The term "Singularity" was named after the breakdown of physical models at the center of a black hole, not after a physical infinity.

Judged as of 2024-03-21. True: the documented origin of 'technological Singularity' (Vernor Vinge's 1983 and 1993 usage, and earlier use by von Neumann and Ulam) shows that it was named by analogy to the point where physical models break down, such as at the center of a black hole (gravitational singularity), meaning a point beyond which prediction fails, and not after a literal physical infinity. Mostly true: the analogy is to the breakdown of models or a predictive horizon, but the source was a mathematical singularity or the event horizon in general rather than specifically the center of a black hole. Mixed: the sources tie the name to both ideas, the breakdown of models and an infinity (for example hyperbolic growth to infinity), about equally. Mostly false: the name mainly refers to a mathematical singularity or infinity, with the breakdown-of-models reading secondary. False: the documented origin shows it was named after a physical or mathematical infinity and not after model breakdown.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Technological singularity - Wikipedia Wikipedia

   “The concept and the term "singularity" were first popularized by Vernor Vinge in a 1983 op-ed in Omni magazine arguing that once humans create intelligences greater than their own, a technological and social transition similar in some sense to "the knotted space-time at the center of a black hole" will occur.”

2. E2 Language Log Language Log (University of Pennsylvania linguistics blog) · 17 October 2026

   “When this happens, human history will have reached a kind of singularity, an intellectual transition as impenetrable as the knotted space-time at the center of a black hole, and the world will pass far beyond our understanding.”

3. E3 Technological singularity - Wikipedia Wikipedia

   “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.”

4. E4 Language Log Language Log (University of Pennsylvania linguistics blog) · 17 October 2026

   “Most uses of the term these days involve a metaphorical extension of the mathematical concept to the idea of a technological singularity”

E1 shows that Vinge's 1983 op-ed, which popularized the term, compared the transition to "the knotted space-time at the center of a black hole," and E2 quotes text saying the world will then pass far beyond our understanding. That matches the claim's breakdown-of-models reading. However, E3 shows an earlier usage of "essential singularity", and E4 describes the technological sense as a metaphorical extension of the mathematical concept. None of the evidence ties the name to a literal infinity, but its documented source includes the mathematical singularity, not only the black hole's center.