Friday, August 27, 2010

Ray Kurzweil: The Singularity Is Near (Videos) *The ethics of human enhancement*

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Ray Kurzweil and the Technological Singularity


Ray Kurzweil: Ethics of Human Enhancement

Ray Kurzweil was recently featured on the PBS show Religion and Ethics Weekly in a segment titled Ethics of Human Enhancement. He discusses the eventuality of the man/machine future: "we are going to become a hybrid of machine and our biological heritage. We are not going to be transcending  our humanity, we are going to be transcending our biology".

Mr. Kurzweil  predicts by 2050 that non-biological, artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence - the Technological Singularity. Can human limitations and death be overcome via exponential growth in technology?

E. Christian Brugger, Associate Professor of Moral Theology at Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, Colorado, takes the counterpoint and a traditional, mainstream religious view. He disagrees with the philosophy that humans can overcome their  limitations - that "spirit", as defined in traditional theology, is being ignored. He disagrees that technology can replace God.

John Donoghue, PhD, MS, Professor, Neuroscience & Engineering, at Brown Institute for Brain Science disagrees with the exponential increase in technology in his field but does give examples of what technology is doing to assist disabled people.

Colin Angle, CEO and co-founder of iRobot, says the future will even be stranger than we imagine.

PBS "Ethics of Human Enhancement" Futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts that in the future humans will use technology to become smarter and healthier.




Ray Kurzweil discusses the concept of "God", the future of humanity, the exponential increase of technology, and the future of the Universe. Machines of the future will be indistinguishable from humans in thought and consciousness. The Universe will become filled with intelligence.

PBS "Ray Kurzweil Extended Interview" Biological and technological evolution "is a spiritual process," says this leading futurist. "Entities become more godlike, never reaching that ideal but moving in that direction exponentially."






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2 comments:

  1. The names and the things, of which the names are the names, form a living web in which the "logos mundi" circulates. A thing ("res"), each thing, is an individuated entity that can be signalized by a name that, necessarily, maintains with the thing a relation of "truth". In the cases in which that is not the case, then, the name, that is said of the thing, is not the case that it is.

    Singularity is a name for that which is unique and, thus, systemically irrepeatable. A singularity does not make itself announced (not even by a "Sentient Prophet"). A singularity announces itself. A concrete example of a singularity is an event ("eventus") and an event is that which suddenly irrupts in the systems, from a systemic nonlocality that determines the character of irreducibility that the system, in its whole, computes as unique, unconfoundable and irrepeatable.

    When Ray Kurzweil states that the singularity is near, of what is he talking about? Has some kaleidoscopic Laplacian "daimon" whispered something in his ear? What does Ray Kurzweil know that we, the populace that sustains and maintains "The World System", do not? Or is it all a matter of market and marketing towards "desiring machines"?

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  2. Sorry, your comment was in suspense, just found and posted it. I don't agree with your logic about a singularity not being predictable, which is your premise. However, I think that is a good point to ponder, which I've never really thought about before. I think Kurzweil is sincere and not "just marketing" regarding the technological singularity. He's made a fortune from his inventions and related start-up companies. Therefore, I don't think he's in this for the money and really believes what he says. I agree with him. What does he know that we don't? There were others before him with this idea. He is well known for other achievements so came to the forefront. I personally think he's smarter than me, he knows what he's talking about, and the subject is fascinating. Thanks for commenting!

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