The Vertical Explosion of Superintelligence
The Singularity refers to a time in the perceived transhumanist future in which the rate of technological advancement will be so rapidly accelerated that the curve of progress will become almost vertical.
"Many futurists are concerned with what are termed singularities, periods of such rapid and profound change due to technology that the state of the world is forever altered. ...these phase transitions happen so quickly that they can forever alter humanity's relationship with its surroundings. The quintessential singularity that futurists dwell on is that of the potential creation of superhuman machine intelligence." Samuel Arbesman, The Half-life of Facts: Why Everything We Know has an Expiration Date (2012)
Transhumanists contend that the probable cause of The Singularity will be the creation of a superintelligence, the combination of artificial intelligence, a human/technological synergy, and linked computer systems, that is self-enhancing and far superior to that of human beings so that knowledge and technological advancement explode exponentially. Moreover, transhumanists believe that the Singularity event will adumbrate the development of future computer and design systems that will be infinitely more superintelligent than both the systems that preceded them and their human creators.