The World Without Us

[icarusfall]

I heard about this book on All Things Considered

You are a stereotype.

I heard about it there too

[Regus]

The author was on the daily show a few nights ago, which is how I learned about it. I found out that a friend of mine already owns this book, so I'm going to borrow it the next time I see him.

I found it interesting that bronze statues would still be distinguishable in millions of years. It's funny to think how much influence we have on the world based on how we've involved ourselves with it. Based on the fact that our planet (and probably every planet) is ultimately doomed towards extinction because of reactions involving stars, I wonder how far along humanity could end up in the evolutionary scale.

If we don't kill ourselves or die from some other random event, I forsee the human race moving towards a technological signularity.

In “The Age of Spiritual Machines”, author and futurist Ray Kurzweil theorizes about an event he calls the “singularity”. Since computers are growing at such an exponential rate Kurzweil claims that the day will come when human beings will have no choice but to become one with machines.

It will start small, first we will have devices that integrate machines into our bodies, such as implants and prosthetic devices which will allow us to enhance our natural abilities. Eventually artificial intelligence will become so advanced that programs will be indistinguishable from their human counterparts, and humans will eventually be able to “download” themselves into computers thus making cyber copies of themselves.

And as computers become even more and more advanced, they will surpass us in every single way imaginable, and the only way we shall be able to communicate with our machines is to become one with them. Conventional, flesh and blood humans will be a rare sight, for the vast majority of the human race shall be coexisting, digitally within cyberspace.

He claims that this is inevitable, and that the only way to stop it is to destroy the system which created it, but as we know, the human race has become so dependant upon computers that such a task has simply become impossible.

The earth will be destroyed, but a vast collective consciousness that was once the human race will be spread out through out the universe.


The Age of Spiritual Machines: http://www.amazon.com/Age-Spiritual-.../dp/0140282025

[Mr-K]

You are a stereotype.

I heard about it there too

When you deliver pizza in the afternoon and you don't have a way to listen to music in your car--you listen to All Things Considered. Religiously.

[Fe 26]

=/ what is going to power all of that?

and don't be so sure that the human condition is so fluid

[Fe 26]

When you deliver pizza in the afternoon and you don't have a way to listen to music in your car--you listen to All Things Considered. Religiously.

hell, I used to listen to all things considered a lot.

[Mr-K]

=/ what is going to power all of that?

and don't be so sure that the human condition is so fluid

SCIENCE!

[icarusfall]

I have a way to listen to music in my car and I still listen to NPR more than music.

[burgundy]

We don't know that computing power is growing at an exponential rate. We haven't seen the far side of the growth curve yet.

See Detour's recent thread.

[Josh]

Isn't there some law about processor growth?

[Regus]

Isn't there some law about processor growth?

Moore's Law

Kurzweil conjectures that it is likely that some new type of technology will replace current integrated-circuit technology, and that Moore's Law will hold true long after 2020. He believes that the exponential growth of Moore's Law will continue beyond the use of integrated circuits into technologies that will lead to the technological singularity. The Law of Accelerating Returns described by Ray Kurzweil has in many ways altered the public's perception of Moore's Law. It is a common (but mistaken) belief that Moore's Law makes predictions regarding all forms of technology, when it actually only concerns semiconductor circuits. Many futurists still use the term "Moore's Law" in this broader sense to describe ideas like those put forth by Kurzweil.