How Are Advancing Tech, the ‘Singularity’ and Gov’t Regulation All Connected? Buckle Up and Let Glenn Beck Explain
Glenn Beck has recently talked about the idea of “the Singularity” (a technology-evolutionary jump) with futurist Ray Kurzweil. Beck has also shown off his new 3D printer and spoken briefly about the implications of such technology. And TheBlaze has written at length about the Wiki-Weapons project by the non-profit Defense Distributed, which seeks to create a functional 3D printable gun design for anyone on the Internet to download.
Pull all these topics together with the idea that technology will soon outpace government regulation, will raise ethical questions unlike those humanity has ever faced, and the question “just what everyone is to do about it?” and you have Thursday’s night’s show on TheBlaze TV.
Beck and Kurzweil, who leads artificial intelligence engineering at Google, discussed the notion of the Singularity only a few weeks ago. It’s the concept that technology and humanity will reach a point where they’re indistinguishable from each other.
Picture 35 years from now. Beck said on the show, it’s a place where people’s brains will connect directly to the Internet and download information, not only increasing their knowledge but improving physical factors like their hearing or eyesight. It’s a place where technology will be so synced with the mind that humans could replace or repair their limbs simply by picturing them.
If you think this sounds crazy, as Beck mentioned you might, consider how far technology has come by just comparing a 1993 Macintosh computer with today’s smartphone that fits in the palm of your hand. Consider where artificial intelligence has come in the last few decades, where machines are beginning to learn, not just being programmed for a specific function by humans.
The next step will be when humans are no longer the only designers. The next step is when artificial intelligence begins designing things itself, Beck said. Now, a 3D printer, for example, is programmed by humans to build something. Someday, Beck said the machine itself will be the designer and creator. At this point, Beck said machines will surpass humans in intelligence — and that is the Singularity.
Those who believe the world is heading toward the Singularity believe it is doing so at an exponential rate, called the Law of Accelerating Returns. Some might find this scary and wonder if the rate at which technology is improving can be stopped. As Beck said on the show, experts think it’s impossible to stop. If that’s the case then how can the government regulate the technology?
“The answer is not, should not and cannot be regulation,” Beck said. “The answer is not anti-technology. …The answer is to know your ‘why’.”
Beck said technology will advance so quickly, the government will not be able to keep up with its regulation. By the time any governance is passed, the tech would be outdated.
“A new digital frontier is coming and we have to be aware of it — and the only way to survive is to tame ourselves … self governance,” Beck said.
Beck explained that advancing technology is not bad or evil, but people must be prepared to use it responsibly and be aware of the potential dangers new technology will pose. It’s like fire, according to Beck. When people know how to use it and can master it, it can drastically improve their lives. But if people lose control of it, fire can be dangerous.
The current regulations being imposed and proposed for firearms is another good example. Beck hosted Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson on his show. Wilson’s project to create a fully functional 3D printed gun recently showcased its development of a plastic, high-capacity magazine. Although there have been propositions to ban so-called high-capacity magazines, the design Defense Distributed posted on its website for such a 3D printable magazine has been downloaded more than 50,000 times within the last week, according to Wilson. With 3D printing technology, these are items that Wilson said essentially cannot be banned.
Beck acknowledged that while the use of 3D printers has its benefits in ensuring Second Amendment rights, in the wrong hands they could lead to nefarious activities as well.
And the printers themselves, although considered too expensive by many now are predicted to be like the desktop, ink-jet printer not too far in the future. Not only that but they already print beyond just plastic items.
Beck hosted Hod Lipson, a computer science professor at Cornell University and the founder Fab@Home, who has begun a project to make the printers smaller and intended for household use. Lipson pointed out commercial 3D printers can already print useful metal objects. The technology is already being used to print objects for medical purposes as well, but Beck said experts predict it will someday print pharmaceutical drugs and even food items like meat.
Watch part one of Lipson’s interview with Beck here:
Part two:
–
Related:
- Ridiculously Accurate ‘Futurist’ Shares His Bold Prediction on the Glenn Beck Program
- Here’s a Recap of Glenn Beck’s Awesome New 3D Printer: The Implications and What He Plans to Make
- Website to TheBlaze: People Rushing to Download Online Blueprints for 3DPrinted Guns (And See Who From the Gov. Is Visiting)
- 3D Printed ‘Magic Arms’ Allow Toddler With Birth Defect to Hug Her Mom
- 3D Printer Gives 83-Year-Old Woman a New Jaw
In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.



















































































































