Ray Kurzweil

[elwoodblues1969]

In this video,Ray Kurzweil touches on the subject of singularity...in terms of the exponential rate that technology is advancing,particularly with artificial intelligence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uIzS1uCOcE

In this video(which is part 1 of the Singularity Summit at Stanford University),Ray Kurzweil elaborates in detail,on the topic of AI and predicts that as of the year 2029,we will have a full,comprehensive understanding of all the areas of the brain,which will allow us to create a computer that will exceed the capacity of the human brain.
I had never believed that it would ever be possible to replicate the human brain in a size any smaller than a computer the size of a refrigerator,but Ray Kurzweil has already proved many theories that others thought impossible,so I for one,am convinced of his projections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PWXrnsSrf0

This reminds me of a prediction that Jim Morrison once made 40 years ago,which was that synthesizers were going to progress into the music scene to be commonplace,thus creating an electronic genre......how right he was!!



-Thom

[Oren]

Fascinating!

[Marc JX8P]

I do believe that conciousness and intelligence is replicable in an artificial context (in fact, many ai applications these days deliver results that are really amazing; just think about pattern recognition and navigation systems) but it would seem that it's impossible to have a prediction. There have been numerous serious predictions about this in the past (Arthur C. Clarke's HAL, for example, and mr. Clarke was a genius, having already predicted the use of geo-stationary orbits for communication satellites) but in the end this is such a complex thing that factors might never fall into place. On the other hand, digital technology being what it is means that having achieved a true, concious AI that this would be scaleable and duplicable across systems in way that biological intelligence never could be.

It would be I think one of the most amazing things ever: you'd have a life form that wasn't created out of an evolutionary drive, so it presumably wouldn't have any need for aggressiveness. On the other hand, attachment to others and love are also significant evolutionary factors so it might not have that either. Ah, where's Susan Calvin when you need her? )

This is very cool - but I doubt whether it'll happen soon. As far as I know, Ray Kurzweil also intends to transfer his personality into a computer and thus never die so I'm kind of sceptical.