We humans have millions of years of evolutionary baggage that makes us regard competition in a deadly light.

I have argued above that we cannot prevent the Singularity, that its coming is an inevitable consequence of the humans natural competitiveness and the possibilities inherent in technology.

Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.

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.

The heart of manipulation is to empathize without being touched.

Sometimes the biggest disasters aren't noticed at all – no one's around to write horror stories.

Animals can adapt to problems and make inventions, but often no faster than natural selection can do its work - the world acts as its own simulator in the case of natural selection.