{"product_id":"the-spike-by-damien-broderick","title":"'The Spike' by Damien Broderick","description":"\u003ch4 data-start=\"238\" data-end=\"708\"\u003eWritten at the edge of the millennium, \u003cem data-start=\"277\" data-end=\"288\"\u003eThe Spike\u003c\/em\u003e is one of the early attempts to grapple with what would later be called the technological singularity.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"238\" data-end=\"708\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"whitespace-normal\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eWritten before the internet boom had fully unfolded, it reads today as a curious hybrid: half prophecy, half time capsule of late-1990s techno-optimism. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"238\" data-end=\"708\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"whitespace-normal\"\u003eDamien Broderick\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e argues that accelerating advances in computing, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence are pushing civilisation toward a radical discontinuity—an inflection point where technological change becomes effectively uncontrollable and human life is transformed beyond recognition. \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"710\" data-end=\"1061\"\u003eWe zip through nanotechnology, machine intelligence, longevity research, and the philosophical consequences of post-human existence. For readers interested in the intellectual prehistory of contemporary AI discourse, \u003cem data-start=\"1147\" data-end=\"1158\"\u003eThe Spike\u003c\/em\u003e captures a moment when the future of machines—and of humanity—was beginning to feel both thrilling and faintly catastrophic.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"bower studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44179309264979,"sku":null,"price":18.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/0268\/2707\/files\/ScholarsCreatingDigitalMapsofSpinoza_sEthics-2026-03-10T214254.439.png?v=1773139385","url":"https:\/\/bowerbooks.com\/products\/the-spike-by-damien-broderick","provider":"bower books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}