[ExI] Ray Kurzweil's upcoming film about the Singularity

[John]

James Clement initially posted this on the WTA list and I am both extremely excited and yet also nervous about Ray Kurzweil's upcoming film.  I hope it is equal to the subject material and that it makes it into enough theaters (with enough advertising & marketing mojo behind them) to have its presence strongly felt.  The odds are good it will stir up much thoughtful (and also sometimes thoughtless...) public debate.  
   
  This could be the huge memetic leap forward we have been dreaming about for so long!  
   
  Thank you, Ray Kurzweil!
   
  John Grigg : )
  
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/news/2007/11/kurzweil_qa

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You: The Singularity
By Eliza Strickland  11.13.07 | 3:00 PM 
 
 
Ray Kurzweil speaks on Singularity at the RAS Conference 2007 in San
Francisco, Feb. 7, 2007. 
Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images 
Ray Kurzweil has plenty of titles already: inventor, author, futurist,
techno-optimist, artificial intelligence expert. Now he's adding a
 Hollywood
gloss to that list by writing, directing, producing and acting in his
 first
feature film. He's adapting his latest book to make a movie titled The
Singularity Is Near: A True Story About The Future. 

The "technological singularity" is a concept that's enchanting to some,
 like
Kurzweil, and terrifying to others. As a result of the exponential
 progress
of technology, Kurzweil believes, we're racing towards a day when the
 power
of the artificially intelligent machines we create will exceed human
brainpower. Our computers will then carry on fashioning a new world --
 with
luck, they'll keep our best interests in mind. 

Wired News talked to Kurzweil about the movie that he hopes will give
 us a
glimpse into that world. 

Wired News: Can you tell me a bit about the structure of the movie? 

Ray Kurzweil: There's an intertwined A-line and B-line: The A-line is a
documentary, and the B-line is a narrative. Did you see What The Bleep
 Do We
Know!? I didn't like the movie that much. But you can convey
 information
well with that structure. On its own, the narrative line is so
 specific, it
can't give you all the information. But sitting through 100 minutes of
 a
documentary can be ponderous. So we're combining the two. 

WN: What's in the documentary part? 

Kurzweil: It contains footage of myself, and also me interviewing 20
 big
thinkers, talking about their ideas, and their ideas about my ideas. We
 have
people like Eric Drexler, one of the founders of nanotech; Aubrey de
 Grey, a
theorist about radical life extension; Bill Joy. 

Bill Joy had a famous cover story in Wired that created a firestorm,
 because
you had a technological leader talking about the dire prospects of
technology. His article was based on my previous book, The Age of
 Spiritual
Machines. He and I are often compared. Even though I'm known as an
 optimist,
I've always investigated the promise of new technology versus the
 peril. In
that Wired article, Bill Joy focused on the peril. 

WN: So you're debating some of these people in the interviews? 

Kurzweil: Yes, there's Bill McKibben -- have you ever heard about this
phenomenon called global warming? Well, he coined the term. He has a
 book
called Enough, where he says we should not pursue more GNR -- that's
genetics, nanotech, robotics. He argues for the relinquishment view,
 and
says, "Let's relinquish these new technologies, they're too dangerous."
 

That's not a view I can accept, for three reasons. One, it would
 deprive us
of all the benefits, like curing cancer. One of the questions I ask him
 is,
"If you really want to stop global warming and wean us from fossil
 fuels,
and (technological progress) is the only way to do it, would you give
 it
up?" Second, it would require an authoritarian system to implement such
 a
drastic change. Third, it wouldn't work, it would just drive the
 technology
underground. 

WN: OK, that's the A-line. What's the narrative you use for a B-line? 

Kurzweil: The narrative story is an outgrowth of the Ramona Project,
 which I
started in the year 2000. I gave a presentation at TED 2001 (the
 Technology
Entertainment Design conference) -- the theme was that in virtual
 reality
you can be someone else. 

