"The Singularity is Near"

[MidnightWizard]

IF some of the people here think discussion of certain topics makes me "looney" I wonder what they think of this guy ..............


Washington (UPI) Jun 4, 2010
He speaks nine languages, taught himself Icelandic in a week and invented his own language he calls Manti.
The 31-year-old autistic savant does complex celestial computations in seconds, sees hundreds of numbers on
a blackboard once and can recite them in the correct sequence minutes later. (http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Commentary_Singularity_is_here_999.html)

or

this book / movie

"The Singularity is Near" (http://www.singularity.com/themovie/background.php)


...this will be one of the most cited books of the decade."
- Kevin Kelly co-founder of WIRED, on Ray Kurzweil's book, The Singularity is Near (on which the movie is based)


A story about the Future (http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/frame.html?main=/news/news_single.html?id%3D12240)



"The Singularity is Near: A True Story About the Future," by filmmakers Anthony Waller, Ray Kurzweil, Ehren Koepf and Toshi Hoo, with Executive Producer Martine Rothblatt (Terasem Motion InfoCulture), makes its world premiere on Saturday, June 12, 2010 at the 30th Annual Breckenridge Film Festival.

The feature-length documentary film presents the daring arguments from Kurzweil's New York Times bestselling book, "The Singularity is Near."
He predicts that with the ever-accelerating rate of technological change, humanity is fast approaching an era in which our intelligence will become trillions of times more powerful and increasingly merged with computers.
This will be the dawning of a new civilization, enabling us to transcend our biological limitations. In Kurzweil's post-biological world, boundaries blur between human and machine, real and virtual.
Human aging and illness are reversed, world hunger and poverty are solved, and we cure death.
He maintains a radically optimistic view of the future course of human development while acknowledging profound new dangers.
Kurzweil examines the social and philosophical implications of these profound changes and the potential threats they pose to human civilization in dialogues with big thinkers, including former White House counterterrorism chief Richard A. Clarke; technologists Bill Joy, Mitch Kapor, Marvin Minsky, Eric Drexler, Sherry Turkle and Cynthia Breazeal; Future Shock author Alvin Toffler; civil liberties lawyer Alan Dershowitz; venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and environmentalist Bill McKibben.
Kurzweil illustrates the future with a narrative story about an "AI" seeking her human rights, featuring popular NCIS actress Pauley Perrette and personal development guru Tony Robbins.
The Singularity Is Near offers a view of the coming age that is both a dramatic culmination of centuries of technological ingenuity and a genuinely inspiring vision of our ultimate destiny.

The Breckenridge Theater (operating as the Backstage Theater) is located at 121 South Ridge Street, Breckenridge, CO 80424.
A discussion with Ray Kurzweil will immediately follow the screening. Festival passes are available now or by phone at (970) 547-3100.


Probably too cerebral for most here :(:cry:

[AstroTurf]

Do you think the common man would be told if/when the singularity is reached?

[Balstrome]

He was not.

[The_Assimilator]

Do you think the common man would be told if/when the singularity is reached?

We won't need to be told: it will simply happen, and nothing will be able to stop it. I only hope that I live long enough to experience the Singularity, and witness humankind transcend mortality.

[Lupus]

I remember Sci-fi back in the day used to harp on about this, a single point where progression is just so fast it happens in the blink of an eye.

[fskmh]

The 31-year-old autistic savant does complex celestial computations in seconds, sees hundreds of numbers on a blackboard once and can recite them in the correct sequence minutes later. (http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Commentary_Singularity_is_here_999.html)

But did he have his scaling set to logarithmic or linear when he saw this? :p

Articles like this always seem to focus on the hardware, taking it for granted that the software will be there too. From my programming/system integration perspective I would expect that "death cure" will be in beta for some time, even when the "problem" is no longer CPU bound.

[Garyvdh]

Ja, I was there when that happened... dang near dropped my Yogi Sip! :eek:

[Hosehead]

The only bit that interests me:
taught himself Icelandic in a week

Now if only he wrote a book how he did it, we would have a new national language that would do away with the 12 useless ones we have and we'll all be speaking Icelandic.

[DarkStreet]

Now if only he wrote a book how he did it

He's savant.

[MidnightWizard]

Do you think the common man would be told if/when the singularity is reached?


In order to find out I I guess you could start at AMAZON ........

