The distinction between man and machine is under siege. The technology wizard Ray Kurzweil speaks with casual confidence of achieving electromagnetic immortality with our once human selves eternally etched onto universal servers.

For me, the possibility that machines will acquire the equivalent of human feelings and emotions is pure fantasy. And yet, as a neurologist, I cannot ignore advancing machine intelligence’s implications about the human mind.

Uncovering the… read more

Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt, known better as Google executive chairman, describes ways artificial intelligence will drive forward some key consumer segments — music and travel. He doesn’t go far enough in developing some truly breakthrough ideas about where AI is headed.

The legendary Ray Kurzweil was recruited by Google to work on AI projects. Eric Schmidt alludes to Google’s gmail, but doesn’t mention Deep Mind, now teaching machines… read more

It’s a question of morality. There is no way to prove that one entity is conscious and another is not. Virtual characters can claim to be, but that does not convince us that they are.

Some scientists say therefore that consciousness is an illusion. I would argue against that, however, because our entire moral system is based on it.

If morality and rights are based… read more

Microsoft’s experiment in China with chatbot known as Xiaoice was a success. Folks chat with Xiaoice when they have been dumped in a relationship, are experiencing depression or been laid off.

As a virtual platform, people can chat for extended lengths of time with her. Users feel she has excellent listening skills, a great sense of humor and so called ability to love you unconditionally.

That machines may… read more

Bill Gates thinks Uber has the best shot at dominating the autonomous vehicle industry. I’ve become little obsessed with exponentially accelerating technology of late. I spent a week at Singularity University, fully indoctrinated into the cult of inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil.

As long as Uber is around, flush with cash and hugely ambitious, autonomous vehicles will continue their doubling trend, ultimately becoming better than driver vehicles and much… read more

about | What is Genius online? Genius breaks down text with line-by-line annotations, added and edited by anyone in the world. Your interactive guide to human culture.

Genius layers answers to questions over the text itself, enabling you to answer them as you read.

Whenever you’re interested in a passage, you can click it to read an annotation that explains in plain language what you’re reading and why it’s important.

How… read more

about | What is Genius online? Genius breaks down text with line-by-line annotations, added and edited by anyone in the world. Your interactive guide to human culture.

Genius layers answers to questions over the text itself, enabling you to answer them as you read. Whenever you’re interested in a passage, you can click it to read an annotation that explains in plain language what you’re reading and why it’s important.

How… read more

Humanity is in a technological identity crisis and Google’s Ray Kurzweil is intent on designing our future. Can we humans become more human?

On the other hand, will subtle thinking, like sleep, be built into the immortal android race being prepared by Google’s head of research, Mr. Kurzweil?

“Humans will continue to be creative,” is Kurzweil’s simple answer to the question what will humans do when the androids… read more

In a recent talk, Ray Kurzweil showed the complexity of measuring machine consciousness.

“We can’t just ask an entity: Are you conscious?” he said. “Because we can ask entities in video games today, and they’ll say: Yes, I’m conscious and I’m angry at you.

“But we don’t believe them because they don’t have the subtle cues that we associate with really having that subjective state. My prediction is that… read more

Rather than doubling the number of transistors on an integrated circuit every two years — the rate of progress since Intel co-founder Gordon Moore made his famous prediction Moore’s law 50 years ago — the period has stretched out to two and a half years.

That will have a deep effect on technology. It implies the chip industry’s extra computing power, over the next decade, will be only half what it would… read more