I turned myself into a computer avatar named Ramona. I had magnetic
 sensors
in my clothing, picking up all my motions and sending the data to
 Ramona,
who followed my movements in real time. My voice was turned into
 Ramona's
voice, so it looked like she was giving the presentation. I was
 standing
next to the screen, so people could see what was happening. A band came
onstage, and I sang two songs: "White Rabbit," and a song I wrote
 called
"Come Out and Play." Then my daughter came out, who was 14 at the time,
 and
she was turned into a male backup dancer. Her avatar was in the form of
Richard Saul Wurman, the impresario of the conference. He's kind of a
heavyset gentleman, not known for his hip-hop kicks, so it was quite a
 show.


WN: Ramona is also a presence on your website, right? You can interact
 with
her, ask her questions, and sort of test her artificial intelligence. 

Kurzweil: Right. It's a real 20-year project of mine, to create an AI
 that
can pass the Turing Test. 

WN: So in the movie's narrative, Ramona the avatar is the main
 character? 

Kurzweil: It's a Pinocchio story. She detects a "gray goo" attack, an
 attack
of self-replicating nanobots. The Department of Homeland Security is
oblivious to this, and won't listen to her, so she gets her other
 avatar
friends to work on this. But she breaks some homeland security
 protocols in
the process. She's arrested -- and there's a discussion about how you
 can
arrest a virtual person. She hires (civil rights attorney) Alan
 Dershowitz
to defend her, and also to establish her rights as a legal person. She
 feels
she's human enough to have human rights. There's a whole courtroom
 scene,
and finally the judge says, "OK, I'll grant your legal rights if you
 can
pass the Turing Test." She hires Tony Robbins, the motivational
 speaker, to
help her become more human, and the plot goes on from there. 

WN: You're making a thriller! That's ambitious. How far along in the
 process
are you? 

Kurzweil: We have filmed the whole A-line documentary, and we're
 editing it
now. We're in pre-production for the B-line; we will shoot that in the
spring. This will be released in late '08. 

WN: Who's playing Ramona? 

Kurzweil: It stars Pauley Perrette, who plays a very gothy, punky
 computer
sleuth in (TV crime show) NCIS. She's perfect for the part. I play
 myself in
the future, and I have a complex relationship with this woman in the
 movie.
She's a creation of mine, kind of like a daughter of mine, but ancient
taboos aren't relevant, so there's a romantic element. And she's trying
 to
become independent, so there's a Pinocchio aspect. 

WN: You've already written a book explaining your theories about the
approach of singularity; why did you want to do a movie? To spread the
 meme
further? 

Kurzweil: Yes, but it's not just an idle desire to spread the meme --
 like,
I had this idea, and now I want everyone to know about it. There's so
 much
discussion that's totally unrealistic, because people are not aware of
 this
topic. Al Gore gets up there to do his PowerPoint presentation on
 global
warming, and he says, "Within 100 years, carbon levels will be here,"
 as if
nothing's going to change! As if it's going to be the same old world in
 100
years. He never once mentions nanotechnology. 

WN: So you're trying to make people understand how the exponential
 advances
in technology will abruptly and unexpectedly solve many of the world's
problems? 

Kurzweil: Think how different the world was 10 years ago -- 10 years
 ago,
most people didn't use search engines. That sounds like ancient history
 now.
Generally, people think linearly. I think it's critical that people
understand that linear thinking no longer applies. If we capture one
 part
out of 10,000 of sunlight that falls on the earth, we can solve our
 energy
problems. And nanotech will give us the capacity to store (that solar
energy). Radical life extensions mean that the current discussion of
 social
security is completely unrealistic. People say, "Oh, there's going to
 be a
deficit in 2027." Their model is based on linear predictions on
 longevity,
productivity and economic growth. The situation will be different when
 you
have 65-year-olds who look and act 35 years old. 

WN: It's certainly true that linear thinking runs through everything we
 do. 

Kurzweil: For thousands of years, it actually served our needs to think
linearly. If you think about our genes and our brains, they obviously
evolved into their modern forms before advanced technology. If you saw
something in the trees coming towards you, and you made a linear
 projection
about where it would be in 15 seconds, and where you needed to not be,
 that
actually worked very well. But these days we have different kinds of
problems, and we need a different kind of thinking. 
>>




       
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