The Future of Libraries, Part 3: The Virtual Library
August 6, 2001 by Ray Kurzweil
A look at the virtual library, written for “The Futurecast,” a monthly column in the Library Journal.… read more
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A.I.: Kurzweil Says Thumbs Up
November 2, 2001 by Wired News Radio
Wired gets Ray Kurzweil’s take on the Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg film “A.I.” prior to its wide release.… read more
Is the universe a quantum computer?
January 21, 2002 by Seth Lloyd
The 5th Annual Edge Question reflects the spirit of the Edge motto: “To arrive at the edge of the world’s knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves.” Seth Lloyd asks: Is the universe a quantum computer?… read more
A myopic perspective on AI
September 2, 2002 by Ray Kurzweil
In a recent Red Herring magazine article, writer Geoffrey James said “pundits can’t stop hyping the business opportunities of artificial intelligence” and described AI as a “technological backwater.” Ray Kurzweil challenges this view, citing “hundreds of examples of narrow AI deeply integrated into our information-based economy” and “many applications beginning to combine multiple methodologies,” a step towards the eventual achievement of “strong AI” (human-level intelligence in a machine).… read more
The Pace and Proliferation of Biological Technologies
March 4, 2004 by Rob Carlson
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The parts for a DNA synthesizer can now be purchased for approximately $10,000. By 2010 a single person will be able to sequence or synthesize 10^10 bases a day. Within a decade a single person could sequence or synthesize all the DNA describing all the people on the planet many times over in an eight-hour day or sequence his or her own DNA within seconds. Given the power and threat of biological technologies, the only way to ensure safety in the long run is to push research and development as fast as possible. Open and distributed networks of researchers would provide an intelligence gathering capability and a flexible and robust workforce for developing technology.… read more
Nanotech Basics
March 27, 2006 by Chris Phoenix, Mike Treder
Members of the Global Task Force of The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) have written 11 key essays addressing the profound implications of molecular manufacturing. They were published in the current issue of Nanotechnology Perceptions and are also available on KurzweilAI.net for discussion on the MindX forum.… read more
Say Ah
May 23, 2001 by Robert A. Freitas Jr.
Nanorobots the size of bacteria might one day roam people’s bodies, rooting out disease organisms and repairing damaged tissue.… read more
Postscript Re: Ray Kurzweil
July 30, 2001 by Jaron Lanier
This postscript to his One Half of a Manifesto is a further discussion and criticism of exponential trends. Do these trends exist as predictive models, or are we playing connect-the-dots based upon an arbitrary selection of milestones and paradigm shifts?… read more
Taming the Multiverse
August 7, 2001 by Marcus Chown
In Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity is Near, physicist Sir Roger Penrose is paraphrased as suggesting it is impossible to perfectly replicate a set of quantum states, so therefore perfect downloading (i.e., creating a digital or synthetic replica of the human brain based upon quantum states) is impossible. What would be required to make it possible? A solution to the problem of quantum teleportation, perhaps. But there is a further complication: the multiverse. Do we live in a world of schizophrenic tables? Does free will negate the possibility of perfect replication?… read more
Arthur C. Clarke Offers His Vision of the Future
December 3, 2001 by Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Kurzweil
The science fiction visionary behind HAL offers his predictions of salient events to come in this century.… read more
Dialogue between Ray Kurzweil, Eric Drexler, and Robert Bradbury
December 3, 2002 by K. Eric Drexler, Ray Kurzweil, Robert Bradbury
What would it take to achieve successful cryonics reanimation of a fully functioning human brain, with memories intact? A conversation at the recent Alcor Conference on Extreme Life Extension between Ray Kurzweil and Eric Drexler sparked an email discussion of this question. They agreed that despite the challenges, the brain’s functions and memories can be represented surprisingly compactly, suggesting that successful reanimation of the brain may be achievable.… read more
How To Make a Nanodiamond: A Simple Tool for Positional Diamond Mechanosynthesis, and its Method of Manufacture
January 27, 2006 by Robert A. Freitas Jr.
Robert A. Freitas Jr. has filed the first known patent application on positional mechanosynthesis, which is also the first on positional diamond mechanosynthesis. The “Freitas process” — more fully described here — is a method for building a tool for molecularly precise fabrication of physical structures. Methods of making diamondoid structures are detailed here, but the same toolbuilding process can be extended to other materials, mechanosynthetic processes, and structures. And those tools can be used to create bigger structures, which ….… read more
Nanoethics and Technological Revolutions: A Precis.
May 5, 2006 by Nick Bostrom
If we believe that nanotechnology will eventually amount to a technological revolution, and if we are going to attempt nanoethics, we should consider some of the earlier technological revolutions that humanity has undergone and how our moral principles and technology impact assessment exercises would have fared.… read more