Editing Singularity

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The [[Singularity]] is a very nebulous term for both [[black hole]]s and a hypothetical condition of [[life]] beyond [[technology]], [[civilization]], and "[[life]]" itself as confusing as that may sound. Some call it the ''Afterlife, Heaven, or Hell'', while others call it the ''Post-Technological Period (PTP)''. 
* It is an [[Anomaly]] in the technological sense and an [[astrographic phenomenon]] in the astronomic sense.
  
=== Overview ===
# ''A Technological Singularity'' = Major paradigmatic revolution of technological advancement AKA "Paradigm Change"
# ''The Technological Singularity'' = [[PTP]] 
# ''A Gravitational Singularity'' = [[Black Hole]], a point in [[space-time]] at which the space-time curvature becomes infinite.
# ''The Cosmological Singularity'' = [[Big Bang]]
# Past [[TL-33]] by [[IISS]] Technology Categorizational Standards

== Description ([[Specifications]]) ==
The Singularity is a hypothetical  point in the future at which all [[science]], [[philosophy]], and all conventional knowledge has lost normative meaning. It is functionally a post-technological existence where anything is possible. Some races think of it as the afterlife, while others consider it something entirely different. Whatever it is, the philosophical, teleological, or spiritual version exists outside of the comprehension of {{TL|15}} science as a much-disputed theory.

=== Gravitational Singularities vs. Technological Singularities ===
Please see the article [[Black Hole]] for more information about gravitational singularities, which bend [[space-time]].
* Technological Singularities are points in time when great, society-changing technology is discovered, disseminated, and becomes disruptive of the extant culture and ''status quo''. They are sometimes called ''Macro-societal Paradigmatic Change.''

=== Cycle of Life & Sophontic Civilization ===
* [[A-life]] → [[Proto-Life]] → [[Creature]]s → [[Proto-Sophont]]s → [[Sophont]]s → [[Transcendent]]s → [[Ascendant]]s → [[Singularity]]

Stages:
# [[A-life]] 
# [[Proto-Life]] (transitory stage)
# [[Creature]]s 
# [[Proto-Sophont]]s (transitory stage) 
# [[Sophont]]s 
# [[Transcendent]]s (transitory stage)
# [[Ascendant]]s 
# [[Singularity]]

=== IISS Chronological Periodization ===
* [[Technological Age]] (1 [[TL]]) → [[Technological Epoch]] (3 [[TL]]s) → [[Technological Period]] (9 [[TL]]s) → [[Technological Era]] (30 [[TL]]s) → [[Technological Eon]] (31-33+ [[TL]]s) → [[Singularity]] ([[Post-Technological Period]])

== History & Background ([[Dossier]]) ==
Most sophont societies first develop the concept of a singularity as a cosmological idea, a theoretical solution to the enigma of [[black hole]]s. And later to the quandary of the creation of the [[universe]], the so called [[Big Bang]]. 

Most often, often during the [[digital epoch]], many [[sophont]] [[societies]] extend the concept to technological singularities eventually theorizing the idea of the Singularity as the [[Post-Technological Period]]. Some additionally think of it in organic-inorganic terms, as in the point where inorganic machine intelligences both match and exceed their organic counterparts. Some call these [[lifeform]]s [[cyborg]]s. 

=== Standard Polity Growth Sequence ===
MACRO LEVEL:
* [[Proto-Society]] → [[Society]] → [[Civilization]] → [[Singularity|Singularity (Post-civilizational)]]

MICRO LEVEL:
* [[Proto-Society]] → [[Band Society]] → [[Tribal Society]] or [[Chiefdom]] → [[City-State]] → [[Nation-State]] → [[World-State]] → [[Pocket Empire]] → [[Interstellar State]] → [[Intergalactic State]] → [[Final State]] → [[Singularity]]

=== Great Merge (Synthesis of Organic & Inorganic Life?) ===
Some Imperial scientists conjecture that the [[Singularity]] is a future stage of life when organic [[sophont]] life and [[machine]] life (inorganic life) merge into a kind of [[cyborg]] [[lifeform]]. There is scant evidence for it, but many thinkers hypothesize that it will one day occur. Some conjecture that the [[Ancients]] had already achieved the ''Great Merge'' before their mysterious disappearance from the interstellar stage.

