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Futurist Sees Machines, Humans Merging in 2045 (Ray Kurzweil alert)
LA Times ^ | 4/16/2006 | James Harkin

Posted on 04/22/2006 3:47:09 PM PDT by Dark Skies

Ray Kurzweil, an inventor and futurist, has stumbled on a discovery of earth-shattering importance. It is the arrival of "singularity," and according to him it will happen in 2045.

"Gradually," he writes at the beginning of "The Singularity Is Near," "I've become aware of a transforming event looming in the first half of the 21st century … the impending Singularity in our future is increasingly transforming every institution and aspect of human life, from sexuality to spirituality."

Singularity, Kurzweil says, is a development "representing a profound and disruptive transformation in human capability" and a "radical upgrading of our bodies' physical and mental systems."

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: borg; collective; dilligaf; forgawdsakesjim; itsaborgjim; learnedfool; pagingartbell; quark; raykurzweil; scifi; startrek; trekkiealert; xenu
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To: layman
What has he invented? Hell, anyone can be a 'futurist'.

From his entry in the Wikipedia.

Kurzweil was the principal developer of the first omni-font optical character recognition system, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first CCD flatbed scanner, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first electronic musical instrument capable of recreating the sound of a grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition system.

41 posted on 04/22/2006 4:20:02 PM PDT by Celtjew Libertarian
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To: Dark Skies

I'll bet Ray 400 Quatloos it doesn't happen until 2050.


42 posted on 04/22/2006 4:20:06 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
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To: Dark Skies
We are Borg You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

43 posted on 04/22/2006 4:20:59 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: Dark Skies
and there's this to consider...

Ficus Pandorata (Richard Kelton) is a Vegeton. He is the ship's half-man, half-plant, Spock-like science officer.

44 posted on 04/22/2006 4:22:17 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (deletum est carthago)
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To: the invisib1e hand

I like salads...with fava beans, bleu cheese and a nice crisp Chateau St Michel char.


45 posted on 04/22/2006 4:24:58 PM PDT by Dark Skies
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To: cll
The horror...the bad music...please don't remind me that I came of age during that time!

let's see, in MY humble opinion, there was "Lady" and "Lorelei," which rocked. Straight downhill from there.

46 posted on 04/22/2006 4:29:02 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (deletum est carthago)
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To: AntiGuv

Hmmm. There's a spot missing from that graph: the one that predicts the date when consciousness is shown to be a computational epiphenomenon of brain matter that can be modeled succesfully by a Turing machine.

Upshot: Despite Dr. K's gnostic urge to transcend degenerate matter and exist as pure consciousness, there is no scientific definition of human consciousness, and no evidence that consciousness is something that can be simulated in a computer.

Dr. K can get back to me when he has a working definition of Mind. Until then, I'm going to regard everything he says as religious belief, not scientific fact.


47 posted on 04/22/2006 4:30:22 PM PDT by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan Any questions?)
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To: Dark Skies
Ray Kurzweil was inducted in 2002 into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, established by the U.S. Patent Office

OK. Thanks. Maybe he's on to something.

48 posted on 04/22/2006 4:31:10 PM PDT by layman (Card Carrying Infidel)
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To: B-Chan

definitely one of the more relevant posts on this thread.


49 posted on 04/22/2006 4:32:14 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (deletum est carthago)
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To: Pearls Before Swine

These folks are definitely NOT willing to die for their beliefs.


50 posted on 04/22/2006 4:35:08 PM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

"Thank goodness my Mayan Calendar says we all take the big Dirt Nap come December, 2012! ;)"

Thats just great. I am scheduled to retire June 2, 2013.


51 posted on 04/22/2006 4:39:54 PM PDT by SVTCobra03 (You can never have enough friends, horsepower or ammunition.)
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To: Dark Skies
Its ALREADY happened in the democrat HIVE...
Socialism is all about the machine..
And "A" democracy is the HIVE..
The U.S. is not longer a republic we are a democracy..
BEING ASSIMILATED.. Now as we activly import multi millions of illegal and legal democrats from many places, even Mexico..

Democracy is the road to socialism. Karl Marx

Democracy is indispensable to socialism. The goal of socialism is communism. V.I. Lenin

The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism.- Karl Marx

52 posted on 04/22/2006 4:40:24 PM PDT by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole..)
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To: Pearls Before Swine
Only a secret society of long-lifers could hope to survive, especially if the secret was expensive to implement. You'd have life jealousy and wealth/class jealousy inflamed to the max, with predictable results.

The singularity is about exponential increases in technology and wealth. If it goes off like Kurzweil predicts, the technology would be quickly available to everyone.

53 posted on 04/22/2006 4:40:53 PM PDT by ThinkDifferent (Chloe rocks)
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To: Dark Skies

I'm still disappointed at never getting those flying cars in 2000; and even more so at not getting the 10-hour work week.


54 posted on 04/22/2006 4:43:38 PM PDT by Chi-townChief
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To: B-Chan
I agree. There's no way to prove that an entity has that "I know I exist" feeling, unless it's yourself.

Who would be willing to upload their mind into a black box if the outcome is that uncertain.

55 posted on 04/22/2006 4:43:48 PM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: hosepipe
I think it's the Big Fork in the road...choose The Singularity ...or the Cross (the Rapture?).
56 posted on 04/22/2006 4:45:25 PM PDT by Dark Skies
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To: Fitzcarraldo; B-Chan
Who would be willing to upload their mind into a black box if the outcome is that uncertain.

Actually, right now it'd be a very simple task to find people willing to undergo the experiment: the terminally ill. The more important question is whether terminal illness will even exist anymore when total brain upload becomes viable.

57 posted on 04/22/2006 4:48:10 PM PDT by AntiGuv (The 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty is bad for America and bad for humanity - DUMP IT!)
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To: Dark Skies

Interesting, if somewhat myopic post. Why on Earth would you presuppose that exponentially increasing intelligence would somehow lead us away from God? To me, the result will be exactly the opposite. The more we know, the more we appreciate.


58 posted on 04/22/2006 4:50:56 PM PDT by Gulf War One
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To: AntiGuv
Actually, right now it'd be a very simple task to find people willing to undergo the experiment: the terminally ill. The more important question is whether terminal illness will even exist anymore when total brain upload becomes viable.

Even that would not be conclusive. Each person has to take the pluge for him/herself. It's like the believe of life after death, essentially. No way to prove it except by going through the experience yourself. All other information about survival of consciousness is second-hand. Even recall of human memories memory input to a black box could be a case of rote recall without consciousness.

59 posted on 04/22/2006 4:53:53 PM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: Gulf War One
Interesting, if somewhat myopic post. Why on Earth would you presuppose that exponentially increasing intelligence would somehow lead us away from God? To me, the result will be exactly the opposite. The more we know, the more we appreciate.

If God exists, He certainly doesn't need a "human singularity" to do business here.

60 posted on 04/22/2006 4:54:59 PM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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