Comments (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143037889?ie=UTF8&tag=crb0tamzu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0143037889)

What I find most interesting :)

[murraybiscuit]

this guy wouldn't be the sigur ros lead singer would it? he's got his own version of icelandic glossalia.
and that creepy eye.
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/29583111/Jn+r+Birgisson+Jonsi+3.jpg
i'd call him a singularity.

[phenom]

Well an immorality myself, and also a true admirer of this man and his creative talent and persistence. I don't think that this guy has coins in the right basket this time.

Frankly and yes it does concern us all, What he is asking for here is really life without a dick / true bumpalons.

Unfortunately, what he says may be completely plausible: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?156542-New-Biometrics-tech-to-be-commercialised http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?159973-The-future-of-humanity-SD-cards http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?143473-Mechanical-organs-a-horrible-choice!


And yes, there are many in the immortalist/lifeist croud which apposes transhumanism. Wish i had more time today to go into this topic.

The Immortalist community has this to say: http://www.longevitymeme.org/articles/viewarticle.cfm?article_id=1
Either we will live into old age in good health...

...or we will live and die as we do today.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPKDrGS89I0

Best alternative and also a all-rund solution to some of the worlds greatest problems i think would rather be whole-body transplants, this one would be much more feasible and simple too.

Others include those lead by medical researchers such as aubrey de Grey, who simply wants to get this right through medication, perhaps even OTC, rather than have any thing replaced or any surgery done. however i still think that transplanting the brain would be the best option as this way we are sure proof to get away from 99% of all illnesses that we may encounter in the future, and we will still remain completely human too, we could even choose a more hunky body if we'd like.

but one things for certain, if the world continues to progress, then this would be the greatest and most interesting century in all history, we here could literally become the first true immortals. Theoretically it is certainly possible, we just only need to get to make it feasible. :)

[Lightscribe]

IF some of the people here think discussion of certain topics makes me "looney" I wonder what they think of this guy ..............


Washington (UPI) Jun 4, 2010
He speaks nine languages, taught himself Icelandic in a week and invented his own language he calls Manti.
The 31-year-old autistic savant does complex celestial computations in seconds, sees hundreds of numbers on
a blackboard once and can recite them in the correct sequence minutes later. (http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Commentary_Singularity_is_here_999.html)

or

this book / movie

"The Singularity is Near" (http://www.singularity.com/themovie/background.php)


A story about the Future (http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/frame.html?main=/news/news_single.html?id%3D12240)



Probably too cerebral for most here :(:cry:

What's cereal...I mean cerebral...? :p

[Lightscribe]

Ja, I was there when that happened... dang near dropped my Yogi Sip! :eek:

Me too! I dropped my "Label"...

I get so ashamed at...uhm...uhhhmmm..me....us...it...

Here's life...

My daughter started messing around with boys at 14. In the 80's, we were laughing at "there's no virgin in 'Toti, over 12". We must have evolved. :p

[Lightscribe]

BTW. Paul Kruger took a wife at 13. She was 12...We have evolved...well, ok, except for the anc/sacp/cosatu! :P

[PeterCH]

IF some of the people here think discussion of certain topics makes me "looney" I wonder what they think of this guy ..............
Probably too cerebral for most here :(:cry:

Hype. Great marketing - to sell books.

Then again many people envision trans-humanism, it's not a new concept. You can see a lot of it in San Francisco too.

[Lightscribe]

Well an immorality myself, and also a true admirer of this man and his creative talent and persistence. I don't think that this guy has coins in the right basket this time.

Frankly and yes it does concern us all, What he is asking for here is really life without a dick / true bumpalons.

Unfortunately, what he says may be completely plausible: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?156542-New-Biometrics-tech-to-be-commercialised http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?159973-The-future-of-humanity-SD-cards http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?143473-Mechanical-organs-a-horrible-choice!

And yes, there are many in the immortalist/lifeist croud which apposes transhumanism. Wish i had more time today to go into this topic.

The Immortalist community has this to say: http://www.longevitymeme.org/articles/viewarticle.cfm?article_id=1



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPKDrGS89I0

Best alternative and also a all-rund solution to some of the worlds greatest problems i think would rather be whole-body transplants, this one would be much more feasible and simple too.

Others include those lead by medical researchers such as aubrey de Grey, who simply wants to get this right through medication, perhaps even OTC, rather than have any thing replaced or any surgery done. however i still think that transplanting the brain would be the best option as this way we are sure proof to get away from 99% of all illnesses that we may encounter in the future, and we will still remain completely human too, we could even choose a more hunky body if we'd like.

but one things for certain, if the world continues to progress, then this would be the greatest and most interesting century in all history, we here could literally become the first true immortals. Theoretically it is certainly possible, we just only need to get to make it feasible. :)

F**k theory. Look at yourself in the mirror.

