The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI
by Ray Kurzweil
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Ray Kurzweil presents TED talk on AI future + charts
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Spoiler:
Futurist Ray Kurzweil notes that we are the only species that creates tools that enhance our intelligence. The two parts of our anatomy that allow us to do this are our brains and our thumbs, which allow us to create a first generation of tools and then use those tools to invent successive generations of better tools. He notes that his new book contains about fifty graphs regarding AI and quickly clicks through some sample slides. He says the most exciting part of AI is the medical applications.
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Audience Q&A with Kurzweil from Abundance360 summit
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Spoiler:
The author emphasizes that it’s not “us vs. AI” but that AI is enhancing human intelligence, pointing to 2045 as the year in which our intelligence will be multiplied by a million-fold. Before opening the Q&A, he shares his thoughts on large language models, saying that developments like being able to ask Bard or ChatGPT to re-articulate your writing in the style of Shakespeare or e.e. cummings is as significant as the advent of written language 5000 years ago. He then answers a series of audience questions on subjects such as humanoid robots and human longevity.
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CBS author interview + photos and footage from his youth
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Jun, 2024
Spoiler:
The interviewer gives a brief overview of Kurzweil’s life and career, showing photos and video clips of the young futurist discussing a computer he had programmed to write music. Kurzweil says he doesn’t like the term “artificial intelligence” because it sounds fake, whereas it’s actually very real. They discuss people’s fear of AI (which Kurzweil finds ludicrous as AI is only making us smarter), longevity, and why people might or might not choose to die or to live longer.
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Author's YouTube channel introduces the book
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Jun, 2024
Spoiler:
In this short montage of images with a voiceover by the author, Ray Kurzweil emphasizes the positive applications of artificial intelligence, from faster cures for diseases to eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels to 3D printing being able to build affordable housing. He asks the audience to imagine a future in which the collective intelligence and creativity of humans is linked to the speed and agility of the fastest computer. He tries to assuage fears about AI by saying it must be built according to our values.
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Ray Kurzweil is an American computer scientist and futurist who pioneered pattern recognition technology and is a long-time advocate for humanity’s merger with technology. He has received a Grammy Award for outstanding achievements in music technology, the National Medal of Technology, and has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Kurzweil also holds twenty-one honorary doctorates and has been honored by three U.S. presidents.
Other books by Ray Kurzweil
Publications
The New York Times: A.I. Will Fix the World. The Catch? Robots in Your Veins.
Washington Post: Ray Kurzweil is (still, somehow) excited about humans merging with machines
New York Post: The human mind and AI are now closer than ever — and will soon surpass us in nearly every way
The American Scholar: We Are the Borg. Is the convergence of human and machine really upon us?
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