The singularity is near : when humans transcend biology /

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Kurzweil, Ray
Corporate Author:	EBSCOhost
Format:	eBook
Language:	English
Published:	New York : Penguin, 2006.
Subjects:	Brain > Evolution. Human evolution. Genetics. Nanotechnology. Robotics. Neural Networks (Computer) Artificial Intelligence. Evolution. Electronic books.
Online Access:	Connect to the full text of this electronic book

Table of Contents:

Prologue. The power of ideas
1. The six epochs
The intuitive linear view versus the historical exponential view
The six epochs
Epoch one : physics and chemistry
Epoch two : biology and DNA
Epoch three : brains
Epoch four : technology
Epoch five : the merger of human technology with human intelligence
Epoch six : the universe wakes up
The singularity is near
2. A theory of technology evolution : the law of accelerating returns
The nature of order
The life cycle of a paradigm
Fractal designs
Farsighted evolution
The S-curve of a technology as expressed in its life cycle
The life cycle of a technology
From goat skins to downloads
Moore's law and beyond
Moore's law : self-fulfilling prophecy?
The fifth paradigm
Fractal dimensions and the brain
DNA sequencing, memory, communications, the Internet, and miniaturization
Information, order, and evolution : the insights from Wolfram and Fredkin's cellular automata
Can we evolve artificial intelligence from simple rules?
The singularity as economic imperative
Get eighty trillion dollars, limited time only
Deflation ... a bad thing?
3. Achieving the computational capacity of the human brain
The sixth paradigm of computing technology : three dimensional
Molecular computing and emerging computational technologies
The bridge to 3-D molecular computing
Nanotubes are still the best bet
Computing with molecules
Self-assembly
Emulating biology
Computing with DNA
Computing with spin
Computing with light
Quantum computing
The computational capacity of the human brain
Accelerating the availability of human-level personal computing
Human memory capacity
The limits of computation
Reversible computing
How smart is a rock?
The limits of nanocomputing
Setting a date for the singularity
Memory and computational efficiency : a rock versus a human brain
Going beyond the ultimate : pico- and femtotechnology and bending the speed of light
Going back in time.
4. Achieving the software of human intelligence : how to reverse engineer the human brain
Reverse engineering the brain : an overview of the task
New brain-imaging and modeling tools
The software of the brain
Analytic versus neuromorphic modeling of the brain
How complex is the brain?
Modeling the brain
Peeling the onion
Is the human brain different from a computer?
The brain's circuits are very slow
But it's massively parallel
The brain combines analog and digital phenomena
The brain rewires itself
Most of the details in the brain are random
The brain uses emergent properties
The brain is imperfect
We contradict ourselves
The brain uses evolution
The patterns are important
The brain is holographic
The brain is deeply connected
The brain does have an architecture of regions
The design of a brain region is simpler than the design of a neuron
Trying to understand our own thinking : the accelerating pace of research
Peering into the brain
New tools for scanning the brain
Improving resolution
Scanning using nanobots
Building models of the brain
Subneural models : synapses and spines
Neuron models
Electronic neurons
Brain plasticity
Modeling regions of the brain
A neuromorphic model : the cerebellum
Another example : Watts's model of the auditory regions
The visual system
Other works in progress : an artificial hippocampus and an artificial olivocerebellar region
Understanding higher-level functions : imitation, prediction, and emotion
Interfacing the brain and machines
The accelerating pace of reverse engineering the brain
The scalability of human intelligence
Uploading the human brain.
5. GNR : three overlapping revolutions
Genetics : the intersection of information and biology
Life's computer
Designer baby boomers
Can we really live forever?
RNAi (RNA interference)
Cell therapies
Gene chips
Somatic gene therapy
Reversing degenerative disease
Combating heart disease
Overcoming cancer
Reversing aging
DNA mutations
Toxic cells
Mitochondrial mutations
Intracellular aggregates
Extracellular aggregates
Cell loss and atrophy
