Vernor Vinge was probably the origin of the idea of the technological singularity, which Andreessen thought went back to the 1970s.

The main test is whether Vernor Vinge originated the idea of the technological singularity. The 1970s date is a secondary detail. True: historical sources credit Vinge as the first to set out the concept, and his work on it dates to the 1970s. Mostly true: Vinge first set out the modern concept and term, but his origination dates to a different decade such as the 1980s. Mostly false: earlier figures, for example von Neumann (as reported by Ulam) or I. J. Good's 'intelligence explosion', clearly set out the idea first, and Vinge named or popularised it rather than originating it. False: Vinge played no significant role in originating or developing the concept.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Interview: Vernor Vinge Strange Horizons · 15 September 2003

   “The first time I ever used the term in the way that I'm using it here was in 1982 (on a panel at AAAI-82, the annual meeting of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence at Carnegie-Mellon University).”

2. E2 week311 math.ucr.edu (John Baez, Azimuth/This Week's Finds) · 7 March 2011

   “In 1958, the mathematician Stanislaw Ulam wrote about some talks he had with John von Neumann:”

3. E3 week311 math.ucr.edu (John Baez, Azimuth/This Week's Finds) · 7 March 2011

   “In 1983 the mathematician and science fiction writer Vernor Vinge brought the singularity idea into public prominence with an article in Omni magazine, in which he wrote:”

4. E4 The coming technological singularity: How to survive in the post-human era NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS), NASA Lewis Research Center, Vision 21 proceedings · 1 December 1993

   “Based largely on this trend, I believe that the creation of greater than human intelligence will occur during the next thirty years.”

The evidence shows that Vinge first used the term in this sense in 1982 [E1] and brought the idea into public prominence in 1983 [E3], and that Ulam wrote in 1958 about talks with von Neumann [E2]. No item shows what those talks covered, so the evidence shows neither that an earlier figure clearly set out the idea first nor that Vinge originated it.