Singularity prediction isn't even taken seriously by most formerly-intrigued SF writers these days. (Go google Ramez Naam on the subject. Or me. Or Cory Doctorow.) Best we can probably hope for is better intelligence augmentation/amplification than we've got now.
The reason it's popular is that it plays to some deep eschatological anxieties shared by many people -- and it strikes resonant echoes with Christian millennialism, making it an easy memetic poisoned chalice for anyone who has consciously rejected knee-jerk Christian doctrine but not actually re-evaluated all their composite assumptions and beliefs to drink from.
The reason it's popular is that it plays to some deep eschatological anxieties shared by many people -- and it strikes resonant echoes with Christian millennialism, making it an easy memetic poisoned chalice for anyone who has consciously rejected knee-jerk Christian doctrine but not actually re-evaluated all their composite assumptions and beliefs to drink from.