Human cloning : the least interesting application of cloning technology
Why is cloning important?
Preserving endangered species and restoring extinct ones
Therapeutic cloning
Human somatic-cell engineering
Solving world hunger
Human cloning revisited
Nanotechnology : the intersection of information and the physical world
The biological assembler
Upgrading the cell nucleus with a nanocomputer and nanobot
Fat and sticky fingers
The debate heats up
Early adopters
Powering the singularity
Applications of nanotechnology to the environment
Nanobots in the bloodstream
Robotics : strong AI
Runaway AI
The AI winter
AI's toolkit
Expert systems
Bayesian nets
Markov models
Neural nets
Genetic algorithms (GAs)
Recursive search
Deep Fritz draws : are humans getting smarter, or are computers getting stupider?
The specialized-hardware advantage
Deep Blue versus Deep Fritz
Significant software gains
Are human chess players doomed?
Combining methods
A narrow AI sampler
Military and intelligence
Space exploration
Medicine
Science and math
Business, finance, and manufacturing
Manufacturing and robotics
Speech and language
Entertainment and sports
Strong AI.
6. The impact ...
A panoply of impacts
... on the human body
A new way of eating
Redesigning the digestive system
Programmable blood
Have a heart, or not
So what's left?
Redesigning the human brain
We are becoming cyborgs
Human body version 3.0
... on the human brain
The 2010 scenario
The 2030 scenario
Become someone else
Experience beamers
Expand your mind
... on human longevity
The transformation to nonbiological experiences
The longevity of information
... on warfare : the remote, robotic, robust, size-reduced, virtual-reality paradigm
Smart dust
Nanoweapons
Smart weapons
VR
... on learning
... on work
Intellectual property
Decentralization
... on play
... on the intelligent destiny of the cosmos : why we are probably alone in the universe
The Drake equation
The limits of computation revisited
Bigger or smaller
Expanding beyond the solar system
The speed of light revisited
Wormholes
Changing the speed of light
The Fermi paradox revisited
The anthropic principle revisited
The multiverse
Evolving universes
Intelligence as the destiny of the universe
The ultimate utility function
Hawking radiation
Why intelligence is more powerful than physics
A universe-scale computer
The holographic universe
7. Ich bin ein singularitarian
Still human?
The vexing question of consciousness
Who am I? : what am I?
The singularity as transcendence.
8. The deeply intertwined promise and peril of GNR
Intertwined benefits ...
... and dangers
A panoply of existential risks
The precautionary principle
The smaller the interaction, the larger the explosive potential
Our simulation is turned off
Crashing the party
GNR : the proper focus of promise versus peril
The inevitability of a transformed future
Totalitarian relinquishment
Preparing the defenses
Strong AI
Returning to the past?
The idea of relinquishment
Broad relinquishment
Fine-grained relinquishment
Dealing with abuse
The threat from fundamentalism
Fundamentalist humanism
Development of defensive technologies and the impact of regulation
Protection from "unfriendly" strong AI
Decentralization
Distributed energy
Civil liberties in an age of asymmetric warfare
A program for GNR defense
9. Response to critics
A panoply of criticisms
The criticism from incredulity
The criticism from Malthus
Exponential trends don't last forever
A virtually unlimited limit
The criticism from software
Software stability
Software responsiveness
Software price-performance
Software development productivity
Software complexity
Accelerating algorithms
The ultimate source of intelligent algorithms
The criticism from analog processing
The criticism from the complexity of neural processing
Brain complexity
A computer's inherent dualism
Levels and loops
The criticism from microtubules and quantum computing
The criticism from the Church-Turing thesis
The criticism from failure rates
The criticism from "lock-in"
The criticism from ontology : can a computer be conscious?
Kurzweil's Chinese room
The criticism from the rich-poor divide
The criticism from the likelihood of government regulation
The unbearable slowness of social institutions
The criticism from theism
The criticism from holism
Epilogue. How singular?
Human centrality
Resources and contact information
Appendix : The law of accelerating returns revisited.