Technological Singularity: The Cybercultural Myth of the Human Future
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46585/cargo.2026.1.194Keywords:
technological singularity, transhumanism, superintelligence, metahuman, cyberculture, eschatologcal myth, quasi-religion, cybersalvation, virtual immortalityAbstract
In contemporary discourse, technological singularity has established itself as a hypothetical turning point leading to the emergence of superintelligence, but also as a significant cultural narrative shaping our collective imagination. This text interprets the phenomenon through an interdisciplinary analysis as a cybercultural myth that updates traditional eschatological notions of salvation and the transcendence of humanity toward the emergence of a posthuman entity. Against the backdrop of transhumanist philosophy, singularity is examined as a liminal zone in which the boundaries between human and technology, between science and faith, dissolve. The aim of this paper is to show that the controversial narrative of singularity does not merely speak of a possible technological future for humanity, but above all of contemporary conceptions of human existence and its potential transcendence toward immortality.
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