The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI

A Thought Provoking Page-turner
To have a sense of what we can expect in the future, we have to examine the trends of the past. That is the foundation of this very readable book. Kurzweil does a thorough job of presenting historical data in graphs and tables and explaining how the trends point to what we can expect in the next quarter century. You’d think this is all technology focused, but it is much more than that. He looks at trends in violent crime (declining), health and longevity (improving), poverty (declining) and other factors and explains how social trends enhance the development of technology and in turn how technology has a positive impact on society.This is an excellent choice for book club discussions. There’s enough detail about advancing technology to help the layperson to understand it and at the same time encourage further research. Since it a prediction of the future, one can make a argument in support of his conclusions or suggest some alternative paths. I can envision some spirited discussions.When you think about, looking to the future is an accelerating trend in itself. The Singularity is Nearer and Kurzweil’s other books are both the catalyst and result of that trend.

Nearer … So Hurry Up
This book is enjoyable because it’s more hopeful about the future than most books. Kurzweil revisits his Six Stages of computer-human evolution and the historically relevant development of AI to modern times—most interesting. The uploading of minds was way cool. Kurzweil explains the world is getting better with lots of supporting graphs. And the large print version of the book was a blessing. Over all, the book is fascinating.However, there’s a few little problems with this book:The Who I AM chapter is too philosophical for me. It tries to answer questions like self awareness, consciousness and qualia. All of which are known to be neural circuitry in the brain. Even emotional circuity has been discovered. And these sub-circuits and numerous sensors give rise to feelings of being an individual that knows oneself. The books The Archaeology of Mind and Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain explain these subprocesses in the brain.Another issue was the lack of social and psychological descriptions in the post-singularity world. What happens to babies, young children, old people with Alzheimer’s, social structure and governments? The only book that explains this social science and technology is a science fiction book Playing for Eternity: A Utopian Novel. However, I’d like to read an actual non-fiction book that answers these social and psychological questions about what happens after the Singularity.

Still a useful reading about machine-human communication
I should like this latest book from Ray Kurzweil. His original writing has long proven to be so thoughtful. His visions for the future have long proven to be remarkable guides for those of us concerned about the very future we face. His ideas of the application of technology for human-machine communication have been so informative and instructive. The singularity, as Kurzweill set it out many years ago, remains one of the most influential information ideas that any writer has proposed. Yet, this latest book seems so flat and incomplete. The book seems less a clarion call for The Singularity as a hastily drawn up supplement for his earlier writing. One of the book’s first sentences — “my theory that convergent exponential technological trends are leading to a transition that will be utterly transformative for humanity” — seems such an overwhelmingly bland statement even when meant to excite the reader for the technological dawn about to occur. Was this book written and published in a hurry to capitalize on the rapid emergence of Artificial intelligence technologies? Perhaps that is too strong a conclusion for any book reviewer. Especially a reviewer and reader who has long admired Ray Kurzweil’s inventiveness and creative thinking. But that is where I am today after my reading of this book. It is still, however, a Ray Kurzweil vision for humanity’s future. It does deserve to be read if only for that singular reason.

The Future Is Coming-Fast
One of the best books I’ve read in 2024. Kurzweil has a marvelous way of making complex issues understandable for someone who is not a professional in AI. Since I first read Asimov’s books, AI and robotics have fascinated me and this book discusses the latest trends as well as relating Kurzweil’s marvelous ability to see where those trends could take us. Highly recommended.

“The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI” hat mir persönlich gut gefallen, da es eine faszinierende Vision der Zukunft zeichnet weil, so die These, Wachstum der Berechnungskapazität bzw. Fortschritt der Technologie exponentiell ist.Ray Kurzweil beschreibt detailliert, wie sich die Entwicklung der Künstlichen Intelligenz beschleunigen könnte und welche tiefgreifenden Veränderungen das für uns als Gesellschaft mit sich bringen wird. Besonders spannend fand ich seine Ideen darüber, wie Menschen und Maschinen zunehmend miteinander verschmelzen könnten.Das Buch regt zum Nachdenken an, vor allem darüber, wie wir uns auf diese Zukunft vorbereiten und welche ethischen Fragen dabei berücksichtigt werden müssen. Auch wenn manche der Vorhersagen sehr ambitioniert erscheinen, ist es dennoch eine anregende Lektüre, die aufzeigt, dass wir uns auf den technologischen Wandel nicht nur einstellen sollten, sondern es auch müssen.

Lo que Kurzweil expone, argumenta y documenta con más de 50 gráficos en este libro debería enseñarse en todas las escuelas, institutos y universidades del mundo.