Ignorance Of Ignorance

The general population has a limited base of knowledge about computers in modern society, which can be related to an abundance of what Robert N Proctor describes as natural and passive ignorance in his book "Agnotology: A Missing Term to Describe the Cultural Production of Ignorance (and its Study)". The presence of ignorance is particularly focused around technology in society today because of a general disinterest in technological specifics and what we use every day, as well as actively constructed ignorance by manufacturers in order to protect their products. What manufacturers do like to advertise are computer processing speeds, which have been growing exponentially since their creation in the 1930s, starting with being able to send and

These estimates reinforce the claim that the singularity should be common knowledge because not only is this prediction in the not so distant future, but it is also surrounded by Proctor's natural ignorance in the sense that a large portion of the population is completely unaware that this event is even on the horizon. In addition to the ignorance of the event itself, the singularity could cause implications that have been previously irrelevant, such as whether human-like artificial intelligence (AI) should be given human rights, and computers becoming self-improving which would cause the gap between computer intelligence and human intelligence to grow further and further. The argument could be made that the implications that arise due to computers overtaking mankind as the smartest thing on earth should be dealt with when they present themselves, adopting the philosophy of "we'll cross that bridge when we get there", but if we wait until then to start problem solving, it could be too little too late. Assuming the singularity increases computer development through self-improving computers, the general apathy and ignorance surrounding the event could ultimately lead to the downfall of mankind in the worst-case