Claim · 1958 · publication · Stated in source · Supported

Ulam’s memoir of von Neumann (1958) reports a conversation on the ever accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching an essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs could not continue.

One recorded claim. The claim panel gives its qualification, the source passages with their place in each source, and how it was checked.

What it connects

John von Neumann, 1903–1957 → bears on → Machine intelligence will bring a singularity

Where it appears

Antecedent texts: machine intelligence before 1965 →

Claim and evidence

John von Neumann, 1903–1957bears on ↓Machine intelligence will bring a singularity

Machine-checkedStated in sourceSupported

Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source

Date: 1958 · publication Records dated 1958 →
Role: Context
Register (kind of text): Relay of another author
Missing element: Machine intelligence: the sentence concerns technology and the mode of human life generally and names no machines, computing or intelligence greater than human.

Scope and limitsUlam’s report of a conversation with von Neumann, not von Neumann’s words; the conversation’s date is unknown and is not the record’s date. Context under the maintainer’s decision of 2026-11-03: the sentence names no machines or computing, so U03’s earliest located text stays Vinge (1983).

The evidence 01

primary sourceSupports the claim

John von Neumann, 1903–1957

Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 64 (3, part 2), 1958, pp. 1–49 · 1958

Archived copy, captured 2026-03-02: John von Neumann, 1903–1957

Cite the original source

Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.

Source excerpt

“One conversation centered on the ever accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue.”

Location in source Printed p. 5 (PDF page 5), last paragraph, final sentence

How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher

Machine-checked · 2026-11-06

Source details and check notes

Authors: Stanislaw Ulam
Version: The publisher’s PDF (49 pages; p. 1 records receipt by the editors on 8 February 1958), read in the Internet Archive capture of 2 March 2026 linked here (SHA-256 7819f7b4b1acdd2399beb09ff122ea9dce9c28b129567a8e2c81228c31954280, the file a second check by a model of another family had read for the candidate pack). Retrieved on 2026-11-04 by a model of another family (research/held-records-2026-11-04/codex-report.md, H30) and on 2026-11-06 by the session applying the correction, same SHA-256. The publisher’s site refused direct retrieval (HTTP 403). Vinge’s reference (1993) gives May 1958; the issue’s month was not seen.
Canonical address: Open the canonical source ↗
Accessed: 2026-11-06
Language: English (en)
Archive copy: Open archived copy, captured 2026-03-02: John von Neumann, 1903–1957. An archive copy shows only what the archive retrieved on 2026-03-02. It does not prove what the page said earlier, and it can differ from the copy checked on 2026-11-06.
Attribution: S. Ulam, “John von Neumann, 1903–1957”, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 64 (1958), no. 3, part 2, pp. 1–49.
Reuse: No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution.
Check notes: Candidate pack passage, antecedent texts (research/prehistory), held at admission because no copy could be retrieved. The quotation (44 words) matched the text layer of the publisher’s PDF on 2026-11-06 (SHA-256 7819f7b4b1ac…, the file the candidate pack’s second check read); a model of another family read it on the text layer and the page image on 2026-11-04 (research/held-records-2026-11-04/codex-report.md, H30). Matching ignored differences of whitespace and line breaks. No human editorial review.

Status and meaning

Editorial status. Machine-checked. Machines found this record and checked it against its sources; no person accepted it individually. Each evidence record above shows how it was checked.

Relation. A passage of the document bears on the proposition without meeting its criterion; the record names the missing element. It is not an articulation and implies no influence.

Date. Volume year of the Bulletin (64, no. 3, part 2); the conversation it reports is undated.

Record ID pre-u03-ulam-1958-context