Comments (77)
13a
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 5:26amGlenn is of a sound mind and has been right on his predictions much much more than that Alex Jones fraud. Alex Jones adds his own dots and creates an entire incorrect illustration. It blows my mind that Jones has so many followers….but so does that crooked politician, Ron Paul.
Report this comment
soybomb315_II
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 7:48ameach has a purpose….unfortunately, over the last couple years it seems glenn beck has been moving towards more abstract things while alex jones remains determined to expose NWO, corrupt government, and the socialists. also seems like glenn beck has a media and legacy to protect, while alex jones runs a bare bones operation that is more able to adapt
Report this comment
Trigus
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 7:50amGlenn, has made the turn to the left and has been sipping on the kool-aide for some time. It maybe easier to predict if you already have the playbook. Glenn, have your armed security detail test things involving weapons before crying that the “sky is falling.”
Hmmm, did not the lower failed when they tried to make a 3d lower? to make the shell of the magazine is plausible but you still need the guts (spring, follower, floor plate.)
Report this comment
Mr.buff1959
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 5:08amThe one thing we do know is. The most powerful computer will not be able to lye, unlike humans.
Report this comment
MisterSarcastic
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 7:13amThey made the global warming computer models lie.
Report this comment
Walkabout
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 8:51amComputer programs are suppose to be logical. But with logic all you need is one false assumption or one illogical statement in the chain of logical statements and the whole endeavour may be for naught.
Report this comment
NoExpectations
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 4:47amThis very topic has been at the forefront of my thoughts. The question I have, which I can’t answer, is what does the future of work look like?
Report this comment
Useful_Idiot
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 2:57pmProbably sittin’ on your ass with your hand out.
Report this comment
LeSan
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 6:09pmI think that is a prescient question indeed. What will work, manufacture and the global economy look like when a printer/replicator is as common as a smart phone or pc?
Report this comment
SerikFox
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 3:53amTechnology will never be indistinguishable from people. You can always see the crafter’s hands in his work; the technology will always reflect certain traits of it’s creators. This alone will prevent technology from being indistinguishable; without it’s own free will, it can only reflect the will of it’s creators. This is the flaw of humanity; to many strive to become gods, but the laws of nature themselves prevent us from ever getting beyond making complex toys.
Report this comment
socialism.rocks
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 5:09amwrong with a.i anything is possible.. 3 d printing is old technology..yes even the metal-nano scale printers next generation 3 d printing with be bio-enigeering… via dna which can turn living body-parts into floating point processors .. the whole body via chemical reactions will become one super computer ever evolving ever changing… never dying.. welcome to our world h+
Report this comment
AbrahamsSheepdog
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 5:35amAI is a myth for dummies. And a oxymoron. example: global warming. And anything can lie, dummy.
Report this comment
Abraham Young
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 9:23amI see one commenter claiming that Beck is a GENIUS. Har dee har har. Yup, they’s a SINGYOOLARITY coming, Mildred. Get your pointy hats ready!!!
Report this comment
SerikFox
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:37pmDo you want to know what the problem with a.i. is? It will never reach the potential of it’s creators. Know why? Because you can make a machine learn, you can make it adapt, you can make it record data in numbers and analyze it, but you cannot make it truly think and you cannot make it feel. Sometimes something just touches someone, and moves them to do something. Inspiration. A machines decisions, no matter how complex a machine, are all subject to it’s base construction. Sufficiently advanced mathematics could determine every factor that had affected an a.i. based on an a.i.’s current state. In short, it’s not intelligent, it’s a well written piece of software. We have yet to even begin to truly understand how the brain works, let alone have the understanding to replicate anything like it. On another point, if people are “capable of anything” through machines or otherwise, then a.i. isn’t possible and you have to admit the existence of a God. Which already means that people aren’t capable of anything. It’s a self-contradictory statement. This is because in order to be capable of anything people must have free will. This is impossible without God. We would be nothing other than advanced physics reactions without free will, subject to our base matter – exactly like software. Very advanced software, but hardly capable of anything outside of our base “programming”. Physics is what limits us in all ways.
Report this comment
AnotherRandomGuy
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:49pmIt never ceases to amaze me of how some people view computers. Artificial Intelligence is just that ARTIFICIAL. It’s not real. Can a computer program tell you that its favorite color is blue without somewhere down the line being a line of code telling it to do so?
Computers can not design in the same way we as humans can. Yeah, sure current technology allows computers to monitor and analyze data in new and exciting ways, but who do you think programmed the computer to make sense of that data.
