The age of spiritual machines : when computers exceed human intelligence
Ray Kurzweil (Author)
Imagine a world where the difference between man and machine blurs, where the line between humanity and technology fades, and where the soul and the silicon chip unite. This is not science fiction. This is the twenty-first century according to Ray Kurzweil, the inventor of the most innovative and compelling technology of our era. In his inspired hands, life in the new millennium no longer seems daunting. Instead, it promises to be an age in which the marriage of human sensitivity and artificial intelligence fundamentally alters and improves the way we live. More than just a list of predictions, Kurzweil's prophetic blueprint for the future guides us through the inexorable advances that will result in: computers exceeding the memory capacity and computational ability of the human brain by the year 2020 (with human-level capabilities not far behind); relationships with automated personalities who will be our teachers, companions, and lovers; and information fed straight into our brains along direct neural pathways. Eventually, the distinction between humans and computers will have become sufficiently blurred that when the machines claim to be conscious, we will believe them. - Back cover
xii, 388 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780140282023, 9780670882175, 0670882178, 0140282025
43335171
A note to the reader
Prologue: An inexorable emergence
Part 1: Probing the past. The law of time and chaos ; The intelligence of evolution ; Of mind and machines ; A new form of intelligence on earth ; Context and knowledge
Part 2: Preparing the present. Building new brains ... ; ... And bodies ; 1999
Part 3: To face the future. 2009 ; 2019 ; 2029 ; 2099
Epilogue: The rest of the universe revisited
Time line
How to build an intelligent machine in three easy paradigms
Glossary
"First published in the United States of America by Viking Penguin ... 1999"--Title page verso