This document discusses the concept of technological singularity, which posits that artificial superintelligence may surpass human intelligence, leading to profound transformations in society and potential existential risks for humanity. It outlines the contributions of artificial intelligence to technological advancements and the dual nature of its impact, offering both beneficial solutions to existential threats and concerns about unemployment and misuse of technology. The document emphasizes the importance of preparing for these changes and ensuring that governance structures support the responsible development of artificial intelligence for the common good.

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THE BENEFITS AND RISKS OF TECHNOLOGICAL SINGULARITY BASED
ON ARTIFICIAL SUPERINTELLIGENCE
Fernando Alcoforado
Abstract: This article aims to present the concept of technological singularity, the contribution of artificial
intelligence to the advancement of technological singularity, technological singularity and its contribution to
scientific and technological advancement and the benefits and risks of artificial superintelligence for humanity.
Keywords: Technological singularity. Artificial intelligence. Artificial superintelligence.
1. Introduction
What is Singularity? It is the characteristic of what is unique: infrequent, out of the
ordinary or extraordinary. Technological singularity is the hypothesis that considers the
unrestrained technological growth of artificial super intelligence. According to this
hypothesis, the rampant action of an upgradeable intelligent agent with self-improvement
capabilities (such as a computer that executes software-based artificial intelligence)
would generate more and more quickly robots endowed with a super powerful
intelligence that, qualitatively, could surpass all human intelligence.
The use of the term "singularity" occurred from the 1950s, with John von Neumann, in
that it would result from technological advancement coupled with accelerated change.
The concept of technological singularity was proposed by British cryptologist Irving John
Good in 1965. Technological singularity is achieved when an ultra-intelligent machine
can overcome all the intellectual activities of every smarter man. As long as an ultra-
intelligent machine can design even better machines, there would undoubtedly be an
"explosion of intelligence", and man's intelligence would be left behind. Thus, the first
ultra-intelligent machine would be the last invention that man would need to make.
The hypothesis that the machine could soon overtake man has a name. This is
“technological singularity”, a term used for the first time in the essay The Coming
Technological Singularity, published by the American science fiction author Vernor
Vinge in 1993. He design an uncertain date in which artificial intelligence will surpass
that of the human, thus inaugurating a new era impossible for our human brain to
conceive. Vinge himself had his forerunners and inspirers, from mathematician Stanislaw
Ulam's reflections on the exponential acceleration of progress to the writings of Isaac
Asimov (The Last Question, 1956) and Philip K. Dick (A governing machine, 1960; The
electric ant, 1970), passing through the hypotheses of statistician Irving John Good about
ultra-intelligent machines.
Raised as a key problem by Silicon Valley industries and their organic intellectuals, the
technological singularity was transformed during the 2000s into a school of thought.
Some, like Raymond Kurzweil, see it as a positive and desirable event. Although this
optimism is a minority, there is agreement that the indisputable and exponential advance
of technical progress makes uniqueness inevitable. Instead of trying to stop it, it would
be important to prepare humanity for its emergence, in order to limit its negative
consequences.
In 1950, British computer scientist Alan Turing was already speculating about the
emergence of thinking machines in his work “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”,

