I am indebted to Jim White, formerly Architecture Practice Leader for the Chubb Group, for the idea and many of the links in this article. Though now retired, Jim continues to think big thoughts about the future and share them with his former Chubb colleagues — and others like me . Thanks, Jim. JLG

In astronomy, a "black hole" is a region of space with an extremely high gravitational field resulting from the collapse of a star. At its center lies a point called "a singularity" where the laws of physics no longer make sense. Today, many scientists envision the possibility of a similar phenomenon on earth, where increases in computing power give rise to machines that are smarter than their makers.

The harbingers of that vision are already visible — planes that can hunt and kill the enemy without pilots, genetically modified foods that repel pests, and anti-bacterial socks that don't stink. At least one eminent innovator predicts that the earthly "singularity" will emerge in as little as twenty years — the time when the combined impact of converging technologies renders existing social, economic, and legal structures obsolete.

This article discusses the technological underpinnings of the singularity theory, describes some existing projects in government, the nonprofit sector, and industry, and speculates on what these changes might mean for knowledge managers.

Technological underpinnings
The singularity concept is easier to understand if you break it down into four converging technologies: Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information technology, and Cognitive science (NBIC).

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Created on September 15, 2009 l Updated on September 18, 2009