[ExI] Ray Kurzweil interviewed on VBS.TV

[John Grigg]

Ray Kurzweil interviewed on VBS.TV...

http://digg.com/d1obov

"Today on VBS, Ray Kurzweil tells us about his vision of the Singuarlity—a
point around 2045 when computers will acquire full-blown artificial
intelligence and technology will infuse itself with biology. His
theories<http://www.kurzweilai.net/index.html?flash=1>have all sorts
of supporters, detractors, and critics, but do you even
remember what life was like before three-year-olds had cell phones and you
actually had to remember facts instead of relying on the internet? That was
only 10 years ago. If Kurzweil is right, we'll have supercomputers more
powerful than every human brain on the planet combined within a few decades.


Despite being perceived as an extreme optimist, Kurzweil is the first to
admit that this technology could very quickly bring an end to the world as
we know it. Stuff like gray
goo<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/14/magazine/14GRAY.html>is a
concern, but a biological terrorist attack could happen tomorrow that
is based on the very same type of technology he touts as the harbingers of
the unimaginable future. He believes we'll exist in a permanent
virtual/"real"-reality hybrid. It makes us think about future people
spending all day auto-mastubrating to polygons with the genital equivalent
of the Power Glove. But we're sick like that, and if Ray is right
unenlightened pigs like us won't be around in 40 years. Everyone will be
hyper-intelligent, shapeshifting nonbiological humans who can live forever.
It's a bummer, a blessing, and a mind-fuck all at the same time. That's
about as much as we can explain on our own. Unless you're really religious
or dumb, watch on to have your brain melted.

Once you're done, check out *Vice* magazine's interview with Ray
Kurzweil<http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n4/htdocs/ray-kurzweil-800.php?country=int>in
our Technology Issue to get socked over the head with more insights
from
the Great Beyond.

And if you're still jonesing for more Kurzweil, be sure to catch the new
documentary *Transcendent Man <http://transcendentman.com/>*, premiering in
late April.

As always, you can head over to Dell
Lounge<http://delllounge.com/blogs/raykurzweil/archive/2009/04/10/episode-1-two-become-one.aspx>for
even more supplemental material."

ROCCO CASTORO
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20090414/fd9b578a/attachment.html>