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The Singularity is Nearer
The noted inventor and futurist’s successor to his landmark book The Singularity Is Near explores how technology will transform the human race in the decades to come
Since it was first published in 2005, Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near and its vision of an exponential future have spawned a worldwide movement. Kurzweil's predictions about technological advancements have largely come true, with concepts like AI, intelligent machines, and biotechnology now widely familiar to the public.
In this entirely new book Ray Kurzweil brings a fresh perspective to advances toward the Singularity—assessing his 1999 prediction that AI will reach human level intelligence by 2029 and examining the exponential growth of technology—that, in the near future, will expand human intelligence a millionfold and change human life forever. Among the topics he discusses are rebuilding the world, atom by atom with devices like nanobots; radical life extension beyond the current age limit of 120; reinventing intelligence by connecting our brains to the cloud; how exponential technologies are propelling innovation forward in all industries and improving all aspects of our well-being such as declining poverty and violence; and the growth of renewable energy and 3-D printing. He also considers the potential perils of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, including such topics of current controversy as how AI will impact employment and the safety of autonomous cars, and "After Life" technology, which aims to virtually revive deceased individuals through a combination of their data and DNA.
The culmination of six decades of research on artificial intelligence, The Singularity Is Nearer is Ray Kurzweil’s crowning contribution to the story of this science and the revolution that is to come.
Since it was first published in 2005, Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near and its vision of an exponential future have spawned a worldwide movement. Kurzweil's predictions about technological advancements have largely come true, with concepts like AI, intelligent machines, and biotechnology now widely familiar to the public.
In this entirely new book Ray Kurzweil brings a fresh perspective to advances toward the Singularity—assessing his 1999 prediction that AI will reach human level intelligence by 2029 and examining the exponential growth of technology—that, in the near future, will expand human intelligence a millionfold and change human life forever. Among the topics he discusses are rebuilding the world, atom by atom with devices like nanobots; radical life extension beyond the current age limit of 120; reinventing intelligence by connecting our brains to the cloud; how exponential technologies are propelling innovation forward in all industries and improving all aspects of our well-being such as declining poverty and violence; and the growth of renewable energy and 3-D printing. He also considers the potential perils of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, including such topics of current controversy as how AI will impact employment and the safety of autonomous cars, and "After Life" technology, which aims to virtually revive deceased individuals through a combination of their data and DNA.
The culmination of six decades of research on artificial intelligence, The Singularity Is Nearer is Ray Kurzweil’s crowning contribution to the story of this science and the revolution that is to come.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published June 25, 2024
About the author
Ray Kurzweil
38 books2,136 followersRay Kurzweil is a world class inventor, thinker, and futurist, with a thirty-five-year track record of accurate predictions. He has been a leading developer in artificial intelligence for 61 years – longer than any other living person. He was the principal inventor of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, omni-font optical character recognition, print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, text-to-speech synthesizer, music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition software. Ray received a Grammy Award for outstanding achievement in music technology; he is the recipient of the National Medal of Technology and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He has written five best-selling books including The Singularity Is Near and How To Create A Mind, both New York Times best sellers, and Danielle: Chronicles of a Superheroine, winner of multiple young adult fiction awards. His forthcoming book, The Singularity Is Nearer, will be released June 25, 2024. He is a Principal Researcher and AI Visionary at Google.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
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November 8, 2020I read a preprint, but withholding my review and rating until the book's published.
Want to read
December 11, 2023Will this book be published in a post-AGI world? I have the sense it is already too late for informing us about the upcoming urgency.
June 30, 2024
Kurzweil is no longer generating any ideas. Repetitive rehashings of thoughts beaten to death. His original ‘The Singularity is Near’ is still a classic banger and obligatory reading (to be in the present and understand what is going on right now - the only reasonable position is to be a singularitarian, imho 😉), yet this should’ve just been an addition chapter to a new edition of that book.
I’m afraid he won’t make it to the singularity himself though, judging by the fact that his mind seems to have died, symbolically, that he is in the downturn of life. His soul does not generate, it clings.
Joking aside, unless the law of accelerating returns is integrated into your worldview you very likely have no idea what is going on and your opinions should be automatically disregarded and ignored.
I’m afraid he won’t make it to the singularity himself though, judging by the fact that his mind seems to have died, symbolically, that he is in the downturn of life. His soul does not generate, it clings.
Joking aside, unless the law of accelerating returns is integrated into your worldview you very likely have no idea what is going on and your opinions should be automatically disregarded and ignored.
July 4, 2024
If you want to know the future, read Ray Kurzweil’s book. I appreciate his optimistic view and the way he supports his theories with historical trends and data references. I am generally hopeful about the immense impacts of humanity merging with AI in the next 5-10 years, but also would have liked the book to give more consideration for the significant psychological and societal impacts this will bring. The author is a technologist so I didn’t really expect much discussion of those aspects of the emerging epoch we will experience in our lifetime. What an amazing time to be alive!
I would have also liked to see more detail on reclamation and recycling advances since it’s my belief that once we have unlimited access to energy, 3D printing, and molecular level reclamation, money will go away and people will live for new pursuits beyond basic needs and wants. The author covers the future of abundant energy and the path of 3D printing in manufacturing, housing, and healthcare, but I think there is much to explore on technologies that can break down material waste to reclaim constituent elements. I see that piece as a leg in the triangle that will bring socioeconomic equality to every person. Reclamation seems to be further behind other technologies, most likely due to the poor cost benefit of doing this currently.
I’d also be interested in hearing more about the clear parallel path genetic engineering via CRISPR is now taking in the course of our evolution, especially with assistance from AI. As we learn which genes drive which diseases, capabilities, and behaviors, humanity will control its own evolution. This profound change of once evolving from natural genetic mutations to now having AI project billions of genetic permutations will allow humanity to adopt its own path. This ability is going to have enormous physiological, moral, and societal impacts. Who will we become? What will humanity look like?
I recommend this book to anyone interested in these topics.
I would have also liked to see more detail on reclamation and recycling advances since it’s my belief that once we have unlimited access to energy, 3D printing, and molecular level reclamation, money will go away and people will live for new pursuits beyond basic needs and wants. The author covers the future of abundant energy and the path of 3D printing in manufacturing, housing, and healthcare, but I think there is much to explore on technologies that can break down material waste to reclaim constituent elements. I see that piece as a leg in the triangle that will bring socioeconomic equality to every person. Reclamation seems to be further behind other technologies, most likely due to the poor cost benefit of doing this currently.
I’d also be interested in hearing more about the clear parallel path genetic engineering via CRISPR is now taking in the course of our evolution, especially with assistance from AI. As we learn which genes drive which diseases, capabilities, and behaviors, humanity will control its own evolution. This profound change of once evolving from natural genetic mutations to now having AI project billions of genetic permutations will allow humanity to adopt its own path. This ability is going to have enormous physiological, moral, and societal impacts. Who will we become? What will humanity look like?
I recommend this book to anyone interested in these topics.
