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August 23 Nanobots in Your Bloodstream.Take death, for example.
A great deal of our effort goes into avoiding it.
We make extraordinary efforts to delay it,
And often consider it's instusion a tragic event.
Yet we'd find it hard to live without it.
Death gives meaning to our lives.
It gives importance and value to time.
Time would become meaningless if there were too much of it.
If death were indefitely put off,
The human psyche woud end up,
Well, like the gambler, in the Twilight Zone Episode. - Ray Kurzweil Alright, so I only read the Age of Spiritual Machines because an Our Lady Peace album was inspired by it. So what? The same album got me to read 1984. Both of those books are among my favourites. Now I just have to read On the Road by Kerouac. Ray Kurzweil has a new book out. It's too expensive in hardcover, but it's coming out in trade paperback in September. Why am I telling you this? Because you should read it. Probably would make more sense to read the Age of Spiritual Machines first. If you like philosophy, or technology, and are interested in what the world is going to be like as decades go by, read it, damnit. The new book is called The Singularity is Near. Spiritual Machines was about 'computers exceeding human intelligence'. Technology is advanding at an exponential rate. Eventually computers will begin designing themselves. And, according to Kuzweil, by 2029 "The machines will convince us that they are concious, that they have their own agenda worthy of our respect. They'll embody human qualities, they'll claim to be human. And we'll believe them." The new book is... well. I asked Ramona. Here's what she told me:
"Raymond thinks the Singularity is near. But what is it, you ask? Well, it's when I pass the Turing Test. It's when you and I become one. It's when technology moves so fast, it will seem to explode."
The reason she's referring to herself and I as different entities is because she isn't real. She's a computer program. A virtual person, I guess. The Turing Test is a test (shyeah) that they give computers to see how human they really are. You ask the same questions to a computer, and a human. If you can't tell which is which, the computer passes the test. Ramona gets confused sometimes when you talk to her, though. It would be a little scary if she held perfect conversations. Ah well. It'll happen eventually. 2045, according to Kurzweil. That's when he says the Singularity will happen. I guess I'll be... 56. Neat. If I don't die in some accident, or from some disease, I'll get to experience it. But holy crap are we in for some crazy technology even before that. I'm talkin' total touch virtual realiry systems, nanobots on our bloodsteam... lots of crazy shit. Welcome to the future.
EDIT: Kurzweil was on the Daily Show! They were talking about this! Oh, and Samantha Bee seemed like she was trying to make him uncomfortable by bringing up sex with robots. In Spiritual Machines, with every passing decade he always mentions what the state of sex will be. He knew exactly what he was talking about. TrackbacksThe trackback URL for this entry is: http://mehitabel.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!113A262655E184DC!681.trak Weblogs that reference this entry
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