At any rate, its only the perception of intelligent thinking that seems to be making news. Once you know how the magic trick is done, you won’t worry about silly things like this Singularity.
Report this comment
TSUNAMI_22
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 2:52amMaybe this guy can print Encinom and Steelhead a brain and some common-sense.
Report this comment
CONTUMACY
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 1:20amThis thing is nothing new, look up 80% receivers for ar’s…been around a while, they are 80%milled lowers, and you can buy them without any ffl or backround check, you just have to finish the milling yourself. I’d rather have a metal lower than this plastic one.
Report this comment
AbrahamsSheepdog
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:44amBorg huh. Like luminous nimrod tower o Babylon occult. Again? No thanks.
Report this comment
GoodStuff
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:44amI’m sorry but that Cody Wilson dude is beyond creepy. He sounds like an Occupier and he’s printing guns. What could go wrong?
Report this comment
Jarhead 88
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 3:33amIf they merged Justin Timberlake and Willem Defoe and gave him the attitude of the Goblin, you would get this guy.
Report this comment
EZrider12
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 5:41amWhat Cody failed to mention was that he was only able to fire his printed rifle once or twice before it blew apart. But hey…….He’s only one step from printing the real thing.
Report this comment
soybomb315_II
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:39amboy i wish glenn would dedicate himself to solving the real problems….Like the things that need to happen in order to level the playing field for a potential 3rd party
Report this comment
johnpaulkuchtajr
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 6:16amHey Soy,
I’m right there with you, old son.
Where’s the Beck who stayed half-way up Van Green’s ****?
Where’s the Beck who exposed all the Muslim Brotherhood thugs?
The move to Texas seems to have made him realize that he’s got a bird’s nest on the ground and he’s not doing anything to endanger those gains. Why is he planning fantasy towns? I guess if Dolly Parton needs her enclave, so does Glenn? He’s all wrapped-up in technology while he used to draw hundreds of guys like me to DC for beautiful rallies.
I went to both rallies and I guess it was like a grown-up Woodstock. Does he need to rally all of us to DC now to rally against the attack on the Second Amendment? You bet; but, he’ll probably reveal Beck’s Travel Adventures, LLC, dedicated to exploration of the cyber universe!
Report this comment
johnpaulkuchtajr
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 6:25amthat’s “hundreds of thousands”
Report this comment
HOOT_OWL
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 7:12amjohnpaulkuchtajr
Thank you..! I share the same EXACT sentiment.
From everything that he has been discussing over the years .From the possible collapse of the dollar ,to the possible collapse of our country . And what rises out of the ashes God only knows. And this last election tells us its going to get worse before it ever gets better. Well I for one believe Glenn is very much like George Washington… ONLY…. NOT the George Washington that is leading the charge anymore. Glenn Beck Is the George Washington ..That went back to his farm..!
Report this comment
Oldmantex
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:13pm@Soy I agree with you. I stopped my sub. last year. He has stopped all the focus that mattered and went for the easy stuff. For someone that seemed to have his finger on the pulse of the conservatives, he has completely lost it. I dont need to be told to give to the poor or feed the hungry I do that at my church, and I am betting most of his audience is the same way. Why do we need to do that through him?
If anyone has the money and connections to get a third party going that could have an impact its Glenn. But he is to busy trying to build his own city or print guns.
News flash Glenn people have been making guns at home for a very long time, you dont need a printer to do it. In fact there is a reality TV show that shows them build all kinds of fire arms regularly.
Now how about we get back on Benghazi, fast and Furious, the immigration coming down the pipe, and either cleaning up the Republicans or getting a constitutional party going. Enough of the fantasy island crap, lets get focused.
Report this comment
CathyvanDyke
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 2:11pmGlenn …. what you say?
State Department: US won’t negotiate with terrorists still holding US hostages in Algeria
Published January 18, 2013
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/18/american-still-missing-as-us-plane-lands-in-algeria-to-aid-in-evacuation/#ixzz2ILze2auG
Anti-Gun Control Rallies Scheduled for State Capitols Nationwide
9:04 AM, Jan 18, 2013
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/anti-gun-control-rallies-scheduled-state-capitols-nationwide_696294.html
Report this comment
CathyvanDyke
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 2:33pmGlenn … what you say? There was a time you did not miss an opportunity to expose both the Marxist and Islamic enemies that are destroying America from within. Please refocus.