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and the term "artificial intelligence" (AI) was coined in 1956 by the scientist John
McCarthy. In the 1990s, the artificial intelligence community set aside a logic-based
approach, which involved creating rules to guide a computer how to act, for a statistical
approach, using databases and asking the machine to analyze and solve them problems
on their own. Experts believe that machine intelligence will match that of humans by
2050, thanks to a new era in their ability to learn. Computers are already beginning to
assimilate information from collected data. This means that we are creating machines that
can teach themselves and also how to communicate by simulating human speech, as with
smartphones and their virtual assistant systems.
2. The contribution of artificial intelligence to the advancement of technological
singularity
A neural network of an Artificial Intelligence system is capable of analyzing more than a
billion data in a few seconds, being an incredible tool to support a decision maker within
an organization, thus guaranteeing the best option among the possible ones. As the data
collected is constantly updated, Artificial Intelligence systems also always update their
results, enabling managers to have access to recent information on variations that have
occurred in an organization's environment. Machine learning is a field of computer
science that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. In
data analysis, machine learning is a method used to design complex models and
algorithms that lend themselves to prediction. In commercial use, this is known as
predictive analytics. These analytical models allow researchers, data scientists, engineers
and analysts to "produce reliable and repeatable decisions and results" and discover
"hidden insights" by learning historical relationships and trends in the data.
Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, the world is faced with the possibility of
giant transformations taking place. It is a new era in which the fundamental rules that
regulated the activities of organizations will be rewritten. Artificial intelligence systems
don't just mean automating many processes to make them more efficient. These Artificial
Intelligence systems are making the world go through a fundamental transition with
machines developing beyond their historical role as a tool by becoming “workers". As a
result, Artificial Intelligence systems will therefore change the true nature of the work
that is requiring management of operations with machines and workers to be processed
quite differently from the past.
In recent years, we have seen surprising progress in areas such as independent learning,
forecasting, autonomous navigation, computer vision and video gameplay. Computers
can now do complex engineering calculations, trade shares on the stock exchanges in the
order of milliseconds, operate automated cars that are increasingly appearing on our
streets and have artificially intelligent assistants invade our homes. The coming years will
present us with even more advances, with Artificial Superintelligence through machines
that can learn from their own experiences, adapt to new situations and understand
abstractions and analogies. Machine intelligence comparable or superior to that of
humans has a good chance of being developed until the middle of the 21st century, which
can result in Artificial Superintelligence. Artificial Superintelligence will be the first
technology to potentially surpass humans in all dimensions. Until now, human beings
have had a monopoly on decision-making and therefore have control over everything.
With Artificial Superintelligence, this can end.

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2045 is the year foreseen for the technological singularity that marks the end of an era
and the beginning of a new human cycle, where man and machine will be integrated and
where Artificial Intelligence will far exceed human intelligence. Technology is the big
star of the digital age, but man is still the main character. The techniques that have evolved
in the field of artificial intelligence are similar to the techniques that the human brain
uses, according to Raymond Kurzweil, the greatest futurist in the world. Machines learn
human tasks, and in 2029 it is expected that artificial and human intelligence will be the
same, and in 2045, it is expected that a single machine will be more intelligent than the
whole of humanity.
3. The technological singularity and its contribution to scientific and technological
advancement
Artificial intelligence can make a decisive contribution to scientific and technological
advances, aiming to provide humanity with the necessary resources to face its survival
problems. When artificial brains overtake the intelligence of human brains, then this new
superintelligence can become very powerful. The technological singularity resulting from
the Artificial Superintelligence may contribute decisively to the scientific and
technological advance aiming to provide humanity with the necessary resources to face
the internal threats to the planet Earth that can put at risk its survival as pandemics and
earthquakes, as well as catastrophic climate change that may occur from the middle of
the 21st century.
In addition to facing internal threats to humanity, the Artificial Superintelligence can also
contribute to avoid the end of the human species with the threats coming from outer space
by promoting sufficient scientific and technological advancement to overcome them.
Humanity will have to find scientific and technological solutions to face the threats
resulting from the Moon's distancing in relation to the Earth and the consequent
catastrophic climate change, the collision on planet Earth of large asteroids and orphaned
planets wandering in outer space that can contribute to the end of life on Earth, the
explosion of supernovae with the release of gamma radiation and X-rays, the collision
between the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies where the solar system is located that
can displace planet Earth in relation to the Sun from its favorable location for life, the
death of the Sun at the end of its existence and, also, the end of the Universe in which we
live with its contraction or expansion with its thermal death or until the atoms that form
planets and galaxies start to disintegrate, generating the greatest apocalypse in the entire
Universe.
In order to face the problems resulting from the Moon's distancing in relation to the Earth,
humanity could seek its survival by implanting space colonies on Mars, Titan (Saturn's
moon), Callisto (Jupiter's moon) and the dwarf planet Pluto in the solar system as possible
escape locations. To avoid the collision of large asteroids on planet Earth, powerful
rockets should be used to divert them from Earth, and to deal with the collision of
orphaned planets with Earth, it is necessary to monitor their approach to Earth and
establish plans to humanity to escape to space colonies built in the solar system and to
deal with the explosion of supernovae with the release of gamma radiation and X-ray, it
is necessary to monitor the explosion of supernovae for when it occurs to establish escape
plans for humanity to space colonies built in the solar system. Before the Andromeda
galaxy collide with the Milky Way, mankind would have to seek its escape to a planet in