=== Teleology of Charted Space ===
A number of scientific theories have had profound effects on the teleology of [[Charted Space]].
:{| class="wikitable sortable" 
|+ Charted Space Teleology
|-
! Teleology
! Synopsis
! Remarks 
|-
| Alpha Point
| Emergence of Sophonce 
| At what point does [[life]] emerge? Is it at the point when RNA synthesizes itself from the primordial ooze and becomes the first simple organic [[lifeform]]? Perhaps when the first, most basic yet fundamental [[technology]] is developed by a [[proto-sophont]]? Whatever it is or may be, the philosophical term for this point of biological [[life]] emergence is the '''Alpha Point'''.
|-
| Aristotlian Theory
| Terran Reason & Logic
| ''Aristotelianism'' is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of ''Aristotle,'' an ancient [[Terran]] philosopher. This school of thought, in the modern sense of philosophy, covers existence, ethics, mind and related subjects. In Aristotle's time, philosophy included natural philosophy, which preceded the advent of modern science during the [[Terran]] Scientific Revolution. Moses Maimonides adopted Aristotelianism from earlier scholars and based his famous ''Guide for the Perplexed'' on it and that became the basis of Jewish scholastic philosophy. This allowed traditions of religious revelation, reason, and logic to be balanced within many Terran-descended belief systems.
|-
| Darwinian Theory
| Natural Selection & Competitive Evolution
| ''Darwinism'' is a theory of biological evolution developed by the [[Terran]] naturalist Charles Darwin and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. It is also called Darwinian theory, it originally included the broad concepts of transmutation of species or of evolution which later gained general scientific acceptance.  
|-
|}

=== Omega Point ===
At what point does [[life]] end? Not just biological life, which ends in physiological death, but the life of a [[sophont]] species, a [[culture]], a [[civilization]], an [[interstellar society]], say that of [[Charted Space]]? What does one call that point? Many [[Terran]] and other thinkers have called it the '''Omega Point'''. It is the proposed stage of life after technology... perhaps life and technology combined. It is the [[Post-Technological Period]]. The [[IISS]] nominally defines it as post-TL-33 existence. 
:{| class="wikitable sortable" 
|+ Omega Point Thoery
|-
! Teleology
! Synopsis
! Remarks
|-
| Teilhardian Omega Point
| Corporeal to non-corporeal Existence (Sophont to Spirit)
| ''Pierre Teilhard de Chardin'' was a [[Terran]]-French idealist philosopher and Jesuit priest who trained as a paleontologist and geologist and took part in the discovery of an ancient [[human]] [[lifeform]] known as ''Peking Man.'' He conceived the vitalist idea of the Omega Point (...a maximum level of complexity and consciousness towards which he believed the universe was evolving), and he developed Vladimir Vernadsky's concept of [[noosphere]].  
|-
| Tiplerian Omega Point
| Man + Technology = Omega Point
| The technological singularity is the hypothetical advent of artificial general intelligence theoretically capable of recursive self-improvement, resulting in a runaway effect to an intelligence explosion. Like Kurzweil, Teilhard predicts a period of rapid technological change that results in a merger of humanity and technology. He believes that this marks the birth of the noosphere and the emergence of the "spirit of the Earth", but the Teilhardian Singularity comes later. Unlike Kurzweil, Teilhard's singularity is marked by the evolution of human intelligence reaching a critical point in which humans ascend from "transhuman" to "posthuman". He identifies this with the Christian parousia.
|-
| Kurzweilian Omega Point
| Man Strives to Become Deity
| Eric Steinhart, a proponent of "Christian transhumanism", argues there is significant overlap of ideas between the secular singularity and Teilhard's religious Omega Point. Steinhart quotes Ray Kurzweil, one of the most prominent singularitarians, who stated that "evolution moves inexorably toward our conception of God, albeit never reaching this ideal." 
|-
| Smelchakian Omega Point/s
| Sophontkind strives for the Next World, Step by Step
| The primary ''Smelchakian Omega Point'' represents the end of the [[Tech Era]] when the overall [[civilization]] of [[Charted Space]] begins transitioning to the ''Singularity.'' Smaller ''metasystem transitions'' occur every [[tech epoch]] and every [[tech period]]. Technological progress is a series of societal revolutions that often disrupt the status quo, change the nature of social hierarchies, and help the society to transition to a new set of technologically based systems of organization and hierarchies. 
|-
|}

== References & Contributors ([[Sources]]) ==
{{Wikipedia|Singularity}}
{{Wikipedia|Gravitational_singularity}}
{{Wikipedia|Technological_singularity}}
{{Wikipedia|Aristotelianism}}
{{Wikipedia|Darwinism}}
{{Wikipedia|Omega_Point}}
{{Wikipedia|Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin}}
{{Intermediate}}
{{Sources
|S1= {{Ludography cite|name= T5 Core Rules |page= TBD}}
|S3= [[Traveller Wiki Editorial Team]]
|S4= Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology [[Maksim-Smelchak]] of the [[Ministry of Science]] 
}}


{{LE|Anomaly|Sophontology|Teleology}}