Miami imams accused of funding terrorists: Hate and redemption
Thursday, Feb 2 2012
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2012-02-02/news/miami-imams-accused-of-funding-terrorists-hate-and-redemption/
Judge dismisses terror charges against cleric
Florida imam accused of funneling cash to Pakistani Taliban
January 17, 2013
http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/judge-dismisses-terror-charges-against-cleric/?cat_orig=world
Report this comment
Stego
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:37amThe plastic printed gun breaks apart after firing a few shots.
Report this comment
HereticWilson
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 1:24amActually newer designs reliably fire 80 shots. And they’re still working to improve upon the design.
Report this comment
socialism.rocks
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 5:14ami am telling you they’ve already printed working guns out of many materials..
3 d printer means nothing.. even 3 d printer technology is old we are working on other technologies which will outdate weapons of the past ….
Report this comment
Wino911
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:30amThere are so many more immediate issues to deal with. This is kinda like trying to prepare for an asteroid. I’m more concerned about the here & now. If we make it thru the Obama administration we can be concerned about what’s next…
Report this comment
neverending
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:25amOkay, okay but before you go there Glenn can you fix or have someone fix this site?
Report this comment
Diane TX
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 1:20amI was about to say that! They got rid of “404 page not found” error, but now when you post, you get logged out.
As a computer programmer from the olden days, I think that someone decided to “fix” this site, when it wasn’t broken.
Something similar happened at the American Thinker site. I complained. Was told that they were trying to improve my “posting experience”. Apparently, many others also complained because they changed it back to the way it was, and sent me an email apologizing for any inconvenience I experienced. : )
Report this comment
ares338
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 7:27amMy wife is a computer programmer. She had a good laugh when I showed it to her.
Report this comment
Stego
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:23amOur fools in power will easily make it to the final square with the national debt.
Report this comment
Loyal Eagle
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:23am@alllost… Glenn said it was old; it’s merely workable and in practice now, and that’s the difference.
Report this comment
gatekeeper96740
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:22amThere is an article on the H+ website, that’s the trans human web-magazine.Not only will they be Borg like but they also want a Hive mind. So there will be no privacy even in your own mind. You will be the ultimate slave in Lucifer’s Kingdom. There plan also includes their grand plan of Rewilding the planet back to the Pleistocene,to undo all the damage mankind has supposedly done. This will be their idea of Utopia. Yes and they are cloning all of the plants and Animals of that period as well,including the saber-toothed cat. Google Rewilding and Rewilding Pleistocene. This is part of their NWO.
This from The Casual Transhuman
By: Travis James Leland
Published: May 24, 2012
“We are the Borg… And That is a Good Thing.”
Why doesn’t everyone get excited about transhumanism? Why aren’t all people fascinated by augmented and virtual reality, radical life-extension, brain-uploading, and The Singularity?
Report this comment
Bobthehobbit
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:18amThere are some interesting possibilities… A self-diagnosing printer could create its own repair parts.. I wonder if a hacker could make your printer create a device that could create friction and start a fire…
Report this comment
Advection
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:32amWhy not. Hackers made Iranian centrifuges shake themselves apart.
Report this comment
Advection
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:16amWilson might be a great guy, but he comes across as a sociopath who would happily print a nuclear bomb and then upload the schematics to his website.
Seriously, I know too many smartass kids with high intelligence but no wisdom. They don’t know, and they don’t know that they don’t know.
Report this comment
socialism.rocks
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 5:25amwhat is wrong with nuclear technology.. that is so old.. so last century technology.. nuclear weapons do cause massive destruction but our weapons of the future will scalar weapons …
glen beck heads are behind the times..
Report this comment
Metallicat
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:12amAt the rate our world governments are in decline, how could any intelligent person believe that we wont be reliving the stone ages before we ever see this technology? The Barbarians who want to destroy us now have the technology to do so.
Report this comment
filbert
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:11amGood Lord, it’s the Glenn Convergence–Glenn Beck and Glenn Reynolds! Singularity indeed!
Report this comment
soybomb315_II
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:09amsounds like alex jones crazy kook type of material
Report this comment
GoodStuff
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:41amThat’s funny coming from a RuPaul worshipper.
Report this comment
soybomb315_II
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 7:53am@goodstuff
yea, humor was the point. glad you figured it out
except you calling me a “rupaul” worshiper is extremely offensive and ignorant on your part. I supported him just like you supported your person. I no longer do things for his campaign but i do defend the principles he supported. Its really hypocritical that many of you call us “paulbots” and “rupaul worshippers” for what we do during an election cycle – but many of you give glenn beck money on a monthly basis and spend many hours each day listening to his every word. And then he feeds you information about his eating habits or his wife’s ring – AND YOU GUYS EAT IT UP
Report this comment
gatekeeper96740
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:04amThis is the article intro I remembered form the year 1996 on CNET Magazine
A new memory chip–for the brain
By Margie Wylie
Staff Writer, CNET News
Scientists from British Telecom’s Laboratory today announced a memory chip for the human brain. No kidding.
