The dilemma felt by science fiction writers will be perceived in other creative endeavors.

Here I had tried a straightforward extrapolation of technology, and found myself precipitated over an abyss. It's a problem we face every time we consider the creation of intelligences greater than our own. When this happens, human history will have reached a kind of singularity - a place where extrapolation breaks down and new models must be applied - and the world will pass beyond our understanding.

Little fish risking everything for a piece of godhood...and not knowing heaven from hell, even when they find it.

But if the technological Singularity can happen, it will.

Politics is good; when it works properly, disagreements get solved without people beating each other up. But when a regime knows its days are numbered, there's always the chance it may use its position to change the rules and make the debate it is losing irrelevant.

When people speak of creating superhumanly intelligent beings, they are usually imagining an AI project.

Intelligence is the handmaiden of flexibility and change.