The Singularity Is an Optical Illusion—And We're Already Living Through It

Here's what I've learned from tracking AI breakthroughs daily: we're not waiting for the singularity. We're in it. And it doesn't feel like science fiction because we're experiencing it from the inside.​

The Core Insight

The singularity looks like a vertical asymptote from a distance. Up close? It's continuous, almost dull. This week's Moonshots podcast with Alex Wissner-Gross, Salim Ismail, and Dave Blundin crystallized something I've been wrestling with—the most transformative moment in human history feels... normal.​​

Three Reasons You're Missing It:

• Adaptation bias: Humans adjust shockingly fast. GPT-5 Pro just hit 13% on FrontierMath problems experts couldn't crack, and your reaction is probably "cool, what's next?"​

• Speed normalization: When change accelerates continuously, your baseline resets daily. Remember when AI couldn't write coherent paragraphs? That was 2022​.

• Living "in the past": Your brain smoothes visual input over 15 seconds to maintain stability. The same mechanism makes exponential progress feel linear.​

What This Means for You and Your Business

If you froze technology today, we'd need decades to assimilate what we invented in the last two years. AI is solving graduate-level math, designing chips better than humans, and approaching longevity escape velocity by 2032.​​

But here's what truly matters: the innermost loop of civilization—chips, energy, robotics, data centers—is recursively accelerating. Each breakthrough feeds the next, faster than linear minds can track.​

Stop waiting for a dramatic sci-fi moment to signal "the singularity has arrived." It won't come. You're already living through the fastest and most consequential transformation in human history. The question isn't when it starts—it's whether you're using this moment to solve real problems or sleeping through it.​

As I've discussed at First AI Movers, your focus shouldn't be on spotting the singularity from outside. Master the practical tools available right now. Every day you wait, the gap between those building with AI and those watching widens exponentially.

Just start—one win beats waiting for clarity.

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