Look at yourself.

You, as you stand there, have lived forever.

From unicellular organisms, your eyes, your heart muscles, your bones, and others, through to complex systems forming in that head of yours...

You, being alive, are immortal.

Die without an heir. You die out. Nature, God, The Selfish Gene, demands procreation.The Jewish nation reign supreme in this simple knowledge.

[phenom]

F**k theory. Look at yourself in the mirror.

Look at yourself.

You, as you stand there, have lived forever.

From unicellular organisms, your eyes, your heart muscles, your bones, and others, through to complex systems forming in that head of yours...

You, being alive, are immortal.

Die without an heir. You die out. Nature, God, The Selfish Gene, demands procreation.The Jewish nation reign supreme in this simple knowledge.Yay, sex will be so much f**kin fun when i'm a corpse. :D

i won't be sentient, therefor i won't be alive. The atoms that have made me have existed forever, not me myself. ;)

[Lightscribe]

Yay, sex will be so much f**kin fun when i'm a corpse. :D

i won't be sentient, therefor i won't be alive. The atoms that have made me have existed forever, not me myself. ;)

Hahahah! Stop thinking as space dust! Just enjoy your orgasm and live... ;)

[phenom]

Hahahah! Stop thinking as space dust! Just enjoy your orgasm and live... ;)Yes, but i also want to prolong it as long as possible :)

[Lightscribe]

Mmmmm k...No argument... :D

[Tacet]

Yay, sex will be so much f**kin fun when i'm a corpse. :D

i won't be sentient, therefor i won't be alive. The atoms that have made me have existed forever, not me myself. ;)

Which bring us to the question: what is you, yourself?

[Nothxkbi]

Me too! I dropped my "Label"...

I get so ashamed at...uhm...uhhhmmm..me....us...it...

Here's life...

My daughter started messing around with boys at 14. In the 80's, we were laughing at "there's no virgin in 'Toti, over 12". We must have evolved. :p

If only UK would catch up. Nowdays the joke is, your 13th birthday present is a pram.

[PeterCH]

Theoretically it is certainly possible, we just only need to get to make it feasible. :)

Theoretically possible to become immortal in our present physical form? Through implants? That's nice - I just don't see how we could achieve that even in theory - say we transfer your thoughts, personality, behavior, memories etc into a cybernetic brain (like on GHOST IN THE SHELL movies/TV series) - what then? You still remain in YOUR brain - the cybernetic brain is separate - we've made an AI who is a copy of you but is a separate individual to you.
The trick is to somehow have your organic brain become cybernetic and so indestructible and become connected with everything and everyone else - heck maybe add a physical cyborg body for effect - that I don't see as theoretically possible (at present at least). Maybe if we could map out every single neuron, synapse and intra-and interneuron connection and from within convert your own brain one neuron at a time - perhaps it would work but that is so iffy. Maybe with nanotechnology - but we still don't understand how consciousness works.

[Palimino]

IF some of the people here think discussion of certain topics makes me "looney" I wonder what they think of this guy ..............

Don’t dismiss Ray Kurzweil as a flake! He has impeccable credentials and is a bit optimistic IMO, but should be given the benefit of the doubt. I have been getting email spam regarding this movie for some time. It premieres shortly.

The burden of staying informed in most scientific spheres (science involves more than IT) is growing and if you want any kind of a life you have to find shortcuts. Kurzweil puts out a (free email) newsletter, which covers most major technological advances (he is a big shot in AI). The format is quite friendly – a few lines describing the advance, then a hyperlink to the original document if you want to read further. There are daily (infodump option) or weekly (my option) selections.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/index.html

Aggressive technophiles may find this site interesting. I want to see the movie.

[The_Assimilator]

Theoretically possible to become immortal in our present physical form? Through implants? That's nice - I just don't see how we could achieve that even in theory - say we transfer your thoughts, personality, behavior, memories etc into a cybernetic brain (like on GHOST IN THE SHELL movies/TV series) - what then? You still remain in YOUR brain - the cybernetic brain is separate - we've made an AI who is a copy of you but is a separate individual to you.
The trick is to somehow have your organic brain become cybernetic and so indestructible and become connected with everything and everyone else - heck maybe add a physical cyborg body for effect - that I don't see as theoretically possible (at present at least). Maybe if we could map out every single neuron, synapse and intra-and interneuron connection and from within convert your own brain one neuron at a time - perhaps it would work but that is so iffy. Maybe with nanotechnology - but we still don't understand how consciousness works.

