Book Review: A Singularity is Near – By Ray Kurzweil – Hold onto your Arse, Here we go!

 

Ray Kurzweil is a serious inventor / technologist.  He’s no Art Bell type with lots of wild claims and no underlying fiber of intellect or work to back it all up.  This guy is serious.

His book is a hard read with some redundance and so I read passages skipping a solid read from cover to cover.  I read it because I take Ray seriously in spite of what seems to be a tacit acceptance of global warming.  Even though I am absolutely certain global warming is a tee shirt scam I let Ray slide on it because he’s not vocal about it.  In his mind he has good reason not to worry.

In “The Singularity is Near” he talks primarily about the exponential rate of growth of knowledge and technology.  Flowing from this are talks on augmentation of the human organism.  The essential thesis is that we are taking control of our own evolution.  No longer will it be on the order of bits per thousand years.  Nanotech, AI, genetic engineering and robotics will lead us inexorably to radical life extension, radically greater intelligence and finally physical forms that scarcely resemble our present ones.   

While it may make some people uncomfortable that we will become essentially immortal or that some people will probably morph themselves in rather wild trendy directions its an unstoppable process.  Should any legislation try to thwart the process it will merely go offshore and / or underground.

Personally I’m looking forward to the day when the increase in intelligence completely eliminates liberalism.  With no patsies to feed upon and dupe, liberalism has no chance of survival. Its in the cards.  Its only a matter of time now.