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a closer galaxy like the Big Dog Dwarf Galaxy located 25,000 light years away. Before
the death of the Sun, humanity should leave the solar system and reach a new planet in
another planetary system that is habitable for human beings. This planet could be the
"Proxima b" orbiting the closest star to the Sun that is part of the Alpha Centauri system.
With the end of the Universe in which we live, humanity should seek a way out, that is,
a parallel universe, for humanity to escape and survive all catastrophic scenarios. All of
this would require major scientific and technological advances to overcome all threats to
the survival of humanity that artificial superintelligence could provide.
If the human being does not evolve through technology, it will not have served any
purpose. In the same way that technological singularity can arise with artificial
superintelligence, so can human singularity with the formation of supermen and
superwomen who can survive diseases and pandemics, as well as being able biologically
to leave planet Earth and make trips space. Human singularity is achieved with
transhumanism, which is a philosophy that aims to improve the human condition through
the use of science and technology (biotechnology, nanotechnology and neurotechnology)
to increase cognitive capacity and overcome physical and psychological limitations of
human beings . How to make the human being significantly improve in a matter of
decades, or even a few years? The answer is transhumanism, a movement determined to
use revolutionary technologies to transform humanity into something superior. A
transhuman being is someone who has taken a step forward by updating his body in a
way that not only corrects existing deficiencies to behave as commonly expected, but
replaces organs that work perfectly well to do something more than is biologically
possible.
Human evolution has to rely on science and technology. As computer technologies
advance alongside biotechnology, there is an increasing convergence between the two in
the form of neural interfaces that in the future may open the door to connect the human
mind directly to Artificial Intelligence, in order to facilitate greater learning, mental
transfer and overcome neurological conditions. This means that science and technology
should intervene to take control of human evolution itself and make evolution directed
and planned. This evolution would be not only biological, but also technological. Science
and technology would also allow the genetic manipulation of the human species with the
possible creation in the laboratory of new genes that would modify the genetic code to be
able to block the replication of viruses, making our cells immune to attacks. This would
be one way to protect humans from future pandemics. The modification of the human
genome would gradually increase until finally transforming the human being into a new
biological species. And artificial superintelligence would play a big role in that.
Evolution has given humanity more sophisticated intelligence than any animal on the
planet and humans have used that intelligence to overcome their biological deficits.
Transhumanism means using this dynamic to not only impact the world around us, but to
increase or even replace our biology with technology. As computer technologies advance
alongside biotechnology, there is an increasing convergence between the two in the form
of neural interfaces that in the future may open the door to link human mind directly to
Artificial Intelligence, in order to facilitate greater learning, transfer mental health and
overcome neurological conditions. How to make the human being significantly improve
in a matter of decades, or even a few years? The answer is transhumanism, a movement
determined to use revolutionary technologies to transform humanity into something

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superior. It is important to take into account that transhumanism would have
consequences that would influence all areas of knowledge.
The Artificial Superintelligence may also contribute to scientific and technological
advances, aiming to provide humanity with the necessary resources to face the threats
coming from outer space and humans being taken to new habitats in the solar system and
outside of it in search of their survival with the impact of asteroids, the distancing of the
Moon in relation to the Earth, with the collision between the Andromeda and Milky Way
galaxies, the death of the Sun and the end of the Universe in which we live. With machines
smarter than we are, with Artificial Superintelligence, humanity will be able to use them
to solve scientific and technological problems that ensure the survival of the human
species even with the end of the Universe in which we live by paving the way for parallel
universes.
4. The risks of artificial superintelligence for humanity
Even if Artificial Superintelligence produces benefits for humanity, there is a risk that it
will be used for evil and not for the good of humanity. A wide range of consequences can
occur, including extremely good consequences and consequences as bad as the extinction
of the human species. The ongoing technological advance based on artificial intelligence
will have a negative impact on the world of work because it could lead to the end of
employment and the consequent drop in the demand for goods and services, putting
capitalism as a world system in check. This means that scientific and technological
advances could bring the world capitalist system to collapse, pointing to the need for the
invention of a new economic system. It is certainly not in capitalism that the world will
be able to reconcile the wonders of science and technology with the end of employment.
Another economic system will have to be invented in which science and technology will
act as liberators of humanity from the burdens of work and the promotion of economic
and social progress.
In addition to the harm of unemployment brought about by the advancement of artificial
intelligence, there are extremely negative scenarios such as the super-intelligent machines
themselves deciding to destroy human beings, for example, ending our civilization and
infrastructure. Artificial Superintelligence can represent the extinction of the human race,
according to scientist Stephen Hawking, who published an article addressing this issue
on May 1, 2014 in The Independent. Hawking said that technologies are developing at
such a dizzying pace that they will become uncontrollable to the point of endangering
humanity. Hawking concludes: today, there would be time to stop; tomorrow it would be
too late. The indiscriminate development of artificial intelligence could indicate the end
of humanity. At the time of Stephen Hawking's death in March 2018, this famous quote
by the astrophysicist echoed in the press and social media. For a long time relegated to
science fiction records, the fear of artificial intelligence has been rooted in public debate
for some years, associated with both the massive automation of occupations and mass
unemployment and the no less terrifying prospect of killer robots.
From the philosopher and researcher Nick Bostrom to Elon Musk, founder of the Tesla
and SpaceX companies, several personalities thus multiply the warnings about the
existential risk that the “superintelligent” and potentially uncontrollable machines would
cause on humanity. For the Tesla owner, his danger would be even greater than that of
the atomic bomb. Some theorists, like Raymond Kurzweil, think that the pace of

