Whilst wandering around the BBC News site this morning, I stumbled upon this fascinating article on Ray Kurzweil and was immediately captivated by the scope of this gentleman’s ideas. I read it and read it again, wondering just how reputable Kurzweil really was and finally realising that I didn’t much care. His ideas are brave and spine-tinglingly insightful — and whether he turns out to be right or wrong on the whole subject of the Singularity etc., it’s entertaining, at the very least.
A web search on his name led me here, and I felt like a kid again, watching The Six Million Dollar Man for the first time and thinking, Yeah, I’ll have some of that.
From KurzweilAI.net:
In the coming decades, a radical upgrading of our body’s physical and mental systems, already underway, will use nanobots to augment and ultimately replace our organs. We already know how to prevent most degenerative disease through nutrition and supplementation; this will be a bridge to the emerging biotechnology revolution, which in turn will be a bridge to the nanotechnology revolution. By 2030, reverse-engineering of the human brain will have been completed and nonbiological intelligence will merge with our biological brains.
Where do I sign up?
Read his book “The Singularity is Near.” Kurzweil has been profiled in Wired magazine. He developed voice_recognition software, among other things. His ideas about the future of technology are actually taken very seriously.
Good post!
Thanks for the info, Sean — the book is now in my Amazon basket!
I’m actually extremely pleased to hear that his ideas are taken seriously. They strike me as well formulated and built on fairly strong foundations. Very convincing. Not to mention exciting.
Thanks again!