The Singularity is a hypothetical moment in the not-so-distant future when machine
intelligence will supplant human intelligence as the dominant force in the world. There is a
growing movement of scientists, authors, and advocates who believe the Singularity is not just
possible, but inevitable. There is maybe no more eloquent or influential argument for the
Singularity than futurist Ray Kurzweil’s 2005 book, The Singularity is Near: When Humans
Transcend Biology. Kurzweil predicts a utopian future of advanced human/machine hybrid
intelligence and radically extended life by the year 2045. This thesis applies Kenneth Burke’s
system of dramatism, specifically the pentad, to The Singularity is Near as well as a sample of
technology articles from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to examine
Kurzweil’s motives and the way Singularity discourse “chains out” through other media. I will
also draw on movement theory to examine the discourse of Singularity advocates to determine if
Singularity discourse qualifies as a rhetorical movement. / Department of Telecommunications
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:123456789/195949 |
| Date | 05 May 2012 |
| Creators | Schumacher, Eric J. |
| Contributors | Chesebro, James W. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
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