At a presentation for Yorkshire Post newspaper, BT scientists said the chip would attach directly to the optical nerve and store incoming sensory impulses that could then be downloaded and played on a computer or implanted in someone else’s memory. As far-fetched as it may seem, BT scientists are taking it seriously: They even assigned it the appropriately gee-whiz product moniker of “Soul Catcher 2025,” as well as some fairly detailed specifications. The 2025 refers to the year the scientists think the idea will become a reality.
Report this comment
AllLost
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:00am3D printing is very old news. The ‘singularity’ concept of a fusion of technology and human is very old.
What I have seen is the advance of miniaturization, data storage, and processing power, but nothing that rivals human thought. Can this happen? Maybe. Maybe human thought will simply devolve into something resembling poorly coded programming.
I am not on the cutting edge, but the ‘learning’ computer from artificial intelligence is still very rudimentary, and I am disappointed by our progress there. Information is not intelligence. Critical thought is not simple.
For the first time in decades Moore’s law is about to be challenged as silicon is stretched to its limits, and a new quantum method of circuitry is needed to advance.
What will happen to technological advances when civilization’s wheels come off as they did when Rome fell?
Report this comment
Advection
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:13amI think you’re correct about the fact that we have been approaching the limts of the current technology. If there is something far better, it’s a secret.
And people have been boasting about AI for the past 30 years, but it’s always turned it to have been hype. I would love to talk to a sentient computer, but I doubt I ever will.
Report this comment
alinskythis
Posted on January 17, 2013 at 11:58pmWhy is Beck so obsessed with this subject matter?
Report this comment
Shoot2Stop
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 10:12amBecause it’s the future!
In but a few years, we’ll be 3D printing our steak diner, with the option of printing it fully cooked to our precise liking. The Star Trek replicator is coming nearer.
Within the next generation, the world will be far more different than today is from Socrates’ time.
“Any sufficiently advanced civilization is indistinguishable from magic” – Arthur C. Clarke
“I want to be a magician! I wish I were 10 again so I’d have a chance to experience more of tomorrow.” -Shoot2Stop
Reading these comments is entertaining yet frustrating. Like all new things there’s those of us who embrace them, and the Luddites who want to burn the books and those who wrote them. Stifling knowledge is a fool’s errand. When will the flat-earthers learn, once let out, you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.
.
Report this comment
pantokrator
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 7:45pmI think there is actually something to be heard from this. Glenn may or may not believe it, but I believe the NWO would and is using advancing technology to take control. If you think about it, it does make sense. Like government, these things are being designed to make our lives easier. Evil comes to you as something you like, something that will make your life easier, something that you’ll just fall into. Their reliability in our lives is increasing in a disturbing rate. We rely on these electronic devices more than we realize, and for many, we only realize it when our electricity goes out. They can already leverage us with the technology we rely on; almost our entire lives are saved on a database, they can track us with our phones and virtually any electronic device we carry. The more this stuff grows, the more we allow them to see. Soon, we will become so reliant on these things, we will literally become machines ourselves, fully controlled by the big government machine.
When you think about all this, it is rather disturbing. I think there is something to be said about this.
Report this comment
alinskythis
Posted on January 17, 2013 at 11:52pmI have an inexplicable hostility toward this entire subject matter.
Interesting.
No idea why.
Report this comment
BODYBAG
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 1:12amTerminators?
SkyNet?
Sound familiar?
Report this comment
gatekeeper96740
Posted on January 17, 2013 at 11:49pmThe Trans-humanists are very hostile to Christian and they claim “They are going to become gods.”
If you doubt me take a look at their own conferences on line one is called “Fear and Trembling at the tower of Babel.” There are several books out on the subject and Carl Teicrib did an interview with Jan Markell on Understanding The Times Radio show, a Christian program about a year ago. I have been watching these folks since 1996. The chip that goes behind your eye is called “Soul Catcher 2025″ Why didn’t you mention that, Glen?
Report this comment
socialism.rocks
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 5:05amus in the h+ society dont hate christians at all…we know you are inferrior terrans..
yes we are already advancing our cause everywhere….
and h+ is all about the collective we are the technology lords..we dont care for wealth or power
all we care about is advancing ourselves …..
we are the new species..
Report this comment
Abraham Young
Posted on January 18, 2013 at 9:26am@SOCROCKS
You are so cute in your little bubble. May I recommend any of the Dexter cartoons to you, O superior one?
Report this comment