The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

ISBN-13:	9780143037880
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/26/2006
Pages:	672
Sales rank:	69,185
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

A radical and optimistic view of the future course of human development from the bestselling author who Bill Gates calls “the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence.”“Startling in scope and bravado.” —Janet Maslin, The New York TimesFor 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.While the social and philosophical ramifications of these changes will be profound, and the threats they pose considerable, The Singularity Is Near presents a view of the coming age that is both a dramatic culmination of centuries of technological ingenuity and a genuinely inspiring vision of our ultimate destiny.