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Title: The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence by Ray Kurzweil ISBN: 0-14-028202-5 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: March, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.95 (148 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Scary and Wondrous Vision of the Near Future
Comment: "The Age of Spiritual Machines" by Ray Kurzweil has really ruined Science Fiction for me. It's all so unimaginative, compared to what he thinks is really going to happen. Kurzweil's predictions for ten, twenty, and a hundred years into our future, if true, imply that the last generation of 'true' humans (MOSHs he calls us)is already walking on Earth. If he's right (and he's been right about a lot of things - M.I.T. named him the Inventor of the Year in 1988) and if I can hang on for another twenty years, I may never have to die.
What's really scary about reading this book is that some of the things Kurzweil predicted while writing it in 1998 have already come true - ahead of his schedule - e.g. the deciphering of the human genome. And although he tries to be optimistic, he also appears to be very worried about our future on a world populated by bio-engineered viruses and rogue, self-replicating nanobots.
If you're a poet or would like to test yourself to see if you can distinguish poetry written by a human from poetry written by a computer, be sure to visit Kurzweil's website [online]. Take his poetry 'Turing test' and download his free Cybernetic Poet software.
Be sure to read this book, too. It will help prepare you for your very interesting post-MOSH future.
Rating: 4
Summary: It's good to read a book like this at least once a year
Comment: This book got me excited. It changed the way I think about the future, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand the possibilities that the future holds.
Kurzweil presents his theories a lot more convincingly than I can, but I've certainly tried a lot since I read this book. It stimulates philosophical debate on the nature of life and intelligence, but grounds its philosophical wanderings in believable theory.
The book is not without its problems. The jump into the future of nanotechnology leaves is abrupt and the Law of Accelerating returns is not a law but a trend. He ignores the possibility of social movements or government action to prevent Artificial Intelligence research once it reaches a certain level. When he speaks about specific aspects of humanity or sex, he reveals an incomplete understanding of the way people feel and love.
But these flaws only serve to remind the reader that the book is indeed speculation, not fact. And the speculation is beautiful, absolutely inspiring. It introduced possibilities and ideas that I'm still turning over in my mind, and it did it all with clear, entertaining writing that a non-scientist like me can understand.
Pick up this book, read it, make your friends read it, and enjoy the time you spend discussing it. The resulting conversations will be so much more interesting than your usual social fare.
In fact, read a book like this every year, whether it's something totally off the wall (Robert Anton Wilson's "Prometheus Rising") or a little more grounded in current science (Kevin Kelly's "Out of Control"). It will broaden your "reality-tunnel" and get your mind working with big, fun concepts.
Rating: 4
Summary: Are we the Machine?
Comment: I am not sure there is anything I could say that someone else reviewing this book has not already said. My experience was hit & miss, reading the book in short spurts over a month or so a few months back. His expectations and theories of where computing is headed are intriguing, and you can easily correlate what has already happened and what has been announced to his theories. The title was published in 1999, but yet even with how fast computing has changed Kurzwell's thoughts flow along with the advances that have happened since 1999. Who knows what will happen, and the author could be a bit optimistic in his thoughts - but I think that is just a humans well wishes for our kind showing in his writing.
The suggested readings & web links will have you reading & researching for a long time to come.
I would venture to recommend this title to anyone who is interested or works with computing. Having a grasp on where we have been , and where we are (most likely) heading towards.
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Title: Are We Spiritual Machines?: Ray Kurzweil vs. the Critics of Strong A.I. by Jay W. Richards, George F. Gilder, Ray Kurzweil, Thomas Ray, John Searle, William Dembski, Michael Denton ISBN: 0963865439 Publisher: Discovery Institute Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind by Hans P. Moravec ISBN: 0195136306 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The Age of Intelligent Machines by Raymond Kurzweil ISBN: 0262610795 Publisher: MIT Press Pub. Date: 30 January, 1992 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: The Next Fifty Years : Science in the First Half of the Twenty-first Century by John Brockman ISBN: 0375713425 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 14 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Darwin Among the Machines: The Evolution of Global Intelligence (Helix Books) by George B. Dyson ISBN: 0738200301 Publisher: Perseus Book Group Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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