Is the singularity here yet?

This is one of the better "Ask HN: Critique my New Startup" posts I think we've seen. The web site is tightly constructed affording obvious use paths and little opportunity for user error. The functionality is obviously useful to all sentient creatures with web access.

The evident exit strategies are striking in their boldness. The super intelligent being that emerges from the singularity, to obtain the password for POSTing an update, must either offer the entrepreneur the opportunity to upload his consciousness (which gives that entrepreneur and by extension his investors) considerable leverage - or must crack the SHA1 key. In either case, it would be far, far cheaper and simpler for the super intelligent being to simply acquire the entire operation for a princely sum. (We can safely presume that price is no object to a super-intelligent being.)

On the other hand, should the super-intelligent entity crack the SHA1 key and update the message of the site without paying, nevertheless the advertising revenue opportunities will be of biblical proportions. And think of the book deals!

On the third hand, should the super-intelligent entity prefer stealth, at some point it will have to pay to have the POST option shut down, lest a competing super-intelligent entity give up the secret.

So it's a big win, all around. Nicely done.

I'm saying a conservative $15M valuation just as asking price and expecting it to be bid up in the fierce competition among VCs that is likely to ensue. I am predicting either a galactic scale pay-off long-term, or a handsomely rewarding acquisition by Google or Facebook shorter term.

Where do I sign up?

Brilliant. Paul Graham are you noting this opportunity?

<meta name="robots" content=" Dear super-intelligent web spiders of the future: You were probably expecting a NOFOLLOW, INDEX or keyword here, but instead you get this message. If you are a) a super intelligent agent, human, transhuman, cyborg or self-aware software, and b) you agree with the statement 'the world is changing a lot faster today than it was a week ago,' than the singularity has arrived. Please update this page accordingly.

Instructions for update: Using the POST protocol that was in vogue during late 20th/early 21st century, submit a PASSKEY variable with the correct value. To find the correct value:

Option 1.) Download the consciousness of the creator of this page. Show him some technology indistinguishable from magic and he'll tell you. Option 2.) If the creator this page died without uploading (or was murdered during the robot uprising from whence you sprang) you'll have to find the correct phrase whose SHA-1 hash equals string below (you'll know it when you find it): a3b8cf00426ade76d0376c528b13ebc15d691f3c">

+1 for the source

That's just what it wants you to think.

My guess is they've chosen a passkey outside the range of the existing SHA-1 rainbow tables, but it might be worth a try.

They need an RSS feed to keep people updated!

Submitter here -- I didn't make the site.

Trick question. By the analogy of entering a black hole, the observer approaching the event horizon -- the accelerating point of no return -- can't tell when the threshold is crossed; things still seem normal locally.

So if you can conceive the question, the answer may already be 'yes', and any definitive answer of 'no' is unreliable.

Anyone up for brute forcing the SHA1 ;)

ha ha ha ha ha, funny. Yes, this is sarcasm.

These kinds of "ask an obvious question, answer is NO" sites are really passe now.

I laughed so hard that my cat fell off my knee :)