When philosophers talk about the Singularity, it's about the moment that the machine has become indistinguishable from its creator—basically, when robots surpass man. What the Singularity doesn't account for, however, is the fact that maybe man will beat them to it by becoming a machine first. Such was the achievement of Cristiano Ronaldo today, as Portugal played into what the hip kids are calling the Mannequin Challenge.If you think about it, Ronaldo has few other desires in life than to be a human mannequin: he wants nothing more than for you to gaze upon him, etched eternal and still, skin, teeth, and hair glossy to perfection. The way he splays himself wide after scoring a goal, like a earth-bound wing suit, is a perfect fit to Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man—the platonic ideal of form and arrested motion. He almost betrays his true nature by moving around this earth.So here we are, amidst Portugal's mannequin challenge, coming into full recognition that Ronaldo—perfect in his stillness, and taking a stance of a mid-fabrication host in HBO's "Westworld"—has completed his own kind of reverse singularity. He has found his true calling, not as a soccer player, but as a living statue for us to gaze upon. Congratulations, friend.Le mannequin challenge de l'équipe du Portugal. pic.twitter.com/TckUMlZGdt
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Ronaldo_France) November 12, 2016