Of course it's difficult - but look at how far we've come. The first real computers were invented in the 1940s and 60 years later we have computers thousands of times smaller that are thousands of times more powerful. In another 60 years, who knows how far technology will have advanced? I don't believe that we'll have fully cybernetic brains and bodies by the 2020s as Shirow predicts, but I do believe I'll see them within my lifetime.

Heck, I'd happily settle for just a cybernetic brain permanently connected to the Internet!

[Palimino]

IF some of the people here think discussion of certain topics makes me "looney" I wonder what they think of this guy ..............


Washington (UPI) Jun 4, 2010
He speaks nine languages, taught himself Icelandic in a week and invented his own language he calls Manti.
The 31-year-old autistic savant does complex celestial computations in seconds, sees hundreds of numbers on
a blackboard once and can recite them in the correct sequence minutes later. (http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Commentary_Singularity_is_here_999.html)

or

this book / movie

"The Singularity is Near" (http://www.singularity.com/themovie/background.php)


A story about the Future (http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/frame.html?main=/news/news_single.html?id%3D12240)



Probably too cerebral for most here :(:cry:





KurzweilAI.net is Pleased to Announce:

The Singularity is Near, A True Story About the Future Documentary Film by Inventor, Futurist Ray Kurzweil East Coast Premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival on September 30th

Special Woodstock Film Festival panel discussion: The Singularity is Near features Ray Kurzweil and Martine Rothblatt.

September 13, 2010 (BOSTON) -- "The Singularity is Near, A True Story About the Future," by filmmakers Anthony Waller, Ray Kurzweil, Ehren Koepf and Toshi Hoo, with Executive Producer Martine Rothblatt (Terasem Motion InfoCulture), makes its East Coast premiere on Thursday, September 30, 2010 at the 11th annual Woodstock Film Festival. A special panel discussion featuring Ray Kurzweil and Martine Rothblatt will follow the premiere screening. The film is among 25 feature documentary films being screened at the 5 day festival.

ABOUT THE FILM
The feature-length documentary film presents the daring arguments from Kurzweil's New York Times bestselling book, "The Singularity is Near." He predicts that with the ever-accelerating rate of technological change, humanity is fast approaching an era in which our intelligence will become trillions of times more powerful and increasingly merged with computers. This will be the dawning of a new civilization, enabling us to transcend our biological limitations. In Kurzweil's post-biological world, boundaries blur between human and machine, real and virtual. Human aging and illness are reversed, world hunger and poverty are solved, and we cure death. He maintains a radically optimistic view of the future course of human development while acknowledging profound new dangers.
"Kurzweil is the best person I know at predicting the future," according to Bill Gates. "Kurzweil envisions a future in which information technologies have advanced so far and fast that they enable humanity to transcend its biological limitations --transforming our lives in ways we can't yet imagine."
Kurzweil examines the social and philosophical implications of these profound changes and the potential threats they pose to human civilization in dialogues with big thinkers, including former White House counterterrorism chief Richard A. Clarke; technologists Bill Joy, Mitch Kapor, Marvin Minsky, Eric Drexler, Sherry Turkle and Cynthia Breazeal; Future Shock author Alvin Toffler; civil liberties lawyer Alan Dershowitz; venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and environmentalist Bill McKibben. Kurzweil illustrates the future with a narrative story about an "AI" seeking her human rights, featuring popular NCIS actress Pauley Perrette and personal development guru Tony Robbins. The movie, The Singularity Is Near offers a view of the coming age that is both a dramatic culmination of centuries of technological ingenuity and a genuinely inspiring vision of our ultimate destiny.

