Approach to the Singularity: The Road to Ruin, or the Path to Salvation?

Abstract

In his sermon at Temple Israel of Hollywood, Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said, “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”¹ From a humanist’s perspective, this has undoubtedly been true: evidence of moral progress in the world abounds, from the abolition of legal slavery to the delegitimizing of racism, the rise of women’s rights, and the spread of liberal democracy. Let me hasten to say that I am not naive about the persistence of racism, sexism, and other human blights. Nevertheless, progress is a historical fact, and the potential for more is evident in global polling. Most people, worldwide, favor equality and tolerance.²