Kurzweil begins by describing the “six epochs” of civilization, which culminate in his Singularity. The book has only nine chapters, some of which take longer to read than others. This, in essence, would make the entire universe conscious and would mean that humans would be creating the functional equivalent of God. As machines reach down farther and farther into the quantum levels of computing, all the matter of the universe would eventually be capable of storing knowledge. As our computers expand their capabilities, they will enable us to develop smart blood cells physically transform our bodies connect our senses directly into full-sensory virtual realities instantaneously increase our knowledge and eventually enable us to become electronically, if not physically, immortal. This is all in keeping with “ Moore’s Law,” which states that computing ability will continue to double every two years or less for the foreseeable future. This would allow human beings to experience the faster thinking processes through speed-of-light computing while computers gain the programming knowledge to mimic, replicate, and then exceed human intellectual capabilities, leading to what is called the Technological Singularity. Because electronic minds are inherently faster than human brains, Kurzweil feels that eventually machines will become so advanced that we will be able to duplicate and then “upload” human consciousness. That is the essential premise of this book of technological optimism by scientist and inventor Ray Kurzweil.Īddressing issues as diverse as brain chemistry, future warfare, virtual reality, and programmable blood, Kurzweil gleefully describes how such a transcendent leap in technology will be possible-mostly by developing machines that “reverse-engineer” the processes of the human mind. Title: The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biologyīy 2045, our computer, genetic, nano, and robotics technologies will have advanced exponentially, to the point where they will exceed human intelligence and, in effect, grant us nearly anything we want.

The singularity is nearer amazon