The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology
For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines, he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary process: the union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations.Product Details
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Renowned inventor Kurzweil (The Age of Spiritual Machines) may be technology's most credibly hyperbolic optimist. Elsewhere he has argued that eliminating fat intake can prevent cancer; here, his quarry is the future of consciousness and intelligence. Humankind, it runs, is at the threshold of an epoch ("the singularity," a reference to the theoretical limitlessness of exponential expansion) that will see the merging of our biology with the staggering achievements of "GNR" (genetics, nanotechnology and robotics) to create a species of unrecognizably high intelligence, durability, comprehension, memory and so on. The word "unrecognizable" is not chosen lightly: wherever this is heading, it won't look like us. Kurzweil's argument is necessarily twofold: it's not enough to argue that there are virtually no constraints on our capacity; he must also convince readers that such developments are desirable. In essence, he conflates the wholesale transformation of the species with "immortality," for which read a repeal of human limit. In less capable hands, this phantasmagoria of speculative extrapolation, which incorporates a bewildering variety of charts, quotations, playful Socratic dialogues and sidebars, would be easier to dismiss. But Kurzweil is a true scientist—a large-minded one at that—and gives due space both to "the panoply of existential risks" as he sees them and the many presumed lines of attack others might bring to bear. What's arresting isn't the degree to which Kurzweil's heady and bracing vision fails to convince—given the scope of his projections, that's inevitable—but the degree to which it seems downright plausible. (Sept.)
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From Bookmarks Magazine
Kurzweil is one of the world’s most respected thinkers and entrepreneurs. Yet the thesis he posits in Singularity is so singular that many readers will be astounded—and perhaps skeptical. Think Blade Runner or Being John Malkovich magnified trillion-fold. Even if one were to embrace his techno-optimism, which he backs up with fascinating details, Kurzweil leaves some important questions relating to politics, economics, and morality unanswered. If machines in our bodies can rebuild cells, for example, why couldn’t they be reengineered as weapons? Or think of singularity, notes the New York Times Book Review, as the "Manhattan Project model of pure science without ethical constraints." Kurzweil’s vision requires technology, which we continue to build. But it also requires mass acceptance and faith.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.
From Booklist
Continuing the themes of The Age of Spiritual Machines (1999), Kurzweil further expounds his conviction that the human being will be succeeded by a superintelligent entity that is partly biological, partly computerized. Welcoming this prospect, and regarding it as inevitable, Kurzweil plunges into contemporary technological arenas, particularly genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics. Citing examples from medical devices to military weapons in which human control is increasingly detached from the autonomy of machines, Kurzweil stresses that trends are accelerating in terms of miniaturization and computational power. Eventually, smallness and speed reach a point of development, a "singularity," with implications Kurzweil says even he cannot imagine. Disinclined to categorize his views as dystopian or utopian, the author recognizes that his vision is profoundly threatening to concepts of human nature and individuality. A closing section on philosophy and ethics accordingly addresses objections to his optimistic predictions. An involved presentation, this is best for readers of the wide-angle, journalistic treatment Radical Evolution (2005), by Joel Garreau. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Customer Reviews
Is this the future?
This is a fascinating review of recent technological (including bio-tech) and medicinal breakthroughs, all used as supporting evidence for Kurzweil's thesis that everything as we know it will change dramatically somewhere around the year 2045.
The book is well written and reads quickly. The footnotes are elaborate and add depth to his survey of advancements.
If you ever wondered where our world is going (from the "real religion" viewpoint of Carl Sagan in "Contact"; i.e. via science and mathematics), then this volume is both riveting and a little scary, but in either case, I can't wait to see if it all proves true over time.
Interesting evolutionary concept, technologically excellent but socially and culturaly mediocre
This book is dense and large. It is packed with references to many technological advances, especially in the area of computing, biology, nanotechnology and robotics. It has so much as one could use it for research purposes as it has a collection of references to so many articles and books. The book is large in both number of pages and area of human knowledge it covers. The reader should be prepared for a long read through philosophical concepts, theories, data, graphs and arguments against many supposed adversaries.
The core concept of the book is based on an evolutionary view of the Universe. Ray believes there are six evolutionary epochs: physics and chemistry, biology and DNA, brains, technology, the merger of human technology with human intelligence and the wake up of the universe. The sixth epoch marks the occurrence of singularity, when everything is one universal intelligent medium. During this evolution the non-biological beings will slowly take over the biological creatures, in a progressive fashion, growing to new levels with far greater powers than ever achieved by the human race.
A starting point for demonstrating this evolution is the theory of technology evolution and the law of accelerating returns. Ray demonstrates using well known data that advances in technology not only it will continue but it will accelerate. I found this part of the book very compelling. It is only when you look at aggregate historical data that you can see emerging a consistent picture of great change.
In the next chapter, Achieving the Computational Capacity of the Human Brain, I found a few very interesting concepts. As it happens, I am interested in this area and I was familiar with many ideas, but I still felt overwhelmed by the details and references of computational theories that probably are more meaningful to PhD students. Some times the author goes into the rarefied field of physics, theories of Universe, time and speed of light.
There is a lot challenging the conventional in the next chapter, Achieving the Software of Human Intelligence: How to Reverse Engineer the Human Brain. I was surprised to find out how many advances occurred in the brain science, neural modelling, prosthetics and the proliferation of artificial parts that replace more and more body parts, including areas of the nervous system. This is something that experiences an exponential growth and it should have a huge impact on health services and longevity.
Ray Kurzweil dives with great aplomb into three major topics: genetics, nanotechnology and robotics (AI). These three chapters have so many arguments; they are so detailed and eloquent that I started loosing interest in the book. This is an area where the author misses the opportunity to strengthen the connection with the reader that was built in the previous chapters. The information is too dry, too mechanical as if it is copied from a popular science magazine. There is a lot of pressure on the reader to believe what is written there.
Overall the style is so narrowly technological, with no attention paid to other aspects of human activities that it has the potential to push the reader into an antagonistic view. We are talking here about cloning, cell engineering, human cloning, nanobots in the bloodstream, artificial intelligence, robots and human society, etc.
The author has not considered the aspect of poverty at all. I have not found a single consideration given to the problem of using the technology for the benefit of all people. I am talking here about practical aspects: how do you make the technology available to anyone, who will fund it, what happens if only a few people will have the ability to evolve into superhumans, etc.
The last two chapters, The Deeply Intertwine Promise and Peril of GNR and Response to Critics, loose the rigour manifested in the first chapters and they have more the role of presenting arguments against critics. This part is a little bit tiring, I could not go through it in detail and it undoes a lot of good will built in the first part of the book. It talks about warfare, fundamentalism, etc and it uses a systematic classification of potential critics with appropriate responses to each of them. There is an absolute belief that the book and the concept could do no wrong and the future will be as described here. This is the part that I was less enthusiastic about.
Overall the book is rich in concepts and information, it challenges the norm and it is very provocative from an intellectual point of view. I found it very interesting despite the tendency to be too combative and mechanical at times. The book is focused on technological aspect, missing on other dimensions that one would link to an evolutionary concept.
Brilliant and Compelling
One of the most influential books I've ever read. Extremely well researched and very clearly written. I look at the next 20-30 years quite differently now as a result of reading this book.
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