In layman’s terms, technological singularity is a theory that technology will accelerate at an unbelievably fast pace, so fast that the future will be unpredictable, unimaginable, and completely different than the way things are today. Of course there is much more to it, but this set of articles is just an introduction.

So what would take place if we ever did design computers that were more intelligent than us? Would human beings be rendered obsolete? Could humans and computers ever develop some sort of understanding? Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov was one of the first people to propose safety precautions for AI with his “Three Laws of Robotics.” The first law the computers must follow is that a robot may not injure a human being or let a human being get hurt through inaction. The second law is that robots have to comply with the orders given to it by humans, except when these orders would conflict with the first rule. And the third law is that a robot must protect its own existence as long as doing so doesn’t conflict with the first or second law. Of course, things don’t go down that smoothly in Asimov’s fiction.

In article one in this set I wrote about the increasing problem of collection agents calling more and more frequently as the economy suffered. From recent research, complaints about debt collectors cursing and threatening consumers, and calling at inconvenient times rose steadily, but complaints about repeated phone calls shot up from 15,000 to 41,000 far outnumbering other complaints.

A science fiction story I once read from a while told the story of a group of scientists who created a supercomputer that was more intelligent than human beings. A scientist could type a question into the supercomputer, which would instantaneously answer with the correct answer. One night, a scientist was working late in the lab alone. He typed the question “Is there a god?” into the supercomputer. Without hesitation, the supercomputer gave its disturbing reply: “There wasn’t a god, but there is one now.”

Things are not going so good for this nation. The economy is down in the dumps, and Americans are losing jobs by the barrel-ful. Marketing is as strong arm as ever, making our citizens believe that they absolutely MUST have the next big “thing” – whatever it may be, whether it be a cellphone or a computer. All of the next big THINGS have updated versions which are bigger and better, which means that the time to purchase is NOW.

Welcome back to debt collection 101, your beginner’s guide to collection agencies. In the last article I explained that there were two kinds of collection agents, third party debt collectors and in house collection agents. I explained what skip tracing was and how a skilled debt collector will use it to find new information on a debtor that is difficult to locate.

In this set of articles I wrote about technological singularity. This theory claims that advances in technology start very slowly at first, then accelerate faster and faster. Eventually, technology will evolve so rapidly that the future will be totally unimaginable and different than it is today. Supporters of this theory claim that change is occurring so quickly in today’s day and age that by 2024 there will be computers out there that are just as intelligent and capable of the human brain!

Layoffs and pay cuts pushed more people into bankruptcy last year, and analysts allege that the situation will not be likely to improve until the unemployment problem gets better. In Wisconsin, bankruptcy filings raised to 30 percent in 2009. This came on top of a 35 percent increase in the preceding year.

Personal finance is an issue that is, well, personal. Due to the delicate nature of this subject, debt collection is closely monitored by Federal and State laws that do their best to protect the privacy of a debtor. The Fair Debt Collection Practice Act (FDCPA) is a federal law that all third party debt collectors must abide by and it comes with strict guidelines regulating how a debt collector might approach the issue of contacting debtors and how to preserve their privacy. First off, a debt collector can only speak about your debt to you, the credit bureaus, and the creditor that they are working for. They certainly cannot make up a list of their debtors to distribute to other creditors, or advertise a debt for sale.

Welcome back to debt collection 101, your beginners guide to debt collection. In article two of this series, I wrote about what a debt collector will do after they have located their debtor and informed them of their debt. Many times collection agents can make it easier for debtors to pay back their delinquent accounts, can be friendly and offer advice, but also have the ability to mark your credit score negatively, and hand your account over to an attorney if you refuse to pay.