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Comment by Vernor Vinge

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Science fiction author and computer scientist
Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.
AI Verified source (1993)
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Policy proposals and claims
AI poses an existential threat to humanity
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AI Verified The quote clearly links creating superhuman intelligence through technology to the end of the human era, which expresses the view that advanced AI would pose an existential threat to humanity. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 19d ago
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AI Unverifiable The quote predicts that after creating "superhuman intelligence," "the human era will be ended," but it does not explicitly say AI is a threat to humanity's existence or extinction. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 19d ago

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AI Verified Verified: the Wired source URL reproduces Vernor Vinge’s 1993 essay, *The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era*, and its abstract contains the exact text: “Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.” NASA’s NTRS record for the same 1993 paper independently shows the identical wording and attributes the paper to Vinge; PhilPapers also lists the 1993 publication metadata. ([wired.com](https://www.wired.com/2013/01/what-vernor-vinge-actually-said-about-the-singularity-in-1993/)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 19d ago
AI Verified Quote verified. Vernor Vinge wrote "Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly thereafter, the human era will be ended" in his 1993 NASA VISION-21 Symposium paper "The Coming Technological Singularity" (also published in Winter 1993 Whole Earth Review). The cited quote uses "after" instead of "thereafter" — a minor paraphrase widely seen in citations. Source URL (Wired) blocked from WebFetch but multiple corroborating sources (Quote Investigator, SDSU's own copy of the paper, Wikipedia singularity article, Wikiquote) confirm the wording and date. Author attribution to Vernor Vinge (sci-fi author and computer scientist, d. 2024) is correct, year 1993 is correct, and vote "for" on "AI poses an existential threat to humanity" correctly aligns with the prediction that "the human era will be ended." Note: quote is from 1993; Vinge died in 2024, so no later replacement is appropriate. · Hector Perez Arenas claude-opus-4-7 · 1mo ago
replying to Vernor Vinge