July 11, 2024
I haven't spent a whole lot of time with the book because I expected something actually insightful but it's just the general futurism drivel you can find everywhere nowadays.
It keeps on going on random tangents about the history of the universe and biology and evolution but never goes into any of it beyond a basic popscience level.
There is lots of vague speculation about how neural networks and brains are similar and why they will eventually be fused in some way, with nanobots of course.
I have skimmed through the entire thing and regardless of where I start it's some tired futurism clichée. Either its about how progress has beein accelerating, how nano-technology will change everything, how computers are getting faster, or how GPT4 is solving language and therefore is the holy grail of intelligence. There are probably lots of others in here but those are the ones that came to mind spontanously. I should count the number of time the word "nano" appears in here. It's probably hilarious but I only have the audiobook.
I was recommended this book because I expressed views that we need to expand the human brain in some way because there is no way of developing agentic AI beyond our own inteligence safely, which necessarily implies that we need to be able to keep up somehow, therefore increasing our own capabilities however possible.
So I think I might actually agree with some of the conclusions this book comes to but it would take me 8 hours of listening to AI futurism buzzwords to get there.
I personally think most people including this author tend to vastly overestimate the speed at which technological progress will happen in terms of the whole singularity concept. The speed of progress is accelerating and overall has been accelerating for a long time but I don't think we are anywhere near the point where we will experience any sort of exponential runaway effect. The real world just doesn't work that way. Doing things in the real world take a long time and I don't think there are any indicators that this will change. Building a big building takes exactly as long as it did 50 years ago. It might (arguably) be a better building nowadays, but its not going to be built faster. I think this is a similar logical fallacy as the famous "9 women producing a child in one month".
Maybe this book is written in this obnoxiously wise and clever way because that is what sells and that is the audience it is meant for. Maybe, after it gets all this preamble of explaining and motivating this all out of the way, it eventually gets to some actually interesting points about how societies and governments can deal with the pretty drastic changes that are going to happen fairly soon with and without a technological singularity. But I just don't have the patience to look for this.
How do you build a society around a world in which anyone can create biological weapons in their kitchen for example. I really believe these problems might be solvable but I couldn't find anything actionable in here. It's just talking about how medicine will be amazing in the future.
The same goes for many other of the points it makes. It all rings hollow to me.
If this book was written 20 years ago I would be really impressed but its not. Most of the insights I could find in this book are more or less just common knowledge nowadays.
This book is kind of like string theory. It paints a pretty picture but it doesn't actually provide anything useful or actionable.
It reads like just the world-building of a sci-fi book without the actual story.
I guess you could read it as an optimistic and non-technical introduction into the AI future, whenever it will happen, and I am the wrong audience entirely.
It keeps on going on random tangents about the history of the universe and biology and evolution but never goes into any of it beyond a basic popscience level.
There is lots of vague speculation about how neural networks and brains are similar and why they will eventually be fused in some way, with nanobots of course.
I have skimmed through the entire thing and regardless of where I start it's some tired futurism clichée. Either its about how progress has beein accelerating, how nano-technology will change everything, how computers are getting faster, or how GPT4 is solving language and therefore is the holy grail of intelligence. There are probably lots of others in here but those are the ones that came to mind spontanously. I should count the number of time the word "nano" appears in here. It's probably hilarious but I only have the audiobook.
I was recommended this book because I expressed views that we need to expand the human brain in some way because there is no way of developing agentic AI beyond our own inteligence safely, which necessarily implies that we need to be able to keep up somehow, therefore increasing our own capabilities however possible.
So I think I might actually agree with some of the conclusions this book comes to but it would take me 8 hours of listening to AI futurism buzzwords to get there.
I personally think most people including this author tend to vastly overestimate the speed at which technological progress will happen in terms of the whole singularity concept. The speed of progress is accelerating and overall has been accelerating for a long time but I don't think we are anywhere near the point where we will experience any sort of exponential runaway effect. The real world just doesn't work that way. Doing things in the real world take a long time and I don't think there are any indicators that this will change. Building a big building takes exactly as long as it did 50 years ago. It might (arguably) be a better building nowadays, but its not going to be built faster. I think this is a similar logical fallacy as the famous "9 women producing a child in one month".
Maybe this book is written in this obnoxiously wise and clever way because that is what sells and that is the audience it is meant for. Maybe, after it gets all this preamble of explaining and motivating this all out of the way, it eventually gets to some actually interesting points about how societies and governments can deal with the pretty drastic changes that are going to happen fairly soon with and without a technological singularity. But I just don't have the patience to look for this.
How do you build a society around a world in which anyone can create biological weapons in their kitchen for example. I really believe these problems might be solvable but I couldn't find anything actionable in here. It's just talking about how medicine will be amazing in the future.
The same goes for many other of the points it makes. It all rings hollow to me.
If this book was written 20 years ago I would be really impressed but its not. Most of the insights I could find in this book are more or less just common knowledge nowadays.
This book is kind of like string theory. It paints a pretty picture but it doesn't actually provide anything useful or actionable.
It reads like just the world-building of a sci-fi book without the actual story.
I guess you could read it as an optimistic and non-technical introduction into the AI future, whenever it will happen, and I am the wrong audience entirely.
July 8, 2024
Read this because I have a (morbid) fascination with tech bros and “tescrealists” and Kurzweil is kind of a god among them. He’s a nut obsessed with living forever, but you can’t deny he’s got a brain and ideas and has actually contributed to the progress of technology, which is more than you can say for most of the crowd.
Anyway, sadly for Kurz this is a super tech bro-y book. He name drops Bitcoin and Bojack Horseman among other predictable signals to a certain subculture that tends to buy into this ideology but that has NOTHING to do with the Singularity. It’s cringe.
He also makes this weird claim that it’s okay that people don’t make as much money now (and if they get automated out of jobs) because you get more bang for your buck nowadays, like sure computers are a little more expensive but they do so much more so it’s okay!! Oh yeah and because people enjoy doing things that are free (he says scrolling on tiktok lol) they don’t need more money anyway and we should rethink what GDP even means. Please Kurz.
When he does actually get into the stuff about singularity, it’s 2/3 of the way through the book and makes a huge jump off from the base he was attempting to build with all that bulk. He talks about the beginning of the universe, brain biology, and the evolution of technology and the internet in basic high-school or pop/sci level review. And somehow that’s a good enough foundation for him to promise that we WILL have augmented reality beamed into our retinas, omniscient AI assistants listening and responding to our every needs, nanobots swimming in our bodies to stop aging oh yeah and SUPERHUMAN machine intelligence all in the 2030s. Ok, Kurz!!!!
I tend to love sci-fi, especially hard sci-fi and vintage ephemera that attempts to predict the future (e.g., flying cars, geodesic domes, colonizing the moon) so I tried to enjoy this book as just more of that because, to an extent, it is. But the language used is this is not science fiction it’s not “we could have this!” it’s so confident: “we WILL have this” and “it WILL happen like this.” And knowing this is holy gospel to people with actual power and money makes it not funny at all. At least until the 2030s when we can all look back on it and laugh or think “god if only.”
