Ode to Singularity

Singularity. A term which was as familiar as distant to me as it could only be.

When I first had the idea of writing a text with such title, a month or so ago, I had a completely different thing imagined. I was enjoying some ‘me’ time while reflecting on the pointless nature of life. The setting must have had it’s say too. A freezing walk through a charming old town of a city I’ve never been to before, an unexpected stop at an underground pub, and some whisky menu with prices I was more than willing to pay. How long it’s been since the last time I took a flight of stairs down to enter this obscure place with filthy tabletops and basses whispering to one’s soul- an eternity! Proof of the ephemeral nature of time served my being almost the oldest breathing object there. After ordering some Scottish liquor to a much too young and much too knowledgeable bartender, I trusted her enough to surrender my phone under the reasonable pretense of charging.

Back to my table, I proceeded with enjoying the Highlander’s company. How good it felt to disconnect! Just the thought of no living soul being able to reach me made my blood slowly start warming, though not enough to convince me take my glovelettes off. I began wondering, how come I didn’t feel any guilt at all for feeling so happy, there. Somewhere around that time I heard a call. It was coming from within- a word’s call. “I’m ‘singularity’, please love and cherish.”

Singularity you say. Must be a fancy way of expressing the state of being alone. “It must be what I am and feel right now”, I thought. Please I can, love I could and cherish if must. Who’d imagine the depth of my being wrong and right at the same time?

In the coming weeks, while trying to make my way through what singularity actually meant, I have read and watched different materials. At times it appeared that I understood exactly what that was. Other times, I felt lost, like I got it, but I still wouldn’t exactly be able to say how come. It became a small obsession I was determined to get to the bottom of. Between bothering friends, AI, peeks of mountains and bottles of wine in search of a satisfactory answer, I concluded that the closest I was to truth was at the beginning.

That flight of stairs opened Pandora’s box, teleporting me into those times when happiness was as simple as that, when meaning was as tangible as a glass of cheap liquor. As dividing by 0 is undefined in mathematics because there are no such numbers which multiplied by zero would produce a non-zero dividend, we follow this law too, dividing our time, our lives and ourselves by something different than zero. Singularity can mean a whole lots of things. What I have just described in mathematics is one example. Applied to physics, it is the moment when gravity and density become so strong that physical laws break down, as for example in the centre of black holes. Regarding AI, singularity is a point where artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence leading to uncontrollable and irreversible technological growth.

Now back to the underground bar, filthy table and gravitational liquors. Applied to me, singularity isn’t something intelligent enough to need surpassing. To start the loop I only needed to take a flight of stairs down. But that’s not all. I am lying.