We are urged to watch for a supercomputer with the capacity of a human brain. Tomorrow’s ‘reversible’ circuits will not. Today’s ‘irreversible’ circuits generate heat. Design seems limited only by the laws of physics, and cost is limited by energy loss through heat, which equates with inefficiency. One much anticipated breakthrough will be a three-dimensional circuit, working in parallel like the brain. When we read about circuits built from carbon nanotubes (one nanometer = one billionth of one meter), molecular rings, or DNA switches, or photonic and quantum computers, the line between science and science fiction fades. (And while costs steadily decline, the rich-poor divide of accessibility diminishes.) Where will all these trends lead? Could one build a computer the size of a golf ball with the power of one trillion Deep Blues? The number of technology patents increases, while the cost of production decreases. Likewise, as RAM transistor capacity has risen, computer size has fallen as supercomputer power and magnetic data storage have grown, their hardware has shrunk – and so has the cost. Readers over fifty may recall at first envying those who could afford a VCR, and then buying one themselves and we all have watched the cost of a HDTV fall to one fifteenth of its original price in ten years. Here Kuzweil plays the gritty realist, explaining the future in dollars and cents. How is this to happen? The ‘Law of Accelerating Returns’ says that the rate of growth of the capabilities of computers increases exponentially.

To Kurzweil, technology should not be seen as incompatible with or opposed to nature: instead, it leads us to the end of evolution, and beyond. Kurzweil’s case for our extraordinary destiny across the Universe begins with an explanation of the book’s subtitle, When Humans Transcend Biology. He writes, “That’s about as close to God as I can imagine.” For instance, Kurzweil believes that we will eventually permeate the Universe with intelligence, causing the Universe itself to ‘awaken’. In The Singularity is Near, Kurzweil defines the ‘Singularity’ as “a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed.” Kurzweil insists that once this Singularity arrives, the answers to the questions ‘What does it mean to be human?’ and ‘What are the limits of human knowledge?’ will be answered in ways as-yet-unimaginable. The word ‘singularity’ was first applied to the transformative impact of technology by mathematician John von Neumann. SUBSCRIBE NOW Books The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil James Williams has a singularily good time.Īlthough promoted as science, Ray Kurzweil’s writing will appeal to readers of philosophy as well.

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