Anyway, sadly for Kurz this is a super tech bro-y book. He name drops Bitcoin and Bojack Horseman among other predictable signals to a certain subculture that tends to buy into this ideology but that has NOTHING to do with the Singularity. It’s cringe.
He also makes this weird claim that it’s okay that people don’t make as much money now (and if they get automated out of jobs) because you get more bang for your buck nowadays, like sure computers are a little more expensive but they do so much more so it’s okay!! Oh yeah and because people enjoy doing things that are free (he says scrolling on tiktok lol) they don’t need more money anyway and we should rethink what GDP even means. Please Kurz.
When he does actually get into the stuff about singularity, it’s 2/3 of the way through the book and makes a huge jump off from the base he was attempting to build with all that bulk. He talks about the beginning of the universe, brain biology, and the evolution of technology and the internet in basic high-school or pop/sci level review. And somehow that’s a good enough foundation for him to promise that we WILL have augmented reality beamed into our retinas, omniscient AI assistants listening and responding to our every needs, nanobots swimming in our bodies to stop aging oh yeah and SUPERHUMAN machine intelligence all in the 2030s. Ok, Kurz!!!!
I tend to love sci-fi, especially hard sci-fi and vintage ephemera that attempts to predict the future (e.g., flying cars, geodesic domes, colonizing the moon) so I tried to enjoy this book as just more of that because, to an extent, it is. But the language used is this is not science fiction it’s not “we could have this!” it’s so confident: “we WILL have this” and “it WILL happen like this.” And knowing this is holy gospel to people with actual power and money makes it not funny at all. At least until the 2030s when we can all look back on it and laugh or think “god if only.”
July 22, 2024
This book provided a great overview of current AI technology, and the next big step: brain computer interfaces (BCIs). It extrapolates on current trends in modern human civilization (accelerating exponential progress) [References to Steven Pinker and Daniel Kahneman {RIP} ] and outlines an optimistic path towards future abundance. Ray also highlights potential violence resulting from many groups of humans being displaced from their jobs. The future is freaky but the big picture prediction is one of abundance and overall and hard-to-grasp improvements to human life. It's important to factor in the pitfalls but, if I were a gambling man, I'd bet it all on a more prosperous future within our lifetime.
July 4, 2024
I was waiting for this book with high expectations, after having read all previous books from Kurzweil.
But I was really disappointed: to be honest, I didn’t find any new valuable information compared with The Singularity is near of 2005.
For the ones looking to approach Kurzweil, I still believe that The Singularity is near remains the best book to read!
But I was really disappointed: to be honest, I didn’t find any new valuable information compared with The Singularity is near of 2005.
For the ones looking to approach Kurzweil, I still believe that The Singularity is near remains the best book to read!
July 13, 2024
Does not significantly improve on the original. It's basically a big I told you so with some updated charts.
July 12, 2024
Low value for price, charts hardly updated, and no predictions were changed.
The Good: Kurzweil quickly gets to the core issues on concepts, explaining them clearly. He also expertly guides you through a history of AI, cutting through a ton of noise and fluff that you would get online. He brings up and explains many philosophical questions about the mind and how a mind augmented by a computer or even a computer taking over the functions of a mind, if done in a certain way, could be considered the same mind, the same consciousness, and hence the same person. It was quite compelling. Compared to "The Singularity is Near", the book is more concise and to the point, with the main prose (not the notes or index) being about 300 pages vs. almost 500 for his 2005 work. And the font and spacing take up more room, so I'd estimate the work in comparable terms might be closer to 200-250 pages vs. the older 500. The older book did go off on too many rabbit trails and this one less so.
The Bad: I paid about $28 for this hardcover book a day or so after it was released (cover price is $35). The price is currently $23.33 about 16 days after release. I'd hope you could pay $10 or grab it used for $5. My estimate is that the most important new points of the book could have been made in a single article or a short series of articles. I do not think this should have been a new book. I suspect the author and publisher know this, sadly. I've been waiting for many years for this book, and it was a disappointment. Most of the first 3 chapters (the first was very short) were enlightening, but then it went downhill. My biggest gripe is that it has almost no updated charts from the 2005 work. Kurzweil's predictions are literally predicated on the charts from his 2005 work, so he should have at least updated the charts so that we could see in what cases the trends have continued unabated, accelerated, or decelerated. The 2005 book had charts on the cost of tons of components of computing such as RAM, transistors per chip, processor clock speed, and the power of leading supercomputers. This new book only updates the computer chart on calculations per second per constant dollar for the best price per performance chip. And that chart doesn't even include the old trendline. I would have liked to see all of the old charts with all of the old plot points and the old trendline, and overlaid on top of that all of the new plots and a potentially new trendline, all differentiated so that we could see whether these trends have continued over the past 10 years. I would guess some have and some haven't, and that's ok, it doesn't necessarily change the predictions as long as some of the main charts are still ok. I found myself checking old concepts in the 2005 book since they were referenced in this new book but not explained again well enough, and in some cases they could have just reprinted an old chart/diagram or a few of them but they didn't. There was only one reprint of a fairly crude drawing that was slightly modified, unfortunately. As far as I can tell, not one of his predictive dates was changed in this new version of the book. I like the consistency, but in general I think the title of the book is misleading as it was not nearly the follow-up I was expecting. More like an additional few essays, as I mentioned.
The Ugly: The book makes a point about homicide rates in the United States and around the world. He says homicides are going down. But, he doesn't account for the hundreds of thousands of homicides each year in the United States (and more around the world) from the dismemberment and other murder of unborn babies through abortion each year. With these included the homicide rate is around 200 per 100,000, not around 7 per 100,000 as he proclaims. This means the U.S. has a homicide rate about twice as prevalent as one he references from about 500 years ago in one city in Europe. Very disappointing that he would not even make mention of this consideration that shows that murder has in fact increased a lot in the United States. When considering abortion, the world has arguably gotten much worse, on average, for most people around the world over the past 50 to 100 years, considering all of the murder we have committed or permitted. He needs to own up to that, and we need to do what we can to fight against it.
The Good: Kurzweil quickly gets to the core issues on concepts, explaining them clearly. He also expertly guides you through a history of AI, cutting through a ton of noise and fluff that you would get online. He brings up and explains many philosophical questions about the mind and how a mind augmented by a computer or even a computer taking over the functions of a mind, if done in a certain way, could be considered the same mind, the same consciousness, and hence the same person. It was quite compelling. Compared to "The Singularity is Near", the book is more concise and to the point, with the main prose (not the notes or index) being about 300 pages vs. almost 500 for his 2005 work. And the font and spacing take up more room, so I'd estimate the work in comparable terms might be closer to 200-250 pages vs. the older 500. The older book did go off on too many rabbit trails and this one less so.
