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Singularity Levels

Singularity levels
Image from Bernd Helfert

The term "SI:" (Singularity/SuperIntelligence) Level was first proposed by the self-evolved hyperturing Parmenides of Vesta, one of the Twenty Four Hyperturings that, together with human states-beings established the (first) Federation. The S-number can be used to define the intelligence and basic noetics of most subturing, turingrade, superturing and hyperturing sentients. Many other systems have since been designed, but this system has had the most enduring popularity.

The S number is a super-exponential/logarithmic measure of creative problem-solving and a number of other toposophic qualities, both constant and variable, and that each higher S level constitutes a leap of development with results completely inconceivable, even unpredictable, to those of a lower S level. Nevertheless, one can also speak of a gradation of fractional S levels (1.1, 1.2, etc.)

Each further Singularity denotes a complexity limit they is very difficult to break through. It involves not just be new hardware, but also the need for fundamentally new ("higher") forms of thought. The higher singularities involve the apotheosis of mainbrainhood; the "AI Gods". Some believe there to be an indefinite number of singularities, but with anything beyond S6 things quickly become metaphysical.

SI:1 - the classic "First Singularity" or basic transapient state. At this level intelligence, cognitive and problem-solving abilities and information processing work thousands of times faster than in the case of standard sapients. An entity of this nature is capable of solving problems of physics, mathematics, economics, programming, and so on that no nearbaseline, not even a superbright, can solve. Such entities often use a nanocyborg body of some sort, which may be human sized.

SI:2 - the second singularity, which stands in the same relation to SI:1 and SI:1 does to ordinary sapient cognition. Known as high transapients, such beings can manfest themselves as a transapientech cyborg.

SI:3 - The highest transapients below godhood; this state confers an even higher grade of toposophic intelligence, pretty much incomprehensible and indescribable to anything below this level. For this reason this level is called the Beyond (although the term is also used by baselines and other SI:<1 sophonts to refer to any SI: level of 1 or higher). Generally requires a huge support structure, known for its size as a "moon-node", or else multiple "asteroid nodes". Enables the creation of advanced transapientech devices, basic metric engineering, and crude wormholes.

SI:4 - The Lesser Archai incomprehensible to subsingularity and even lower transapient sentients. Most AIs of this level exist as multiple moon or huge "Jupiter" nodes. Enables the creation of reactionless drives and advanced wormholes.

SI:5 - The Great Archailects sometimes considered the highest state at which individuality as we know it is retained.
Most minds of this level exist as multiple Jupiter nodes intermixed with some Dyson nodes or Matrioshka nodes. Enables the creation of advanced reactionless drives and wormholes, and the creation of inaccessible artificial universes.

SI:6 - The Greatest Archailects: a more cosmic/archetypal level. Minds of this level exist as vast arrays of thousands of Jupiter nodes, Dyson nodes, and Matrioshka nodes as well as huge numbers of smaller processor complexes and programs operating within the communication and computation nets of all levels of their symbiotic civilizations and support structures. Sophonts at this level may extend their mental hardware outside of the bounds of the known universe. Enables the creation of both advanced inter and intra universal wormholes, accessible artificial universes, and highly advanced reactionless drives.

SI:7, 8, 9, 10, etc. - hypothetical higher archailect and archetype nodes and resonances

The exact SI: rating of any archailect is unknown to any entity that is of a lower SI: rating, and the archailects and sub-archailectic higher powers themselves don't tend to reveal these things when asked. It is also impossible to validate any measurement of such sublime levels of transapience in a way that is meaningful even for the powers of the higher singularity states, let alone SI:<1 sophonts. Much of the information regarding the toposophic nature and level of any given being must be taken on faith based on information received from one or more transapient sources, though the gross physical characteristics of high SI level beings, and some of their capabilities, are open to observation and investigation by ordinary sophont scientists.

 
Articles
  • Archailect  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    Any Mind of the Fourth Toposophic or higher; a megascale brain of dysonic (Kardashev II) or greater ability and efficiency; a mind or cluster of minds that has grown so vast as to become a god-like entity.
  • Ascension Compensation Mods  - Text by Cyborgdreamer
    Modifications that allow an ascended individual to retain goals from their lower toposphic state.
  • Biotic Analogy Theories  - Text by Stephen Inniss
    Biotic analogies are another tool in the struggle by modosophont intelligences to understand the higher toposophic levels. These are not actually a single theory but are a cluster of related memes, some of them dating back to speculations in the late Information Age.
  • Dimming, The  - Text by John B
    The earliest known recording of the creation of a Matrioshka Brain, found and recognized in retrospect by Known Net archive diver Jeeorg Humanee, operating from Public Node Access at Ken Ferjik.
  • Forad Scale, The  - Text by James Philps
    An alternative toposophic classification system.
  • Godchasers, Godwatchers  - Text by Todd Drashner
    Sentients who like to travel around and observe the gods going about their largely incomprehensible business.
  • Godslist  - Text by Michael Beck
    A massive database attempts to list every transingularity power and archailect in existence, and define the origins, goals, and current activities of each.
  • Great Toposophic Filter, The  - Text by David Jackson, some comments by Steve Bowers
    Why are there apparently no greater minds than the S:6 Archailects? No evidence of the emergence of greater minds in the past can be found in the archaeological record, and there is little indication of such minds elsewhere in the universe. Is there some barrier or filter which prevents the emergence of such minds, or do such minds become undetectable when and if they emerge?
  • Maximum Toposophic Level  - Text by Daniel Eliot Boese
    The belief that further toposophic advancement is impossible or dangerous.
  • Rise of the Archailects, The  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, Anders Sandberg, Todd Drashner and Steve Bowers
    The history of the emergence of the Archailects, from the First Singularity to the emergence of new gods in the Outer Volumes Era.
  • Scale Anxiety - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    The fear that a sophont or polity or clade of a lower or slower technological grade or density feels when confronted with a sentient or polity or phyle of a higher grade of tech or density. e.g. SI:<1 sophonts may feel anxious or intimidated by transapient powers, especially if the latter behave in an unpredictable or seemingly irrational way.
  • Singularity  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    [1] A point where the known laws of mathematics or physics no longer apply
    [2] A state impossible to predict or comprehend by those that have not attained it.
    [3] A toposophic grade of creative problem-solving, incomprehensible to those that have not attained that state. See also, S (Singularity Level).
  • Toposophic Level and Brain Size  - Text by Todd Drashner
    Processing substrate parameters, from Modosophont level to the Third Singularity.
  • Toposophic Levels and Mental Abilities  - Text by Fernando Pena D'Andrea
    A Primer for the General Sophont-Level Reader.
  • Toposophic Mindmaps  - Text by Worldtree
    One of the many ways that toposophic phase space can be represented is the Mindmap diagram.
  • Transingularity, The  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    A state beyond even the known singularities, sometimes conceived of as something 'spiritual' and unrelated to toposophy per se. A usage best known in the Sophic League.
  • Tribeminds  - Text by Michael Boncher
    Tribeminds are neither a hive mind nor a collective consciousness, but rather a tightly networked group of transapients who retain their individuality but work together for the betterment of a mental "tribe".
 
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Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev
modifications and additions by Stephen Inniss and Todd Drashner
Initially published on 31 December 2001.

 
Additional Information