A.D. After Disclosure: When the Government Finally Reveals the Truth About Alien Contact (41 page)

The relationship of Disclosure to Singularity has never before been raised. In doing so here, we are opening a new discussion and expect that any hypothesis suggested now may need to be refined, revised, or even rejected with the passage of time.

Anyone who feels that UFOs are a bit “far out” for their normal intellectual fare may want to consider what our near future is probably going to look like. Ray Kurzweil, arguably the most prominent of the futurists writing about artificial intelligence, foresees machine intelligence surpassing human intelligence during the first half of the 21st century. Among AI experts, this appears to be a mid-range estimate, possibly a bit early. Generally, most predictions for the advent of Singularity are between 2030 and 2080, although a few push the date into the 22nd century.

It may not be a world in which machines replace people—the vision of which is seen in such apocalyptic movies as
The Terminator, The Matrix, I Robot
, and others. According to the experts, humans will also be modified and plugged-in, making old-fashioned, unenhanced
homo sapiens
a thing of the past. Nanotechnology may have a major role to play. Imagine a nanochip the size of a human brain cell, designed to duplicate all the functions of that brain cell. Such chips are currently thought to be possible. Now imagine that it functions more efficiently than your brain cell, and imagine that a certain percentage of your frontal lobe is supplemented by these nanochips, giving you an IQ of 200 or more. What’s more, you would have telepathic connectivity to the World Wide Web, and also to other people.

Though this may be possible, it gets even stranger.

Consider developments in genetics and biotechnology. During the first decade of the 21st century, the human genome was finally mapped in its entirety. This is important, but this incredibly complex genome is only beginning to be understood by scientists. Within the next few decades, it will be better understood and mastered. Inevitably, attempts will be made to enhance it in one way or another—if not for the masses then for
the few. Such enhancements might include “switching off” the gene for aging. Others might enable greater physical strength, greater intelligence, or even abilities to interact with other dimensions of reality—what some would call “the spiritual realm.” The possibilities are almost too awesome for contemplation.

Nanotechnology is about to become a major industry. Defined as “the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale,” it has also been described by the U.S. National Science Foundation as “the next industrial revolution,” enabling microscopic implants that kill cancerous cells, a box the size of a sugar cube containing the entire contents of the Library of Congress, or materials lighter than steel with 10 times the strength.
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The potential of nanotechnology goes far beyond these examples. Think about “nanofactories” similar to the replicator device featured in the television series,
Star Trek: The Next Generation
. Packed with miniature chemical processors, computing, and robotics, a nanofactory would produce items quickly, cleanly, and cheaply, directly from blueprints. It might also proliferate exponentially, as nanofactories make more nano-factories. Such a device would make “the building of products…as cheap as the copying of files.”
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What this all means is that, with or without Disclosure, with or without the aid of the Others, human society is going to look very, very different than it does today. Consider how the continually increasing connectivity will change our world. During the late 1980s, the rudiments of the Internet were coming into place. By the mid-1990s, the World Wide Web, complete with graphical user interface, was a fact, but still in its infancy. By 2000 the web was ubiquitous. Still, the revolution continued. YouTube arrived in 2005, roughly when cell phones became true hand-held personal devices with digital cameras, music libraries, full web access, and more. What level of global connectivity will exist in 2030? 2050? 2100? How intelligent will our “devices” be? How small?

We all know this abstractly, intellectually. But to use a loaded word, the world will be utterly alien, with or without real aliens being acknowledged. Here is the world as it may well look during the second half of the 21st century.

Computers that exceed human intelligence in many or most key areas.

Genetically modified human beings with a variety of implants.

Human-machine cognitive interfacing to create the possibility of a truly cybernetic organism.

Computers embedded everywhere.

Microscopic “nanobots” that can be programmed with intelligence (or perhaps by a computer intelligence) to compile or decompile at will into any shape or structure imaginable.

Holograms and virtual reality everywhere.

The advent of quantum computing, an event that may be a profound leap into a new world of computing, vastly beyond our current level.

Lifespans that may go on for a long, long time.

What we are talking about is essentially a new species of human and most certainly a new level of intelligence, possibly orders of magnitude beyond what we experience today. Perhaps human nature will not change all that much, but then again perhaps it will. It may also be that only some humans stand to benefit from such perks, and may set themselves up as a true Master Race, genetically modifying and enhancing themselves to their heart’s content, while also modifying the “rabble” to suit their specifications. After all, humans have done it to farm animals for 10,000 years. The coming world may be paradise, or it may be hell, depending on who you are.

This is a realm of speculation that will probably have more than one mistake and several dead-ends. Yet, as of this writing, these are outcomes that, strange as they may seem to some, are possible to envision. Only time will tell.

Disclosure and the Singularity

Because predicting the future requires a combination of imagination and extrapolation, there are several ways that this techno-utopia or technodystopia may relate to Disclosure. It depends upon when Disclosure occurs, and it depends on when the Singularity occurs.