The Bad: I paid about $28 for this hardcover book a day or so after it was released (cover price is $35). The price is currently $23.33 about 16 days after release. I'd hope you could pay $10 or grab it used for $5. My estimate is that the most important new points of the book could have been made in a single article or a short series of articles. I do not think this should have been a new book. I suspect the author and publisher know this, sadly. I've been waiting for many years for this book, and it was a disappointment. Most of the first 3 chapters (the first was very short) were enlightening, but then it went downhill. My biggest gripe is that it has almost no updated charts from the 2005 work. Kurzweil's predictions are literally predicated on the charts from his 2005 work, so he should have at least updated the charts so that we could see in what cases the trends have continued unabated, accelerated, or decelerated. The 2005 book had charts on the cost of tons of components of computing such as RAM, transistors per chip, processor clock speed, and the power of leading supercomputers. This new book only updates the computer chart on calculations per second per constant dollar for the best price per performance chip. And that chart doesn't even include the old trendline. I would have liked to see all of the old charts with all of the old plot points and the old trendline, and overlaid on top of that all of the new plots and a potentially new trendline, all differentiated so that we could see whether these trends have continued over the past 10 years. I would guess some have and some haven't, and that's ok, it doesn't necessarily change the predictions as long as some of the main charts are still ok. I found myself checking old concepts in the 2005 book since they were referenced in this new book but not explained again well enough, and in some cases they could have just reprinted an old chart/diagram or a few of them but they didn't. There was only one reprint of a fairly crude drawing that was slightly modified, unfortunately. As far as I can tell, not one of his predictive dates was changed in this new version of the book. I like the consistency, but in general I think the title of the book is misleading as it was not nearly the follow-up I was expecting. More like an additional few essays, as I mentioned.
The Ugly: The book makes a point about homicide rates in the United States and around the world. He says homicides are going down. But, he doesn't account for the hundreds of thousands of homicides each year in the United States (and more around the world) from the dismemberment and other murder of unborn babies through abortion each year. With these included the homicide rate is around 200 per 100,000, not around 7 per 100,000 as he proclaims. This means the U.S. has a homicide rate about twice as prevalent as one he references from about 500 years ago in one city in Europe. Very disappointing that he would not even make mention of this consideration that shows that murder has in fact increased a lot in the United States. When considering abortion, the world has arguably gotten much worse, on average, for most people around the world over the past 50 to 100 years, considering all of the murder we have committed or permitted. He needs to own up to that, and we need to do what we can to fight against it.
June 30, 2024
In this latest offering, the renowned futurist revisits his groundbreaking concept of technological singularity. However, the eagerly anticipated update to the nearly 20-year-old seminal work falls short of expectations over and above the revised date when he expects Singularity to arrive. Instead, the book feels hastily assembled. Absolutely, the new date – before the end of this decade – will likely make this book a must-read piece of work for many, but it is likely that most, like this reviewer, will walk away not much smarter.
The book's primary shortcoming is its lack of fresh insights. Rather than delving deeper into the evolving landscape of technology and its implications for the singularity, it rehashes familiar territory. The author misses a golden opportunity to provide better justifications for why he expects machines to be better than humans in almost all aspects by 2029 and not 2045. More importantly, the book fails to discuss the implications of machines working on themselves.
At the least, the update book should have re-examined the core concepts of singularity in light of the vast amount of new information available since the original publication. A glaring omission is the lack of discussion on recent technological breakthroughs. The book overlooks innovations in mobile telephony and social media that were not expected in the first work, which is perhaps ok, but also highly topic-relevant developments in deep tech. Notably absent is any meaningful exploration of neural networks, including RNNs, CNNs, and the game-changing advent of transformer and post-transformer technologies. These advancements have profound implications for machine intelligence, intentionality, and purpose-driven AI – topics that are supposed to be what the book is all about.
Instead, the book veers into well-trodden territory, offering a broad overview of technological progress over centuries and projecting exponential growth into the future—a topic extensively covered in numerous other books, TED Talks, and industry reports.
A significant portion of the book is devoted to societal progress, summarizing work better articulated by other authors like Steven Pinker. While interesting, the author's optimism about technology's impact on employment and his speculations about future innovations across various fields don't offer much novelty either.
On the positive side, the author's unwavering optimism and recounting of technological advancements do provide some valuable insights. His ability to picture potential future developments across various sectors is commendable, even if not groundbreaking.
Overall, the book may become the book of the season for most readers, but it serves more as a general recap of well-covered subjects than a pioneering work like its predecessor.
The book's primary shortcoming is its lack of fresh insights. Rather than delving deeper into the evolving landscape of technology and its implications for the singularity, it rehashes familiar territory. The author misses a golden opportunity to provide better justifications for why he expects machines to be better than humans in almost all aspects by 2029 and not 2045. More importantly, the book fails to discuss the implications of machines working on themselves.
At the least, the update book should have re-examined the core concepts of singularity in light of the vast amount of new information available since the original publication. A glaring omission is the lack of discussion on recent technological breakthroughs. The book overlooks innovations in mobile telephony and social media that were not expected in the first work, which is perhaps ok, but also highly topic-relevant developments in deep tech. Notably absent is any meaningful exploration of neural networks, including RNNs, CNNs, and the game-changing advent of transformer and post-transformer technologies. These advancements have profound implications for machine intelligence, intentionality, and purpose-driven AI – topics that are supposed to be what the book is all about.
Instead, the book veers into well-trodden territory, offering a broad overview of technological progress over centuries and projecting exponential growth into the future—a topic extensively covered in numerous other books, TED Talks, and industry reports.
A significant portion of the book is devoted to societal progress, summarizing work better articulated by other authors like Steven Pinker. While interesting, the author's optimism about technology's impact on employment and his speculations about future innovations across various fields don't offer much novelty either.
On the positive side, the author's unwavering optimism and recounting of technological advancements do provide some valuable insights. His ability to picture potential future developments across various sectors is commendable, even if not groundbreaking.
Overall, the book may become the book of the season for most readers, but it serves more as a general recap of well-covered subjects than a pioneering work like its predecessor.
July 7, 2024
Here are the main thoughts from Ray Kurzweil's book "The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI":
Complexity of Context: The vast number of potential contextual relationships in language demonstrates why even advanced AI like GPT-4 struggles with maintaining context over long narratives.
Superhuman Insights: Advanced neural networks can extract insights and achieve performance levels beyond human capabilities in areas like gaming, driving, medical imaging, and protein folding.
Renewable Energy and Democracy: The spread of cheap renewable energy can lead to material abundance, but equitable distribution requires democratic systems, which have historically been promoted by information technologies.
Technological Evolution and Democracy: The historical progression from the telegraph to social media has expanded the reach of democracy and individual rights, and future technological advancements will further these ideals.
Vertical Farming: Vertical farming has numerous benefits, including reducing pollution, eliminating the need for pesticides, and enabling local food production. Technological advancements will make it increasingly cost-effective and widespread.
Future of Agriculture: Innovations in energy, materials science, robotics, and AI will significantly reduce the cost of vertical farming, potentially leading to near-free food production.
3D Printing in Biology: 3D printing is being applied to biology, enabling the creation of human body tissues and organs. This method, using scaffolds and stem cells, promises to overcome the limitations of traditional organ transplants.
