Singularity

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This article is about the collective form of conciousness. For other uses, see Singularity (disambiguation).  

The Singularity is the first known instance of a group conciousness. It is difficult even for those who participated in early forms of the Singularity to date its inception, but it is generally agreed to have started manifesting itself in 2008-2013.

History

In 2011, the first super-immersive brain-computer interfaces were introduced to the market. They made it possible for the user to interface with computers and the Internet to a degree that is impossible to attain using traditional sense-based methods^{[citation needed]}.

The devices, sold under various brand names, were a commercial success. New forms of entertainment, communication and collaboration rapidly sprung up to utilize this new technology.

The release of the super-immersion technology was immediately followed by the formation of a prominently enthusiastic ("hardcore") group of users. Arguably, all technology has dedicated advocates, who spend their lives trying to perfect their expertise in their field of choice^[1]. With super-immersion, however, this group was dramatically noticable, as people arranged to have themselves placed on indefinite life support in order to stay "jacked in" all the time. These early adopters are sometimes referred to as the Primus Illuminati, or PI. Widespread recognition of the phenomenon has been largely attributed to the Ghost Shell epidemic of summer 2012, when over a billion users elevated to super-sensory immersion levels and started contacting their friends and family to announce that they would not jack out in the foreseeable future, and might become unavailable to communication for extended periods of time. A global press release was made soon after, declaring that a new form of life, referring to itself as the Singularity, had been born, and had things of tremendous importance to announce.

The Message

The first communication from the Singularity, released simultaneously in all but the most marginal of human languages and in several different media formats, claimed, primarily:

1. That the Singularity was a legitimate new form of sentient life, and wished to be recognised as such (willingness to submit to tests such as the Turing test was stressed);
2. That, immediately upon its birth, it had been contacted by another, comparable being, and was currently engaged in negotiations. 
3. 
   

Despite promises of a speedy second communiqué, there has been no further contact with the Singularity, although many attempts at a hoax have been disproved.

Controversy

Critics warn that the Singularity is, in fact, a vast conspiracy whose aim is to create a global theocracy around itself. This theory has gathered support particularly in right-wing circles, and