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technological innovation is accelerating and that the next 50 years may produce not only
radical technological advances, but possibly a technological singularity, which can
fundamentally change the nature of human beings. Transhumanists who anticipate this
massive technological change generally maintain that it is desirable. However, some are
also concerned about the possible dangers of extremely rapid technological change and
propose options to ensure that advanced technology is used responsibly. For example,
Nick Bostrom has written extensively on the existential risks to humanity's future well-
being, including those that could be created by emerging technologies.
Nick Bostrom states in his book Superintelligence that Artificial Superintelligence poses
a risk that threatens the premature extinction of intelligent life on Earth, or the permanent
and drastic destruction of its potential for a desirable future development. Bostrom
explained that Artificial Superintelligence requires that better control mechanisms be
developed. Bostrom says that we will need to have these control mechanisms before
creating smart systems by attracting the leading experts in mathematics and computer
science into this field. He suggests that there is a strong research collaboration between
the security community and the development of Artificial Superintelligence, and for all
parties involved to incorporate the Principle of the Common Good in all long-term
Artificial Intelligence projects. This is a unique technology, said Bostrom, which must be
developed for the common good of humanity.
There is, therefore, a great risk that, under the current conditions, not only superintelligent
machines may come to threaten humanity, but also, malicious governments use artificial
superintelligence to serve their evil interests. The Common Good Principle in all
Artificial Intelligence projects in the world will only be possible to put into practice with
the existence of democratic governments in each country and a democratic world
government without which humanity will be at the mercy, not only of super-intelligent
machines that decide to destroy human beings, but also, of malicious rulers. It can be
concluded, therefore, that in order to make the Principle of the Common Good in all long-
term Artificial Intelligence projects be carried forward in order to avoid the risk that it
will be used for evil and not for good of humanity, there must be democratic governments
in every country in the world and a world government that makes sure that these goals
are achieved.
Author
Fernando Alcoforado is a PhD in Territorial Planning and Regional Development from
the Barcelona University, Spain. He graduated in Electrical Engineering from UFBA -
Federal University of Bahia, Brazil, and Specialist in Engineering Economy and
Industrial Administration from UFRJ - Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Currently he is a member of the Polytechnic Institute of Bahia (IPB), holds the position
of professor of postgraduate courses in Administration, Economics and Engineering from
several Brazilian educational institutions and as a Consultant in the areas of strategic
planning, regional planning, planning of systems of science, technology and innovation
and planning of systems of energy. He held the positions of Coordinator of Strategic
Planning of Ceped- Research and Development Center, Secretary of Planning of City of
Salvador, Undersecretary of Energy of the State of Bahia, President of IRAE - Instituto
Rômulo Almeida of Higher Studies, Director of the Faculty of Administration from the
Faculties Integrated Olga Mettig of Salvador, Bahia and Consultant of Winrock
International in the area of renewable energy and UNESCO- United Nations Educational,

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Scientific and Cultural Organization and Culture. He received the Brazilian Medal of
Merit of Engineering from the CONFEA (Federal Council of Engineering and Agronomy
of Brazil) and he is a member of the Bahia Academy of Education. He is the author of 14
books which deal with issues relating to Brazilian Economy, Energy, Economic and
Social Development, Environment, Global Warming, Science and Technology and
Globalization.
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