Singularity

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Roland Emmerich Finds Singularity
Sony has bought his new film

30 June 2011 | James White

<<Though he’s opted to put aside his destructive tendencies for Shakespeare-focused authorial conspiracy drama Anonymous, it didn’t take long for Roland Emmerich to start hankering after a bigger scale and – likely – more chaos. He’s recently been courted to direct the adaptation of video game classic Asteroids, but now he’s also set up an intriguing new project at Sony called Singularity.

It’s strictly a working title for now, and could change if Roland Joffe gets his similarly-named time-spanning drama up and running first. Both Sony and the director are staying coy on any real details, with Deadline only able to ferret out that it’s science fiction, appears to be pitched at blockbuster/tent pole scale and will feature a script co-written by Emmerich and 2012’s Harald Kloser.

So though they’re naturally being evasive at this early stage, the way is clear for us to indulge in a little hit-the-dictionary plot prediction!

The most obvious definition of the term is the posh science term for a black hole, or “a hypothetical point in space-time at which matter is infinitely compressed to infinitesimal volume.” Could Emmerich be coming up with a way to destroy not only the Earth but lots of other planets and stars too? We can almost hear the review headline writers clapping their hands with glee at the possible chance to write "It really sucks!” (which technically black holes don't precisely do).

But singularity can also refer to the point in time in which technological intelligence finally supersedes that of its human creators. Maybe he’s thinking about a tech menace to society?

We’ll find out soon enough: though he’s got other projects swimming about, including his long-planned take on Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, part of Sony’s deal for the pitch includes a planned US release date of May 17, 2013. Which means he’ll be getting to work on it sooner rather than later.

Before any of that, Anonymous will arrive on September 28.>>

[Ann]

About ten days ago I attended a public lecture, given by an English professor, called "Turbulence". I didn't know what I expected, but it had nothing to do with maths or physics, and instead it was all about social theory. The professor claimed that when you have implemented a social reform, or even when you have built new infrastructure, then at first everything goes smoothly. But then, suddenly, "turbulence" occurs. Although the lecture had absolutely nothing to do with astronomy, I couldn't help thinking of the jet of M87:

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First everything goes smoothly, but then there is turbulence. Data and possibly pictures are from Sparks, Biretta, and Macchetto 1993. See http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Bire ... ta2_2.html

However, this was not my point. Instead, it was to tell you about my mystification when the professor kept talking about "singularities" causing turbulence. I was not surprised to hear that there is turbulence in the immediate vicinity of black holes, but I suspected that I had misunderstood the professor, nevertheless.



Turbulence near a black hole. Read more http://www.physorg.com/news3277.html

The way the professor used the term "singularities", it became clear that he was talking about unique and often unforeseen events.

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A singularity hit Copenhagen last Saturday. A violent thunderstorm dropped 150 millimeters of rain on the Danish capital in two hours, the worst rain ever recorded in Copenhagen. Many sewers overflowed and sent thousands of drowned rats up on the streets. Ewww. This photo, which shows no rats, is by Bax Lindhardt.

Ann

[Beyond]

Hey--that seemed to work better than the Pied Piper of Hamlin, as it also flushed out the sewers

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Hey--that seemed to work better than the Pied Piper of Hamlin, as it also flushed out the sewers

