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The New Humanist

May 14, 2002 by John Brockman

“Something radically new is in the air: new ways of understanding physical systems, new ways of thinking about thinking that call into question many of our basic assumptions. A realistic biology of the mind, advances in physics, electricity, genetics, neurobiology, engineering, the chemistry of materials—all are challenging basic assumptions of who and what we are, of what it means to be human. The arts and the sciences are again joining together as one culture, the third culture. Those involved in this effort—scientists, science-based humanities scholars, writers—are at the center of today’s intellectual action. They are the new humanists.”… read more

The New Luddite Challenge

February 21, 2001 by Ted Kaczynski

An excerpt from the Unabomber Manifesto that briefly summarizes the author’s charge against technological progress.… read more

The Open Mind Common Sense Project

January 2, 2002 by Push Singh

Push Singh of the MIT MediaLab describes a novel approach to achieving machine intelligence by teaching machines how to reason heuristically.… read more

The Pace and Proliferation of Biological Technologies

March 4, 2004 by Rob Carlson

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

The Paradigms and Paradoxes of Intelligence, Part 1: Russell’s Paradox

August 6, 2001 by Ray Kurzweil

An exploration of Russell’s Paradox, written for “The Futurecast,” a monthly column in the Library Journal.… read more

The Paradigms and Paradoxes of Intelligence, Part 2: The Church-Turing Thesis

August 6, 2001 by Ray Kurzweil

An exploration of the Church-Turing Thesis, originally written for “The Futurecast,” a monthly column in the Library Journal.… read more

The Paradigms and Paradoxes of Intelligence: Building a Brain

August 6, 2001 by Ray Kurzweil

How to build a brain, written for “The Futurecast,” a monthly column in the Library Journal.… read more

The Physical Constants as Biosignature: An anthropic retrodiction of the Selfish Biocosm Hypothesis

February 28, 2006 by James N. Gardner

Two recent discoveries have imparted a renewed sense of urgency to investigations of the anthropic qualities of our cosmos: the value of dark energy density is exceedingly small but not quite zero; and the number of different solutions permitted by M-theory is, in Susskind’s words, “astronomical, measured not in millions or billions but in googles or googleplexes.”… read more

The Power of an Idea

July 6, 2003 by Ray Kurzweil

National Federation of the Blind (NFB) founder Dr. Kenneth Jernigan “realized that the pace of technology was accelerating, and these hastening advances would either be liberating for blind people, or would represent another barrier,” said Ray Kurzweil in a speech at NFB’s 2003 annual convention. Jernigan’s solution, a research and training institute, was an example of the power of an idea.… read more

The Rights of Robots: Technology, Culture and Law in the 21st Century

August 6, 2001 by Sohail Inayatullah, Phil Mcnally

Robot rights are already part of judiciary planning–can sentient machines be far off? This discussion of robot rights looks in-depth at issues once reserved for humans only.… read more

The Rights of Your Robots: Exclusion and Inclusion in History and Future

August 6, 2001 by Sohail Inayatullah

Sohail Inayatullah is preparing for a world in which machines become sentient and begin to demand rights–this article discusses how the machines will participate in their destiny.… read more

The Senses Have No Future

May 15, 2001 by Hans Moravec

For Hans Moravec, our natural senses will swiftly become obsolete, as brain to computer interfaces become more common. Our physical environment will change as well, into what he calls a “densely connected cyberspace.” Do our senses serve just to exchange information?… read more

The Singularity Is Near – Ray Kurzweil at Extro5 (Video)

July 30, 2001 by Ray Kurzweil

Ray Kurzweil presents his law of accelerating returns at EXTRO-5.… read more

The Storm Before the Calm

July 2, 2001 by Robert Wright

Are we on the verge of an apocalyptic era? Robert Wright applies game theory to evolution, illustrating how the interdependence and competition between organisms lead to biological, cultural and technological evolution, with chaos and upheaval thrown in the mix.… read more

The Story of the 21st Century

May 31, 2001 by Rebecca Zacks

Raymond Kurzweil created a hubbub with his idea that we will soon be able to “download” ourselves into machines and live forever. Find out what else he’s got up his futuristic sleeve.… read more

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