Various futurologists have posited the idea of a technological "singularity"—a moment at which technology irreversibly accelerates, in entirely unpredictable ways.

The idea is that innovation begets more innovation, in an accelerating feedback loop. 1/7

Whether this happens or not depends on whether limiting factors (like confounding complexity or resource scarcity) damp down innovation as it progresses. Whether technological singularity occurs, I suggest there are other, parallel, maybe connected, singularities approaching. 2/7

All of these singularities emerge, in the end, from quicker, better global communications. If they're maintained and improved (I suggest they will be) then the conditions for potential singularities are present.

One of these singularities is evident, imminent, and dangerous. 3/7

It's what we might call the "financial singularity"—and it relies on self-reinforcing feedback loops similar to those that could drive technological singularity.

Money begets money. Debt begets debt. We're currently seeing capital concentrate in ever fewer hands. 4/7

Are there mechanisms to stop the rich getting richer faster? As society is currently constituted, no. This isn't about "the 1%". It's about adding zeros into the number 0.0001%. A tiny, shrinking number of people are abstracting an ever increasing proportion of global wealth. 5/7

Now artificial intelligences manage a significant proportion of global wealth, and they're getting smarter. They automatically learn, shifting investments across national borders as they monitor numerous indicators of opportunity and risk. They hedge. They can't lose. 6/7

Or rather, when AI managed funds do lose, that failure helps them get smarter faster than human investors. Overall, the process can't lose.

We're heading towards financial singularity—an era when almost all wealth and (alarmingly) power is held by just a handful of people. 7/7