In the upcoming January 2010 issue of GQ a very interesting article is on it’s way and we got a sneak peak at the same. A brilliant piece of work by the author Dan Halpern, the story is based on his experience at a summit that he attended. While summits in the Big Apple are a dime a dozen for every purpose imaginable, I have to say the one Dan speaks of is by far one of the most unique and inventively interesting concepts to discuss, and truth be told I’m a bit envious of him and I know a meeting of minds like these would have been something I would personally be able to relate to. The forum in question here is the fourth annual Singularity Summit which is a two day conference held in NY for some of the most lateral thinkers I’ve heard off. To bring you into the light the concept in discussion during is the forum is very simply, the future. Not specifically the technological progress that society is making it’s ay towards but the actual future of mankind specifically.

To elaborate a little more, it seems like the attendees of this summit are looking for and aiming at answering as well the question of are we, mankind the best we can be? The idea of what the next evolutionary step will be like is something I’m sure all of us are thinking about on some level. Sure it all seems like a sci-fi convention but it appears to be nothing of the sort and more on the lines of what’s the next step. Halpern explains the term Singularity as “the moment when we make a machine (or become a machine) that is smarter than we are.” That will be the next step in terms of human evolution where what we create that’s smarter than we are will be the pro generator for the next step and evolution continues.

While the article is a damn good read for any future thinkers out there who wish to know more about others who may have a similar train of thought about where we’re heading. Perhaps Halpern and the others are quiet accurate about Hollywood actually painting quite a realistic picture of what the future could be like with movies like Terminator, The Matrix and scores of others that show us that the next step in human intelligence and evolutionary development is not necessarily human at all, but more machine.

The experiences and stories he’s related in the article make for very interesting reading and will no doubt make you slow down and think about where, we as the now pre-dominant species on planet, give way to the next evolutionary step. Hey it may not always be in the hands of the Guy upstairs but could very well be in our own. Don’t forget, GQ January 2010 issue, far be it form me to pimp another publication, especially one i don’t write for, but when there’s something worth reading I say, share the wealth.