“There is no clear definition, but usually the Singularity is meant as a future time when societal, scientific and economic change is so fast we cannot even imagine what will happen from our present perspective, and when humanity will become posthumanity.”  Futurist Ray Kurzweil wrote the Singularity is near in 2005 and it sure felt that way at CES in Las Vegas in 2012. 

In any event, we didn’t come up with this association.  Matt Burns at TechCrunch did during one of the live streamed panel discussions from the show floor.  But given that we’ve been at the forefront of mobile devices and networks for 2 decades, we couldn’t have said it any better.  After all this time and all these promises, it really felt like all the devices were connected and this app-ecosystem-mass was beginning to move at a pace and direction that none of us could fully explain.

Vernor Vinge, a sci-fi writer, coined the expression back in the early 1990s.  When you look at the list of publications at the Singularity Institute one can’t help but think that the diaspora of different applications and devices self organizing out of CES 2012 isn’t the beginning of AI.  Will AI develop out of the search algorithms that tailor each individuals specific needs, and possibly out-thinking or out-guessing the individual in the process?

We probably won’t know the answer for at least a decade, but what we do know is that we are about to embark on a wave of growth, development and change that will make the past 30 year WinTel-Internet development look embryonic at best.  After all the Singularity is infinity in mathematical terms.  Hold onto your seats.