• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, 5 hours ago

Norwegian-born Anders Indset, philosopher, technology investor and author, often romanticizes about combining human beings with edgy technology advancements like quantum computing and artificial superintelligence. He doesn't keep them in two separate silos, but joins them together as one. 

Indset's philosophical views are a leap into the future for advertising, but it's not clear how far. In that leap he refers to the combination as reaching singularity, and it could affect advertising in unforeseen ways such as a reduction of media required to run successful campaigns, even the number of purchases consumers make.

Singularity, a concept originating from futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil, suggests there will come a point when AI intelligence surpasses human intelligence.

While Kurzweil predicts it will occur around 2045, Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI, believes systems have already been built that are smarter than people in many ways, and today can significantly surpass the output and think smarter and in more detail than the people using the technology.

The romantic notion of singularity has implications for the advertising industry. It could derail the industry and change what marketers understand as today’s truth. During a lengthy interview with MediaPost, Indset spoke about ways to achieve singularity through a variety of methods — all of which would disrupt the industry in different ways.

“Building a technological device so much more powerful than we are, and understanding the underlying foundation of the technology is a dangerous path,” Indset said.

In one example he spoke about analyzing three human neurons from a brain to understand how each fires and interacts, then replacing each with some sort of artificial intelligence. Removing all approximate 85- to 86-billion neurons in a human brain and replacing each with some form of AI entity would bring humans and machines together.

“If we created a brain with functions and processing power linked with some supercomputer, do we have a mind, a conscious brain?” he pondered, and mused about what it would mean to overwrite the fundamental part of being human.

Swapping human neurons for some sort of mechanical device would mean the machine would make all the decisions. For humankind’s sake, that's not a viable scenario, he said -- to envision creating a robot that looks just like you, with the brainpower just like you.

"Only with the super intelligence and capabilities to scan, feel and react to you in a way no human being could do,” he said.

Humanity, however, could end up as “zombies, where the lights are on but no one’s home,” he said.

Indset also discussed other approaches to singularity. The concepts are detailed in the book, Focus Behind Singularity Paradox – Bridging The Gap Between Humanity and AI, which he co-authored with Dr. Florian Neukart. 

“We think that racing toward artificial general intelligence or artificial superintelligence, and eventually technological singularity as envisioned by Ray Kurzweil,” only creating external machines -- robots and computers — "is a very dangerous path to be on,” he said.

Considering all this on a physiological level, pondering the biology and limits of chemistry and physics of being human, Indset believes with quantum computing, advanced algorithms will figure out what humans are really made of.

But this is the future, how does leading up to this concept of romantic singularity affect advertising today, since human behavior is such a major part of advertising and marketing?

Individual storytelling and optimization will play a major part in this change toward superintelligence.

“Marketing was never about output, click rates, and short-term benefits, but rather a long-term strategy to tell deeper stories,” he said, suggesting it will become an optimization game for websites.

One thing for certain, he said, the industry will go through a “radical change,” but it depends on the type of future humanity wants to build in a world where anything is possible. Humanity needs to decide whether humans should ask humans or machines what type of future to build, and that will determine how advertising adapts.

How will this technology change consumer behavior?

“Optimizing technological growth that feeds our senses and triggers actions to buying is a simple scenario to see, but when everyone is doing it, there will be over production, marketing and consumption,” he said. “It becomes an existential crisis that takes us back to topics like sustainability. Today we talk about how to save the planet and save the world from climate change”

In a world with an abundance of information and energy, it’s possible humans will rethink what it means to be alive, he said.

“The philosophical foundation of how to live a fulfilling life becomes something that will hit a lot of people,” he said, suggesting consumers may make fewer purchases and learn to live with less. “By this I mean living an efficient life, where we can detach from external consumption. Reaction seems to exhaust us and wear us out, depress us.”

He said action is intrinsic, motivating with more potential to live a happier life.  It’s where people can experience progress and change, remain in control.

“This is one potential outcome for more people to strive toward efficiencies, which means detaching themselves from a lot of consumption to live a more efficient life,” he