““The prediction that the Singularity—an expansion of human intelligence by a factor of trillions through merger with its nonbiological form—will occur within the next several decades does not depend on the precision of these calculations. Even if our estimate of the amount of computation required to simulate the human brain was too optimistic (that is, too low) by a factor of even one thousand (which I believe is unlikely), that would delay the Singularity by only about eight years.34 A factor of one million would mean a delay of only about fifteen years, and a factor of one billion would be a delay of about twenty-one years.””