humanity. In the coming of the Singularity, we are seeing the predictions of
true technological unemployment finally come true.
That paragraph makes me wonder if there is more to the continuing unemployment
crisis than billionaires hoarding their cash . . . which is not to infer that said billionaires
are the same “elite fraction” that is “truly productive.” If there are no jobs to be had, will
librarians continue to try to help unemployed human patrons with employment
searches? Maybe libraries will become oases of relief from the Singularity, or even
hotbeds of anti-technology agitation. Oddly, I have occasional urges to make sure our
collection has post-doomsday “survival” resources. In any scenario, and particularly if
libraries turn into home base for resisting The Terminator or The Matrix, where will
library funding come from? Will public libraries be like pawn shops or swap meets,
where patrons pay admission or offer custom-made tinfoil hats and old books in
exchange for data access? Post-Singularity it is difficult for me to visualize a need for
institutionally-based higher education, so consequently there might be no need for

3. academic libraries. The super-human machine could find a way to make money The singularity
unnecessary, so libraries might not need budgets at all.
In the June 2011 issue of Information Technology and Libraries, Truitt (2011) points
and the library
out that the society-saturating technologies of radio and television have not been
widely reflected in libraries. On the other hand, without the internet, libraries are
practically inoperable. I think the Singularity, regardless of what it looks like, will be
¨
here sooner than we realize, and it would be naıve to assume that libraries’ bottom lines 229
will not be affected.
References
Kurzweil, R. (2005), The Singularity Is Near, Viking, New York, NY.
Truitt, M. (2011), “Editorial: singularity – are we there, yet?”, Information Technology
& Libraries, June, pp. 55-9.
Vinge, V. (1986a), Marooned in Realtime, Bluejay Books, St Martin’s Press, New York, NY.
Vinge, V. (1986b), Across Realtime, Doubleday, New York, NY.
Corresponding author
Kirstin Steele can be contacted at: Kirstin.steele@citadel.edu
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