The age of spiritual machines : when computers exceed human intelligence / Ray Kurzweil.
| Author/creator | Kurzweil, Ray author. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | New York : Penguin Books, 2000. |
| Description | xii, 388 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | A note to the reader -- Prologue: An inexorable emergence -- Part 1: Probing the past. The law of time and chaos ; The intelligence of evolution ; Of mind and machines ; A new form of intelligence on earth ; Context and knowledge -- Part 2: Preparing the present. Building new brains ... ; ... And bodies ; 1999 -- Part 3: To face the future. 2009 ; 2019 ; 2029 ; 2099 -- Epilogue: The rest of the universe revisited -- Time line -- How to build an intelligent machine in three easy paradigms -- Glossary. |
| Abstract | Imagine a world where the difference between man and machine blurs, where the line between humanity and technology fades, and where the soul and the silicon chip unite. This is not science fiction. This is the twenty-first century according to Ray Kurzweil, the inventor of the most innovative and compelling technology of our era. In his inspired hands, life in the new millennium no longer seems daunting. Instead, it promises to be an age in which the marriage of human sensitivity and artificial intelligence fundamentally alters and improves the way we live. More than just a list of predictions, Kurzweil's prophetic blueprint for the future guides us through the inexorable advances that will result in: computers exceeding the memory capacity and computational ability of the human brain by the year 2020 (with human-level capabilities not far behind); relationships with automated personalities who will be our teachers, companions, and lovers; and information fed straight into our brains along direct neural pathways. Eventually, the distinction between humans and computers will have become sufficiently blurred that when the machines claim to be conscious, we will believe them. - Back cover. |
| Abstract | The creator of the Kurzweil Reading Machine, the Kurzweil synthesizer, and the Windows 95 voice-recognition program offers logical forecasts about twenty-first-century technology. |
| General note | "First published in the United States of America by Viking Penguin ... 1999"--Title page verso. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 344-368) and index. |
| LCCN | 98388804 |
| ISBN | 0670882178 (hc.) |
| ISBN | 0140282025 (pbk.) |
| ISBN | 9780140282023 (pbk.) |
| ISBN | 9780670882175 (hc.) |