• • The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning
  And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered,
  You heard as if an army muttered;
  And the muttering grew to a grumbling;
  And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling;
  And out of the houses the rats came tumbling.
  Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,
  Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats,
  Grave old plodders, gay young friskers,
  Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins,
  Cocking tails and pricking whiskers,
  Families by tens and dozens,
  Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives--
  Followed the Piper for their lives.
  From street to street he piped advancing,
  And step for step they followed dancing,
  Until they came to the river Weser
  Wherein all plunged and perished!
  ‹Save one who, stout as Julius Caesar,
  Swam across and lived to carry
  (As the manuscript he cherished)
  To Rat-land home his commentary:
  Which was, "At the first shrill notes of the pipe,
  I heard a sound as of scraping tripe,
  And putting apples, wondrous ripe,
  Into a cider-press's gripe:
  And a moving away of pickle-tub-boards,
  And a leaving ajar of conserve-cupboards,
  And a drawing the corks of train-oil-flasks,
  And a breaking the hoops of butter-casks:
  And it seemed as if a voice
  (Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery
  Is breathed) called out, 'Oh rats, rejoice!
  The world is grown to one vast dry-saltery!
  So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon,
  Breakfast, supper, dinner, luncheon!'
  And just as a bulky sugar-puncheon,
  All ready staved, like a great sun shone
  Glorious scarce an inch before me,
  Just as methought it said 'Come bore me!'
  -- I found the Weser rolling o'er me."

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• Julius Caesar Act I, scene II

CASSIUS: Did Cicero say any thing?

CASCA: Ay, he spoke Greek.

CASSIUS: To what effect?

CASCA: Nay, an I tell you that, Ill ne'er look you i' the
. face again: but those that understood him smiled at
. one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own
. part, it was Greek to me.
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[rstevenson]

my mystification when the professor kept talking about "singularities" causing turbulence.

Using "singularities" to mean "unique and often unforeseen events" in human affairs illustrates the danger of terminology creep, where someone in, say, the humanities likes the sound of a term used in a hard science (in a specifically defined way, of course), but then uses that term in a loosely defined or at least a re-defined way in their own discipline. Metaphor is useful, but not everyone sticks to metaphor. They get carried away and think they're saying something significant.

Rob

[Ann]

Well put, Rob.

As for that "singularity" of a thunderstorm hitting Copenhagen, it sort of hit my hometown of Malmö, too. No wonder, too, because Malmö and Copenhagen are really close together:

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In this map, Copenhagen ("København" in Danish) is situated at "A", and Malmö at "B". The distance between these two cities is about twenty miles, if I remember correctly. But while Copenhagen got 150 millimeters of rain in two hours, we only got about 40 millimeters of rain during the same time, and there were no overall ill effects on the city. Our mayor, Ilmar Reepalu, boasts that we are more rain-proof than other cities because we have a greater than average number of green roofs which absorb rain:

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A green roof, but not from Malmö.

So there were no overall ill effects on Malmö from the thunderstorm. My best friend's son, however, was hit by a singularity! That is, he was hit by lightning! Last Saturday! He was out walking his dog, and then it started to pour down really bad, and he took cover under some trees. There was thunder and lightning, and he blacked out. He came to lying on the ground with a ringing in his ears and cramps in his legs. His dog was lying down on his back, howling. At the hospital, they found that he - the boy, not the dog - had a slight cardiac arythmia.

So what's a beetle in your eye compared with a flash of lightning washing over you? The boy hit by lightning had blood-red eyes. But he is home now, though he is staying home from work for a couple of days.

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Singularity! Don't take cover under a tree!

Ann

[Beyond]

WHOA! That's a schockingly nice picture of a tree getting zapped, Ann. But when i click on it, the picture gets smaller.

[Ann]

So I made it bigger for you then, hmmm?

Ann

[Chris Peterson]

Using "singularities" to mean "unique and often unforeseen events" in human affairs illustrates the danger of terminology creep, where someone in, say, the humanities likes the sound of a term used in a hard science (in a specifically defined way, of course), but then uses that term in a loosely defined or at least a re-defined way in their own discipline.

Why is this a "danger"? It's how language evolves. Practically every word we use has roots going back to earlier meanings. Many words have multiple meanings, and there is seldom confusion, as the meaning is clear from the context. If "singularity" gains widespread acceptance in this sense, so be it. It doesn't limit the older meanings, it just adds to the richness of our language.

That said, in reviewing the OED and a couple of other dictionaries, it is clear that the usage of "singularity" to mean an event or the like which is either unique or uncommon predates the mathematical meaning by more than a century. So the usage you are concerned with is quite appropriate, and not new at all.