3D-Printed Buildings: The development of 3D printing for construction is advancing rapidly, with China leading the way. This technology promises to reduce construction costs and increase customization.
Overcoming Aging and Diseases: By the 2030s, advancements in various technologies are expected to significantly combat diseases and the aging process.
Automation of Work: A significant portion of work in developed economies can already be automated. Continued AI progress will lead to extensive automation, transforming industries and reducing costs.
Food Accessibility: As AI and robotics advance, and renewable energy becomes cheaper, the price of agricultural products will drop, making healthy food accessible to all.
Longevity Escape Velocity: The concept of "longevity escape velocity" suggests that if anti-aging research can extend life expectancy annually, it will allow time for further breakthroughs, potentially leading to extreme longevity.
Nanotechnology and Health: Future developments in nanotechnology, such as artificial blood cells and lungs, could vastly improve human health and longevity, making conditions like heart attacks much rarer.
Complexity of Context: The vast number of potential contextual relationships in language demonstrates why even advanced AI like GPT-4 struggles with maintaining context over long narratives.
Superhuman Insights: Advanced neural networks can extract insights and achieve performance levels beyond human capabilities in areas like gaming, driving, medical imaging, and protein folding.
Renewable Energy and Democracy: The spread of cheap renewable energy can lead to material abundance, but equitable distribution requires democratic systems, which have historically been promoted by information technologies.
Technological Evolution and Democracy: The historical progression from the telegraph to social media has expanded the reach of democracy and individual rights, and future technological advancements will further these ideals.
Vertical Farming: Vertical farming has numerous benefits, including reducing pollution, eliminating the need for pesticides, and enabling local food production. Technological advancements will make it increasingly cost-effective and widespread.
Future of Agriculture: Innovations in energy, materials science, robotics, and AI will significantly reduce the cost of vertical farming, potentially leading to near-free food production.
3D Printing in Biology: 3D printing is being applied to biology, enabling the creation of human body tissues and organs. This method, using scaffolds and stem cells, promises to overcome the limitations of traditional organ transplants.
3D-Printed Buildings: The development of 3D printing for construction is advancing rapidly, with China leading the way. This technology promises to reduce construction costs and increase customization.
Overcoming Aging and Diseases: By the 2030s, advancements in various technologies are expected to significantly combat diseases and the aging process.
Automation of Work: A significant portion of work in developed economies can already be automated. Continued AI progress will lead to extensive automation, transforming industries and reducing costs.
Food Accessibility: As AI and robotics advance, and renewable energy becomes cheaper, the price of agricultural products will drop, making healthy food accessible to all.
Longevity Escape Velocity: The concept of "longevity escape velocity" suggests that if anti-aging research can extend life expectancy annually, it will allow time for further breakthroughs, potentially leading to extreme longevity.
Nanotechnology and Health: Future developments in nanotechnology, such as artificial blood cells and lungs, could vastly improve human health and longevity, making conditions like heart attacks much rarer.
July 7, 2024
I've thought a lot about Kurzweil's earlier books, and about which of his predictions were likely to come true and which were nonsense. He correctly predicted a lot of near-term stuff that anyone reading the research coming out could have predicted, and a lot of long-term stuff that was just made up. His most useful predictions, though, were about extending the exponential curves in computing and exploring their consequences. Those curves have held steady ever since The Age of Intelligent Machines came out in 1990. He also predicted a lot of things that depended on AI being able to behave like a person (with common sense and natural language understanding), which up until 2015 or so seemed like unfounded wishing, but which now seem inevitable within the next few years. So I was looking forward to this book-- even when he was wrong, Kurzweil was always interesting.
Unfortunately, there was very little new for me in this book. The AI stuff I am living in the middle of every day, and the nanotech and biotech stuff don't seem to have made much progress at all since the 90s (except genome sequencing is faster and cheaper, of course.) The social progress stuff I get from Our World in Data and Stephen Pinker. I can't think of a single prediction from this book he hadn't already made at some point in the past. I also would have really enjoyed a detailed (and honest and unbiased) breakdown of where his earlier predictions went right or wrong, but there wasn't any of that in this book. His earlier attempt at this was pretty heavily favoring himself, so it probably wouldn't have gone well anyway.
I think he is just getting old and slowing down. He's 76, but if you watch him in interviews his age seems to be more and more an issue. This book was originally slated to come out a few years ago, and has been delayed and delayed.
Still, points to him for predicting the Turing Test would be passed by 2030 and sticking to that timeline for over 30 years. I thought his timeline was too aggressive by decades until GPT-2 came out (in 2018) and I realized he was going to be right about that specific and critically important prediction.
I still don't feel like I have a good sense of what will really be possible in a few years when every job sitting at a computer can be automated. I don't think anyone does. In that sense, the Singularity is still on track. As Vernor Vinge pointed out 40 years ago, it will be a singularity both because AI progress will accelerate AI progress in a runaway process, and because no one can see past it-- all prediction curves break down at a singularity.
Unfortunately, there was very little new for me in this book. The AI stuff I am living in the middle of every day, and the nanotech and biotech stuff don't seem to have made much progress at all since the 90s (except genome sequencing is faster and cheaper, of course.) The social progress stuff I get from Our World in Data and Stephen Pinker. I can't think of a single prediction from this book he hadn't already made at some point in the past. I also would have really enjoyed a detailed (and honest and unbiased) breakdown of where his earlier predictions went right or wrong, but there wasn't any of that in this book. His earlier attempt at this was pretty heavily favoring himself, so it probably wouldn't have gone well anyway.
I think he is just getting old and slowing down. He's 76, but if you watch him in interviews his age seems to be more and more an issue. This book was originally slated to come out a few years ago, and has been delayed and delayed.
Still, points to him for predicting the Turing Test would be passed by 2030 and sticking to that timeline for over 30 years. I thought his timeline was too aggressive by decades until GPT-2 came out (in 2018) and I realized he was going to be right about that specific and critically important prediction.
I still don't feel like I have a good sense of what will really be possible in a few years when every job sitting at a computer can be automated. I don't think anyone does. In that sense, the Singularity is still on track. As Vernor Vinge pointed out 40 years ago, it will be a singularity both because AI progress will accelerate AI progress in a runaway process, and because no one can see past it-- all prediction curves break down at a singularity.
July 10, 2024
Terrible book—did not finish. Got about halfway into it.
Chapter 4: Kurzweil (and Pinker) write of how the world is getting better. They like to talk about *relative* reduction in poverty. He basically ignores *absolute* poverty and suffering. When the industrial revolution started in 1760, there were 800 mil people in the world. Assume 90% lived in absolute poverty, so 720 mil. Today, Kurzweil says today there are 697 mil in absolute poverty. Or in another section, Kuzweil says 700 mil don't have access to clean water. In *absolute* terms there's been no improvement since the industrial revolution began whatsoever.
He also just brushes aside mental illness. Some context: lithium was discovered to be useful for bipolar disorder in 1949. Today, it's still the only treatment, and it's not perfect. Doctors still don't know how it works, just that it does—essentially no progress has been made in 75 years. His across the board optimism is highly misplaced, especially ch. 4. His casual dismissal of things like suicide and depression are mind blowing, but it makes sense, because it doesn't fit the narrative of exponential change.
