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The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

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Author: Ray Kurzweil
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$18.00~~
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Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

124 reviews
Sales Rank: 2170

Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 672
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.7

ISBN: 0143037889
Dewey Decimal Number: 660
EAN: 9780143037880
ASIN: 0143037889

Publication Date: September 26, 2006
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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
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.

Customer Reviews: Read 119 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

upon reading it a second time... August 20, 2008
In my opinion, this is an exceptional book. I was astonished to read some of the criticisms it has received on amazon.com. I truly could not put this book down. The depth of the subjects covered is great. For anyone who is interested in futurism, this should be on your bookshelf.

First of all, the author is an extremely accomplished man. Chances are you use one of his inventions everyday. Kurzweil was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, received thirteen--yes, thirteen--honorary doctorates, the National Medal of Technology, the Lemelson MIT Prize (the world's largest award for innovation), and awards from three US Presidents. This makes me more than comfortable when reading this book.

I very much enjoy books of this nature, but have never encountered a book such as this; with every claim and prediction, Kurzweil provides more than ample evidence to support himself. Reading this book was an intellectual revolution.

Some of the criticisms I read about this book on amazon.com stated that the book lacked emotion and was quite dry. I couldn't disagree more. I find it impossible to be without emotion when discussing the things Kurzweil touches on and noticed no apathy in his writing. At times, his writing was quite humorous; the dialogue of a fictional character named Molly with various other characters at the end of every chapter was very entertaining.

I would recommend this book to anyone. It will truly change your outlook on the human civilization and its future. I plan to read it again and again.

5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Roadmap of the Potential Future August 13, 2008
Excellent description of how the universe seems to be progressing from the simpler to the more complex.

Perhaps, also a metaphor of how what age we live in changes our perspective of how we view the evolution of the universe and the intelligence that is spawned.

In the old industrial era, it was thought that civilization would increase it's usage of energy, building Dyson spheres.

In the new information age, it seems that the vision is about a "Singularity Wave" speeding out to convert as much of the matter in the universe into the most efficient materials to process exponentially increasing information and intelligence.

I believe the basics are, as best as I can tell, very good and I enthusiastically embrace his humanistic (and post or trans humanistic) philosophy.

Only a couple of things which I might differ on, and that would be..

1. Not much mention of quantum computing. That would represent the absolute manifestation of Richard Feynman's "Plenty of Room at the Bottom", and in the case of quantum computing, the bottom of a potentially unlimited, 5Th dimensional matrix of alternate world-lines to employ. Much better than dealing with the delays of linking together multi-billion light year networks.

2. Because of the above, and also the "s" curve of population growth in post agricultural/industrial/hyper-industrial-info civilization, there may well be a trillion or so "Singularity" worlds out there, many within a few hundred light years from Earth.

These worlds may send small probes, perhaps with super intelligent entities to explore, but wouldn't need any more resources than exist in their native solar system.

Futurism is an imperfect art, and many of Kurzweil's prognostications will probably unfold in different ways from what is expected, but I fully embrace a vision of this new world unfolding to the benefit of conscious life on Earth.

3 out of 5 stars

Sure, Ray, I'll take your word for it... July 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Futurists are seductive and so are their fantastical predictions, even when one has absolutely no idea exactly how to evaluate the soundness of their claims. Kurzweil tries with all his might to answer this criticism of the genre but fails nonetheless, offering mound upon mound of at best incomplete graphs that bury his theses behind the madness of immeasurable technological erudition, so (alas) the reader is probably left to do one of two things: ignorantly object or ignorantly serve. It's good fun, much like a fireside game of "what if" at summer camp, and Bill Gates's official endorsement makes it feel populist enough to recommend to your inquisitive friends.

5 out of 5 stars

Maybe July 14, 2008
The book presents an interesting premise that humans will evolve from purely biological to biological/technological and ultimately to technological beings. Whether or not Kurzweil has gotten the time frame right is the question. If he is right, humans are only 20 to 30 years from this singularity. A most thought provoking read.

3 out of 5 stars

487 pages + a good editor = 225 pages June 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

It's a potentially important book as many other reviewers have pointed out but his stream of consciousness writing style gets aggravating. If you can skim, you win. If you read, you bleed. There aren't many things he says fewer than four times. But some of those things have come true, some will and some of the amazing ones may. He has an impressive track record. Now if he'd just add discipline to his writing.

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