For more information about the film visit: Singularity.com/themovie

WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL PREMIERE SCREENING
The Singularity is Near will premiere Thursday, September 30, 1:00 p.m. at the Bearsville Theatre, 291 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY. A special panel discussion featuring Ray Kurzweil and Martine Rothblatt will follow the screening at 3:00 p.m. in the Utopia Studio, 293 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY. A second screening for the film will be held on Sunday, October 3, 8:00 p.m. at the Upstate Films Rhinebeck, 6415 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, NY. Individual tickets to screenings and panels are available online now at woodstockfilmfestival.com

ABOUT THE WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL
The Woodstock Film Festival is a not-for-profit, 501©(3) organization whose mission is to present an annual program and year-round schedule of film, music and art-related activities that promotes artists, culture, inspired learning, and diversity. The 11th annual Woodstock Film Festival will take place September 29-October 3, 2010. The festival includes more than 150 films, panels, concerts and special events in Woodstock and the neighboring towns of Kingston, Rhinebeck and Rosendale. WFF premieres exceptional films; hosts emerging and established filmmakers; presents A-list concerts, parties and panels, and creates stimulating, innovative year-round programming For more information visit woodstockfilmfestival.com or call (845) 679-4265


ABOUT RAY KURZWEIL
Inventor Ray Kurzweil is one of the world's leading futurists, with a 20-year track record of accurate predictions. Called the "restless genius" by The Wall Street Journal and "the ultimate thinking machine" by Forbes magazine, Kurzweil was selected as one of the top entrepreneurs by Inc. magazine, which described him as the "rightful heir to Thomas Edison." Inventor of the first CCD flat bed scanner and many other firsts, Kurzweil is an inductee in the National Inventors Hall of Fame and recipient of the National Medal of Technology, the Lemelson-MIT Prize (the world's largest for innovation), and 19 honorary doctorates and awards from three U.S. presidents.


ABOUT MARTINE ROTHBLATT & TERASEM MOTION INFOCULTURE
Martine Rothblatt, J.D. Ph.D. started the satellite vehicle tracking and satellite radio industries and is the Chairman of United Therapeutics, a biotechnology company headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland. Dr. Rothblatt founded Terasem Motion InfoCulture with a mission to create exciting media products on the themes of diversity, unity and joyful techno-immortality. This includes films, DVDs, webcasts, and CDs, among other formats. For more information: teraseminfoculture.com

CONTACT


Sarah Reed,
Public Relations Manager,
781-263-0000
SReed@Kurzweiltech.com
Celia Black,
Media Relations,
360-320-8087
Celia@Kurzweiltech.com

[Geriatrix]

The problem with this singularity business is the same problem communism has. It doesn't take human nature into account. People are simply to dishonest,greedy, selfish and lazy for it to be viable, workable process.

[Palimino]

The problem with this singularity business is the same problem communism has. It doesn't take human nature into account. People are simply to dishonest,greedy, selfish and lazy for it to be viable, workable process.

This is true in the normal run of events. However if these claims are accurate, it’s a real game changer. More significant than anything in human history (including the wheel and fire), a quantum leap in evolution. If immortality and intellects a trillion times more powerful are offered, a critical mass is soon built-up. Our concept of ‘people’ will change, along with our definition of ‘human nature’ (it will become olde worlde quaint) and what it means to be human.

[The_Assimilator]

The problem with this singularity business is the same problem communism has. It doesn't take human nature into account. People are simply to dishonest,greedy, selfish and lazy for it to be viable, workable process.

The difference is that those who refuse to accept the singularity will simply be left behind. Therefore, they won't be able to cause problems for those that have evolved past petty human emotions. Much like theists versus atheists, one group will be left behind, while the other will plot the course of humankind's future.

[D.B.Cooper]

I think a better question would be "Why would the majority want this?" Fact is, most people on this planet believe in the existence of a god of some sort and an afterlife. Being immortal and "living forever" (you can't really live forever though - just till the end of the universe ;) ) would rob them of their just reward of a life spent following the teaching of their religion. If you can already live in, say a simulation of whatever existence you desire in some computer somewhere, why would you need heaven, or religion for that matter. It would become meaningless. Considering how strongly a large chunk of the world feels about this I don't see them going for that at all. And they are the majority.

[wrathex]

We are the borg. ;0
The internet is our first collective.

First came cables, then wireless - (in the meantime extraterrestrials visit and we trade tek), then comes implants - the cyborg, then comes more implants - in the meantime, some AI's come into existence, our children--> the AI's then help us, become borglike..not all will go this evolutionary path, some purists will remain organic, some will mate with et's, there will be hybrids - the future is coming and progression/evolution cannot be stopped - long live all lifeforms ! hail hail hail :p

[Palimino]

Being immortal and "living forever" (you can't really live forever though - just till the end of the universe ;) ) would rob them of their just reward of a life spent following the teaching of their religion.

This is of concern, **not because of the religious crap spewed** but because immortality would create stasis in natural evolution. However, I would imagine that with an intellect a trillion times more powerful, you direct your own evolution. You ‘outgrow’ or ‘out evolve’ natural evolution.