Things are not "getting better", it's just the criteria chosen by Pinker/Kurzweil to hide *absolute* suffering. And this doesn't account for the growth in suffering in a myriad of different ways (discrimination, depression, physical illness, divorce, loss of family, isolation, boredom, injury, and phobias and hatred and biases).
This book is largely a rehash of earlier works. It's peppered throughout with old references, like discussing the lifestraw—which has been around for 20 years. Or 3D printing of buildings (mostly a pipe dream in practice). It seems that in every section, he's referring to previous works, and then reprinting it. If you've read his previously works, I don't see a ton that's new. He does have a large philosophical section, but I don't find that as interesting as actual philosophers or social issues. I think in this area, he's out of his element. He does go into some detail about how AI models work. This doesn't make sense—for the average reader, they'll gloss over it, and for someone more technical minded, there are more technical works.
The difference in 2005 (when he wrote the first book) to 2024 is profound. I'm thinking that you might be better off either reading his older works, or really looking elsewhere. Just take note—Twitter *didn't exist* when his first book was written, so books were the thing. Today, you're better off following accounts on AI to get up-to-date stuff. I got the book day 1, and reading the tech stuff, it's just way out of date at this point. I've been using Copilot and Samsung circle search (and there are many other tools/apps) for a while, and he doesn't even mention it. Books just feel pretty dead in this area—it's worse than newspapers, as it's a year out of date.
I think we're beyond the age of pop science books, and Kurzweil basically says it too (he says it over and over in the book). This book was completed in 2023, and so much has happened since then. There are plenty of ways to get current AI news, that a book just isn't it. Feels like the publisher may be trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of the book thing.
Chapter 4: Kurzweil (and Pinker) write of how the world is getting better. They like to talk about *relative* reduction in poverty. He basically ignores *absolute* poverty and suffering. When the industrial revolution started in 1760, there were 800 mil people in the world. Assume 90% lived in absolute poverty, so 720 mil. Today, Kurzweil says today there are 697 mil in absolute poverty. Or in another section, Kuzweil says 700 mil don't have access to clean water. In *absolute* terms there's been no improvement since the industrial revolution began whatsoever.
He also just brushes aside mental illness. Some context: lithium was discovered to be useful for bipolar disorder in 1949. Today, it's still the only treatment, and it's not perfect. Doctors still don't know how it works, just that it does—essentially no progress has been made in 75 years. His across the board optimism is highly misplaced, especially ch. 4. His casual dismissal of things like suicide and depression are mind blowing, but it makes sense, because it doesn't fit the narrative of exponential change.
Things are not "getting better", it's just the criteria chosen by Pinker/Kurzweil to hide *absolute* suffering. And this doesn't account for the growth in suffering in a myriad of different ways (discrimination, depression, physical illness, divorce, loss of family, isolation, boredom, injury, and phobias and hatred and biases).
This book is largely a rehash of earlier works. It's peppered throughout with old references, like discussing the lifestraw—which has been around for 20 years. Or 3D printing of buildings (mostly a pipe dream in practice). It seems that in every section, he's referring to previous works, and then reprinting it. If you've read his previously works, I don't see a ton that's new. He does have a large philosophical section, but I don't find that as interesting as actual philosophers or social issues. I think in this area, he's out of his element. He does go into some detail about how AI models work. This doesn't make sense—for the average reader, they'll gloss over it, and for someone more technical minded, there are more technical works.
The difference in 2005 (when he wrote the first book) to 2024 is profound. I'm thinking that you might be better off either reading his older works, or really looking elsewhere. Just take note—Twitter *didn't exist* when his first book was written, so books were the thing. Today, you're better off following accounts on AI to get up-to-date stuff. I got the book day 1, and reading the tech stuff, it's just way out of date at this point. I've been using Copilot and Samsung circle search (and there are many other tools/apps) for a while, and he doesn't even mention it. Books just feel pretty dead in this area—it's worse than newspapers, as it's a year out of date.
I think we're beyond the age of pop science books, and Kurzweil basically says it too (he says it over and over in the book). This book was completed in 2023, and so much has happened since then. There are plenty of ways to get current AI news, that a book just isn't it. Feels like the publisher may be trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of the book thing.
July 1, 2024
Ray Kurzweil has proved himself as an inventor, multi-threat tech expert, and eminent visionary. The current AI explosion we're witnessing is pretty well on schedule from his predictions twenty years ago. We do well to pay attention to him.
Three main things he sees coming in the next 10-15 years are AGI (general-purpose AI that can outperform humans at nearly everything); interfacing human brains directly to the cloud to "expand" human thought and create the ultimate in virtual worlds for our amusement (useful when AI has taken our livelihoods); and nanotechnology, moving atoms around to produce nearly everything people need, including food, at minimal cost.
But one phrase should be added to all of these claims: "if nothing goes wrong." AGI requires a solution to the alignment problem, how to keep it from doing evil; show me a solution that will work with bad actors like Vladimir Putin. Hooking brains to the cloud as he describes would require correct placement of literally millions of electrodes. It will take a lot of testing to get this right, on live subjects, which may be a bit tricky. Nanotech could be disastrous if it gets in the wrong hands; it's insidious and unstoppable except by the (evil) power that holds the password.
Kurzweil mentions but glides over these and similar risks, apparently assuming that technological momentum will somehow carry us past them. He's reminiscent of Steven Pinker, whom he quotes repeatedly. The idea that things could go horribly wrong is nowhere in evidence.
The most shocking evidence of his self-blinding optimism is the absence of any sense of possible global catastrophe. Here's the kicker: the phrase "climate change" appears nowhere in the book. Not once.
Maybe he expects tech can create a paradise even after the planet has been rendered mostly uninhabitable.
Ok, I'm being critical. No matter, he still gets five stars for rolling out serious and intriguing ideas. Also note, a third of the book is end-notes, most with internet links. If you get the e-book you can use it as a gateway to much fascinating material.
Three main things he sees coming in the next 10-15 years are AGI (general-purpose AI that can outperform humans at nearly everything); interfacing human brains directly to the cloud to "expand" human thought and create the ultimate in virtual worlds for our amusement (useful when AI has taken our livelihoods); and nanotechnology, moving atoms around to produce nearly everything people need, including food, at minimal cost.
But one phrase should be added to all of these claims: "if nothing goes wrong." AGI requires a solution to the alignment problem, how to keep it from doing evil; show me a solution that will work with bad actors like Vladimir Putin. Hooking brains to the cloud as he describes would require correct placement of literally millions of electrodes. It will take a lot of testing to get this right, on live subjects, which may be a bit tricky. Nanotech could be disastrous if it gets in the wrong hands; it's insidious and unstoppable except by the (evil) power that holds the password.
Kurzweil mentions but glides over these and similar risks, apparently assuming that technological momentum will somehow carry us past them. He's reminiscent of Steven Pinker, whom he quotes repeatedly. The idea that things could go horribly wrong is nowhere in evidence.
