Posted on 01/19/2005 6:04:41 PM PST by snarks_when_bored
Thanks for the ping. Will read later :-)
Suppose that, in 1899, someone had published a book predicting that in a hundred years we would be living, on average, into our mid seventies; communicating instantaneously around the world; hurtling through the air in metal birds; watching theatre on little boxes; visiting other planets; and creating new lifeforms in our laboratories.
Practical, no-nonsense readers of such a book would doubtless have concluded that the author was a lunatic. Yet here we are.
Given the viral nature of memes; the creative cross-fertilization that occurs when people are connected; and the exponential growth of technology in general and of connectedness in particular, it is reasonable to conclude that we ain't seen nothin yet.
Take a glimpse at Ray Kurzweil's vision of our future, and you'll be inclined to agree.
There will be people who think that Kurzweil has written a crazy book, but from the perspective of our descendants a hundred years from now, the book might not seem crazy enough.
Kurzweil has the insight to recognize that we are creating technologies that will change everything, utterly.
Imagine a world in which you can plug in extra processing power or memory, in which you can download to your mind many lifetimes of knowledge and experience, in which consciousness can be shared, in which you can experience what it is like to be your spouse or what it is like to be a bat. Imagine a world in which you will not have to die.
The imaginations of science fiction writers pale in comparison to what real science has in store for us, and Kurzweil has given us a sneak peek at some of the most profound possibilities.
On two fronts-computer science and genetics-we are taking charge of our own evolution. Kurzweil deals skillfully (and entertainingly) with the former. To my knowledge, the definitive popular exposition of the latter has yet to be written.
Computer science and recombinant DNA technology will soon give us the power to make our evolution depend on memes (our cultural creations, our ideas and artifacts) rather than on genes. Memes evolve exponentially because, unlike genes, they do encode acquired characteristics, so in the very near future, it is likely that our descendants will be as far removed from us as we are from sponges, much less Australopithecus afarensis.
The inevitable merging of our minds with those of the machines that we create will change our basic ontological situation-what it is like to be us and what experiences are possible.
This is Kurzweil's theme. I know of no other writer who has seen more clearly that with the emergence of these technologies for controling its own evolution, life on earth is entering an entirely new phase.
Kurzweil's timetables might be a little off, but it is hard for me to imagine that the bizarre futures that he foresees will not come to pass. The Age of Spiritual Machines is one of those books (like Herb Simon's The Sciences of the Artificial or Marvin Minsky's The Society of Mind) that no thinking person should miss.
It is more than simply a masterful synthesis and projection of current technological trends. It is a brave, bold work that cannot fail to shake you up. I hope that this book will be the beginning of a public dialogue about what we want to be and to become.
The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
Address:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0140282025/ref=cm_rev_next/104-6669097-8164712?%5Fencoding=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=283155&customer-reviews.start=151&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Senses tingling? Better watch your back!
LOL
I do plan on living forever, with God and Jesus. I've already received the directions, and they aren't super secret or hard to understand.
Go see "Yentl". It'll seem like forever. You'll beg for death.
he would emphasize freedom of personal choice far more than the potentially toxic harvest that might result from cultivating that dangerous seed in isolation.Does anyone out there know what this means? I musta missed the initial instructions about what to smoke/ingest before reading.
I'll take a shot. Nuland appears to mean that de Grey emphasizes the value of personal freedom of choice, but does not adequately reckon the societal implications and consequences of championing untrammeled personal freedom of choice.
Or something like that...
I hate keyboards; when my wife types for me, I'm much smarter.
One's original language would still have to change as the language of the culture one was living in had changed compared to one's childhood language.
Of course, if there were endless centuries of a virtually identical aggrarian culture, then perhaps on.
But as societies and cultures tend to change at least somewhat, then language would also change--even if only by a few additional words year by year. A few additional words year by year could add up considerably depending on frequency of use--by 1,000 years.
We tend to use about 2,800 words most of the time--say 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time, we tend to use another 800-1,000 words from our particular professions and hobbies.
So, if we are having 3-4 words added every year--AND IF they replace others from our past--in 1,000 years, we could have a whole largely different vocabulary.
imho.
I remember nights like that when the muse spoke and I listened and wrote and the words came smooth and clear but never survived the morning light; but then I didn't get published.
Then explain Keith Richards. ;-)
YUP.
Sin polluts all--and would continue one way or another no matter how many ways we headed it off.
However, it is interesting that at the Tower of Babel, God said, let us confuse their languages else they will discover "the secret of life itself."
Fascinating Scripture that. Especially in view of DNA etc.
WELL SAID.
Ugh
Screw?
Ugh
Sleep?
Ugh.
Eat?...
Well,
One does require a certain level of maturity, perspective, serenity--connection with God
to make the mundane meaningful and worthwhile.
. . . . especially the repetitiously mundane.
Then, everything can become a prayer, even a dance.
Not on earth, I don't.
Until the music ends and the horses are all shot dead on the floor.
The Look
I once bought a toy rabbit
at a department store
and now he sits and ponders
me with pink sheer eyes:
He wants golfballs and glass walls.
I want quiet thunder.Our disappointment sits between us.
When the plow follows the loose-boweled horse, the earth is replenished.
When the plow follows the loose-boweled horse, the earth is replenished.
Feces are the farmer's friend.
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