Chase religious ideas out one door and they inevitably come in another — because the human mind naturally rebels against a worldview as incomplete, as manifestly threadbare, as pure materialism.

Ross Douthat, The Meaning of Marianne Williamson

The Singularity? This notion has migrated from science fiction to engineering. The singularity is the moment — it is mythic; you have to believe it — when machine intelligence crosses a tipping point. Past this point, say those who believe, artificial intelligence will go beyond anything we can currently conceive … At the singularity, everything will become technically possible, include robots that love. Indeed, at the singularity, we may merge with the robotic and achieve immortality. The singularity is techological rapture.

Sherry Turkle, Alone Toghether, page 25