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Saturday, May 9, 2009

An Astonishing Look at the Near Future



Here's a recent 6-minute video featuring futurist and inventor-par-excellence Ray Kurzweil, who, by the way, will head up the new Google University.

Kurzweil has numerous inventions to his name and a reputation for sold futuristic predictions, and what he explains in this video is, to me, simply mind-blowing. He sees 2045 as the year of the Singularity, when machine intelligence will be capable of merging with the human brain. Then there are the strides in nanotechnology that’ll let you send your friend a toaster … via email.

So, I invite you to spend 6 minutes and be astounded ~ for better or for worse ~ at the near-term possibilities of people and technology.

Click here for a recent feature on Kurzweil in Britain’s Guardian.
Click here for a list of oher Kurzweil videos on YouTube.

4 comments:

Trée said...

Amazing prospects. Thanks for sharing Greg. You always find the most neuron tickling material. :-)

Gregory LeFever said...

Thank you, Tree. It's good to have you stop by. (I enjoyed your poem about the rain and the azaleas!)

I agree that what Ray Kurzweil says is pretty mind-boggling, especially considering how quickly he believes all of his predictions will be upon us. No wonder we're experiencing such a frenetic pace of change right now.

Angela said...

I actually found this quite disconcerting. I wonder if this is truly a world most of us would want to live in? Machines that can self correct and reinvent their own intelligences? Good luck trying to straighten out your credit report when this happens!

Sounds like fodder for more Terminator sequels.

Gregory LeFever said...

Thanks for stopping by, Angela (Smarts)! Your concern is certainly well-founded, but as Ray Kurzweil said, there are a thousand different technological steps between here and there, so a lot can happen to try to keep things sane. The problem is, the steps are going to come so rapidly, it's going to feel more like a sprint.