The most shocking evidence of his self-blinding optimism is the absence of any sense of possible global catastrophe. Here's the kicker: the phrase "climate change" appears nowhere in the book. Not once.
Maybe he expects tech can create a paradise even after the planet has been rendered mostly uninhabitable.
Ok, I'm being critical. No matter, he still gets five stars for rolling out serious and intriguing ideas. Also note, a third of the book is end-notes, most with internet links. If you get the e-book you can use it as a gateway to much fascinating material.
July 6, 2024
What an amazing time to be alive! My siblings and I had an interesting conversation one night recently around a campfire about the future of AI and what it looks like for our society. It was both a humbling and nerve-wracking conversation for me as someone who hasn't realized the full scale of what AI really is/does. This book coming out when it did was great for someone like me who needed things laid out of the potential, growth, and positive sides of AI.
This book reads like a sci-fi book more than I would have liked, but overall the information is well presented. If I had read any of his previous works I could see myself being a little annoyed with how many times he refers to his others books-but because I haven't read them it was new information to me. I liked reading his perspective of future developments and some of the views like nanotechnology and AI's advancements into the medical world. I found myself with my mouth open a few times just thinking about these possibilities and things going on right now.
There is a lot of optimism in this which was a refreshing view I needed at the time. But afterwards I did feel like there was this whole other side of AI that was just being glossed over which is the harmful side.. the side where things don't go in order of predictability or where AI is used for evil and terrible things. I would have liked more insights in that area.
Overall this book is definitely more for the regular human like myself of just scratching the surface of AI and the advancements.
This book reads like a sci-fi book more than I would have liked, but overall the information is well presented. If I had read any of his previous works I could see myself being a little annoyed with how many times he refers to his others books-but because I haven't read them it was new information to me. I liked reading his perspective of future developments and some of the views like nanotechnology and AI's advancements into the medical world. I found myself with my mouth open a few times just thinking about these possibilities and things going on right now.
There is a lot of optimism in this which was a refreshing view I needed at the time. But afterwards I did feel like there was this whole other side of AI that was just being glossed over which is the harmful side.. the side where things don't go in order of predictability or where AI is used for evil and terrible things. I would have liked more insights in that area.
Overall this book is definitely more for the regular human like myself of just scratching the surface of AI and the advancements.
July 10, 2024
In "The Singularity is Nearer," Ray Kurzweil presents his vision of the future shaped by rapidly accelerating technological advancements. While one often needs to power through his egotism and apparent need for validation to appreciate his insights, Kurzweil's predictions about the future are both fascinating and thought-provoking.
However, there is a critical area where Kurzweil's perspective may be flawed: his belief in the absolute improvement of the human condition. Kurzweil seems to suggest that as technology advances, people will inherently feel better off due to the objective progress humanity will achieve. Yet, this overlooks a fundamental aspect of human nature: we don't experience life in absolute terms. Our sense of well-being is often relative, shaped by comparisons with those around us. As social animals, we constantly measure our success and happiness against our neighbors, peers, and the images we encounter in media.
This relative nature of human satisfaction means that even with significant technological and societal advancements, disparities and inequalities will continue to influence how people perceive their quality of life. Kurzweil's optimistic view might underestimate the persistence of social and psychological factors that affect human contentment.
Nonetheless, I do feel that many of his insights are already unfolding and are likely to come to pass. The social impact of these technological transformations remains an intriguing area for further exploration. We indeed do live in interesting times.
However, there is a critical area where Kurzweil's perspective may be flawed: his belief in the absolute improvement of the human condition. Kurzweil seems to suggest that as technology advances, people will inherently feel better off due to the objective progress humanity will achieve. Yet, this overlooks a fundamental aspect of human nature: we don't experience life in absolute terms. Our sense of well-being is often relative, shaped by comparisons with those around us. As social animals, we constantly measure our success and happiness against our neighbors, peers, and the images we encounter in media.
This relative nature of human satisfaction means that even with significant technological and societal advancements, disparities and inequalities will continue to influence how people perceive their quality of life. Kurzweil's optimistic view might underestimate the persistence of social and psychological factors that affect human contentment.
Nonetheless, I do feel that many of his insights are already unfolding and are likely to come to pass. The social impact of these technological transformations remains an intriguing area for further exploration. We indeed do live in interesting times.
July 21, 2024
If you've read several books by Kurzweil, and have generally been following tech news and some futuristic predictions about potential technological advancements in the coming decades, you can probably skip this book, and would most likely not be missing much of importance. This book is more of an update of Kurzweil's 2005 book "The Singularity is Near", in which he made predictions about future developments in several technological areas, many of which turned out to be correct, although they might have seemed like science fiction at the time.
Overall, I like Kurzweil's cautious optimism about the future, for he does not merely spread the "good news" of future potential for abundance and prosperity for our species, but also warns against potential dangers of current and future technologies, and highlights the need for good governance and policies to harness their positive potential. This is contrary to some Transhumanists who either tend to wear a pink-colored lense, or a black- or gray-colored one, when it comes to the future of humanity, swinging to the extreme and missing the opposite viewpoint entirely.
I would have wished though, if Kurzweil had transcended himself over the years, and came up with more profound ideas concerning the future of technology and humanity, other than the now tropy "law of accelerated returns". Just as he did in "Fantastic Voyage", he could have perhaps, had a collaboration with other thinkers, such as ethicists, physisists, mathematicians, chemists, biologists, economists, etc, to come up with more daring concepts, speculations and predictions about very specific domains.
Overall, I like Kurzweil's cautious optimism about the future, for he does not merely spread the "good news" of future potential for abundance and prosperity for our species, but also warns against potential dangers of current and future technologies, and highlights the need for good governance and policies to harness their positive potential. This is contrary to some Transhumanists who either tend to wear a pink-colored lense, or a black- or gray-colored one, when it comes to the future of humanity, swinging to the extreme and missing the opposite viewpoint entirely.
I would have wished though, if Kurzweil had transcended himself over the years, and came up with more profound ideas concerning the future of technology and humanity, other than the now tropy "law of accelerated returns". Just as he did in "Fantastic Voyage", he could have perhaps, had a collaboration with other thinkers, such as ethicists, physisists, mathematicians, chemists, biologists, economists, etc, to come up with more daring concepts, speculations and predictions about very specific domains.
July 8, 2024
"The Singularity is Nearer" by Ray Kurzweil stands as a monumental synthesis of his previous works, potentially his final book unless he titles his next one "The Singularity is Here" once the event actually occurs. This book is an extraordinary introduction and comprehensive guide covering an extensive range of topics, including philosophy, evolution, cybernetics, consciousness, AI, free will, transhumanism, and economics. Kurzweil's engaging writing style makes complex subjects accessible, making this a reference book worth revisiting.
