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Photizo
June 2009 
The Singularity is Near
Posted on Jun 3rd, 2009
by 
Photizo
Photizo
The Singularity is Near, A True Story about the Future, based on Ray Kurzweil’s New York Times best selling book, will be a full-length motion picture slated for theatrical release in late 2009.
Inventor, entrepreneur, visionary, Ray Kurzweil's accomplishments read as a startling series of firsts -- a litany of technological breakthroughs we've come to take for granted. Kurzweil invented the first optical character recognition (OCR) software for transforming the written word into data, the first print-to-speech software for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, and many electronic instruments.
Inventor, entrepreneur, visionary, Ray Kurzweil's accomplishments read as a startling series of firsts -- a litany of technological breakthroughs we've come to take for granted. Kurzweil invented the first optical character recognition (OCR) software for transforming the written word into data, the first print-to-speech software for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, and many electronic instruments.
Yet his impact as a futurist and philosopher is no less significant. In his best-selling books, which include The Age of Spiritual Machines and The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (set to become a movie in September 2009), Kurzweil depicts in detail a portrait of the human condition over the next few decades, as accelerating technologies forever blur the line between human and machine.
Here in the Transcendent Man trailer the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil introduces the renowned futurist who journeys the world offering his vision of a future in which we will merge with our machines, can live forever, and are billions of times more intelligent...all within the next thirty years.
His reasoning rests on the combination of four postulates:
Here in the Transcendent Man trailer the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil introduces the renowned futurist who journeys the world offering his vision of a future in which we will merge with our machines, can live forever, and are billions of times more intelligent...all within the next thirty years.
His reasoning rests on the combination of four postulates:
1. That a technological-evolutionary point known as "the singularity" exists as an achievable goal for humanity (the exact nature of the point is an arbitrarily high level of technology).
2. That through a law of accelerating returns, technology is progressing toward the singularity at an exponential rate.
3. That the functionality of the human brain is quantifiable in terms of technology that we can build in the near future.
4. That medical advancements could keep a significant number of his generation (Baby Boomers) alive long enough for the exponential growth of technology to intersect and surpass the processing of the human brain.
2. That through a law of accelerating returns, technology is progressing toward the singularity at an exponential rate.
3. That the functionality of the human brain is quantifiable in terms of technology that we can build in the near future.
4. That medical advancements could keep a significant number of his generation (Baby Boomers) alive long enough for the exponential growth of technology to intersect and surpass the processing of the human brain.
All four of Kurzweil's primary postulates must be
correct in order for his conclusion to be true.
correct in order for his conclusion to be true.
Transcendent Man Film Trailer
In 2009, he unveiled Singularity University, an institution that aims to "assemble, educate and inspire leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies." Check out the TED Talk
Ray Kurzweil: A university for the coming singularity
At the Onset of the 21st Century, it will be an era in which the very nature of what it means to be human will be both enriched and challenged as our species breaks the shackles of its genetic legacy and achieves inconceivable heights of intelligence, material progress, and longevity. While the social and philosophical ramifications of these changes will be profound, and the threats they pose considerable, celebrated futurist Ray Kurzweil presents a view of the coming age that is both a dramatic culmination of centuries of technological ingenuity and a genuinely inspiring vision of our ultimate destiny.
Wired Magazine interviewed Kurzweil where he had this to say about our future and our way of thinking.
WN: You've already written a book explaining your theories about the approach of singularity; why did you want to do a movie? To spread the meme further?
Kurzweil: Yes, but it's not just an idle desire to spread the meme -- like, I had this idea, and now I want everyone to know about it. There's so much discussion that's totally unrealistic, because people are not aware of this topic. Al Gore gets up there to do his PowerPoint presentation on global warming, and he says, "Within 100 years, carbon levels will be here," as if nothing's going to change! As if it's going to be the same old world in 100 years. He never once mentions nanotechnology.
WN: So you're trying to make people understand how the exponential advances in technology will abruptly and unexpectedly solve many of the world's problems?
Kurzweil: Think how different the world was 10 years ago -- 10 years ago, most people didn't use search engines. That sounds like ancient history now. Generally, people think linearly. I think it's critical that people understand that linear thinking no longer applies. If we capture one part out of 10,000 of sunlight that falls on the earth, we can solve our energy problems. And nanotech will give us the capacity to store (that solar energy). Radical life extensions mean that the current discussion of social security is completely unrealistic. People say, "Oh, there's going to be a deficit in 2027." Their model is based on linear predictions on longevity, productivity and economic growth. The situation will be different when you have 65-year-olds who look and act 35 years old.
WN: It's certainly true that linear thinking runs through everything we do.
Kurzweil: For thousands of years, it actually served our needs to think linearly. If you think about our genes and our brains, they obviously evolved into their modern forms before advanced technology. If you saw something in the trees coming towards you, and you made a linear projection about where it would be in 15 seconds, and where you needed to not be, that actually worked very well. But these days we have different kinds of problems, and we need a different kind of thinking.
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Notice the breath entering and exiting the body at the tip of your nose.