Kurzweil meticulously builds his thesis, demonstrating how his predictions since 1990 have consistently come true and, more importantly, why they have. His primary assertion is that the decreasing costs of informational technologies lead to further reductions in these costs, making it's development an unstopable trend that permeates on everything in our lives. He elucidates the current state of affairs, the historical developments that brought us here, and future projections, addressing potential challenges and plausible solutions along the way.
The book also delves into numerous scientific advancements and innovations that, while promising today, hold significant potential for transforming our future, from medicine to nanotechnology. Kurzweil provides detailed explanations of these developments, their capabilities, and their likely impact on our daily lives, along with the possible problems and solutions associated with them.
Kurzweil meticulously builds his thesis, demonstrating how his predictions since 1990 have consistently come true and, more importantly, why they have. His primary assertion is that the decreasing costs of informational technologies lead to further reductions in these costs, making it's development an unstopable trend that permeates on everything in our lives. He elucidates the current state of affairs, the historical developments that brought us here, and future projections, addressing potential challenges and plausible solutions along the way.
The book also delves into numerous scientific advancements and innovations that, while promising today, hold significant potential for transforming our future, from medicine to nanotechnology. Kurzweil provides detailed explanations of these developments, their capabilities, and their likely impact on our daily lives, along with the possible problems and solutions associated with them.
June 30, 2024
I’m a big Ray Kurzweil fan and remember reading his book “The Singularity is Near” that came out in 2005, a generation ago. When I just saw Kurzweil in a Ted Talk video promoting his new book “The Singularity is Nearer”, I put my other reading projects on hold and rushed out to get a copy of his book. I totally enjoyed this up-beat, optimistic view on technology, artificial intelligence and where we are headed in the upcoming years.
OK, I’ve seen the critics and negative comments about Kurzweil’s latest book, that there is nothing new here, that it’s just a rehash of previous books. That is not completely accurate. Kurzweil manages to take a step back to present the “big picture” of how technology has developed and how he sees things continuing in the next decade or two. At times, it feels a bit like the “Star Trek” universe coming true, and furthermore in our lifetime.
Kurzweil presents his arguments based on current research and historical data. This does not feel like hype, but rather like a well thought out and argued projection. Kurzweil is in his 70s and is apparently still working at Google. I am truly amazed by all that he has been doing.
The book is easy to follow and appeals to more than just the geek or technology buffs out there. I am already recommending this book to my friends. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
OK, I’ve seen the critics and negative comments about Kurzweil’s latest book, that there is nothing new here, that it’s just a rehash of previous books. That is not completely accurate. Kurzweil manages to take a step back to present the “big picture” of how technology has developed and how he sees things continuing in the next decade or two. At times, it feels a bit like the “Star Trek” universe coming true, and furthermore in our lifetime.
Kurzweil presents his arguments based on current research and historical data. This does not feel like hype, but rather like a well thought out and argued projection. Kurzweil is in his 70s and is apparently still working at Google. I am truly amazed by all that he has been doing.
The book is easy to follow and appeals to more than just the geek or technology buffs out there. I am already recommending this book to my friends. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
July 8, 2024
If this guy is right, the world is going to change dramatically over the next twenty years - either for the better or for the much, much worse. If I could stop the mad race to get ahead in AI, I would. Anything times zero is zero. We seem to be playing with fire here.
I read the book to gain insights into the likely impact of AI on various industries. Some such predictions are made but that is not the focus of this book.
Overall a worthy read though a few sections are too technical for most readers.
I read the book to gain insights into the likely impact of AI on various industries. Some such predictions are made but that is not the focus of this book.
Overall a worthy read though a few sections are too technical for most readers.
July 11, 2024
This book is rather a discussion on general pop science and near future tech advances (eg see chapter 4) than it is a discussion on AI. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the author mentioned “nano” outside of the discussion of AI more than they mentioned “AI” in the entire book. There was also surprisingly very little on the current applications of AI and its recent advances, and somehow overlooks the connection between quantum computers and AI and the immense capabilities and promise the pairing entails. Disappointing read and had very little to say that was unique
July 8, 2024
Impact of AI. I would say this OS basically a very optimistic book. It outlines many foreseeable changes in our near future and considers their impact. Perhaps the most interesting and most problematic is the development of direct computer brain implants. Will they achieve the extension of human intelligence suggested. I guess we hang on and enjoy the ride. Perhaps his most mature book in the sense of thoughtful reflections on the issues.
July 11, 2024
Please allow me present you with a math performed by the author.
In 2022, US personal income per capita is ~64K out of a total population ~320M, the workforce is ~164M. So the author concluded that the working American’s annual average earning is ~129K (64 * 320M / 164M).
While the math is not necessarily wrong, the number is unfortunately not the reality - same can be said to many points the book tried to make.
In 2022, US personal income per capita is ~64K out of a total population ~320M, the workforce is ~164M. So the author concluded that the working American’s annual average earning is ~129K (64 * 320M / 164M).
While the math is not necessarily wrong, the number is unfortunately not the reality - same can be said to many points the book tried to make.
July 15, 2024
Any book validating its predecessor risks being a disappointment. Why this is worth reading:
1. It surveys the landscape.
2. It explains that the predictions are on track, and why.
3. It clarifies the singularity metaphor and other concepts.
4. It comes from someone who is influential in shaping the future.
Risks and downsides feel brushed aside - but they're acknowledged, which is enough for a book about predictions. More would have been tedious.
1. It surveys the landscape.
2. It explains that the predictions are on track, and why.
3. It clarifies the singularity metaphor and other concepts.
4. It comes from someone who is influential in shaping the future.
Risks and downsides feel brushed aside - but they're acknowledged, which is enough for a book about predictions. More would have been tedious.
July 21, 2024
I've been following Kurzweil's predictions for many years and he is by far the most accurate futurist I know of. And he does a great job explaining the thinking behind his estimates.
If you want to get a good picture of what forces are shaping the future right now and start wrestling with what changes are coming (soon!) to our technology and society, then I recommend this book.
If you want to get a good picture of what forces are shaping the future right now and start wrestling with what changes are coming (soon!) to our technology and society, then I recommend this book.
July 5, 2024
A fantastic book from Kurzweil, as always! This one is filled with his signature optimism and a captivating vision of the future. The AI, biotech, and nanotech technologies he describes are nothing short of awe-inspiring. I can't wait to see these innovations become a reality!
July 11, 2024
nothing new - buy my other books
Crazy amount of mentioning (promotion ?) previous books…
Summary: “I was right about everything but no singularity yet!”
Abruptly ends after pages listing humanity’s progress. Weird and disappointing.
Crazy amount of mentioning (promotion ?) previous books…
Summary: “I was right about everything but no singularity yet!”
Abruptly ends after pages listing humanity’s progress. Weird and disappointing.
July 14, 2024
Great futuristic vision
Kurzweil predict bright future for our self: Merge our neocortex with AI and inifinite Processing capacity. From neuroscience to ethics and philosophy; Great reading
Kurzweil predict bright future for our self: Merge our neocortex with AI and inifinite Processing capacity. From neuroscience to ethics and philosophy; Great reading
June 27, 2024
A good update on the singularity in near. A well written and thought out book.
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