The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology
by: Ray Kurzweil
List Price: $20.00
Prices subject to change.
Price: $13.00
You Save: $7.00 (35%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Product Description:
For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines, he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary process: the union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations.
For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines, he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary process: the union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations.
Alternate Versions:
Related Items:
- The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
- Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever
- Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies -- and What It Means to Be Human
- Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever
- The 10% Solution for a Healthy Life: How to Reduce Fat in Your Diet and Eliminate Virtually All Risk of Heart Disease and Cancer
- see more
Browse for similar items by category:
- Books » Specialty Stores » Custom Stores » New & Used Textbooks » Science & Mathematics » Biology & Life Sciences » General AAS
- Books » Specialty Stores » Custom Stores » New & Used Textbooks » Science & Mathematics » General AAS
- Books » Specialty Stores » Custom Stores » New & Used Textbooks » Social Sciences » General AAS
- Books » Specialty Stores » Custom Stores » New & Used Textbooks » General AAS
- Books » Subjects » Nonfiction » Social Sciences » Anthropology » Evolution
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Petra Schoning
If you want hope and a whole new perspective on the future, this is the book for you! I first read Ray Kurzweil's book, The Age of Spiritual Machines, in 1999 and it was a total paradigm shift for me. Since that time, what he projected back then has been almost totally on track. There is great hope for humanity and Ray Kurzweil will tell you why... Here's to Ray Kurzweil, futurism, and the fast track to hope!
Rating: 
- And So's the Apocalypse
While its thesis -- that computers will soon overtake and subsume us -- is arresting and provocative, this lengthy meditation on the logic of Moore's Law is clumsy, repetitive and extremely poorly written: essentially a magazine article that's been padded with graphs (and an assortment of academic debris) to fill a largely unreadable five hundred pages.
The whole idea's kinda cool, but, wow, the presentation blows.
Rating: - The Apocalypse is Nigh
Julian Jaynes rounds out his wonderful The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind with a sanguine remark that the idea of science is rooted in the same impulse that drives religion: the desire for "the Final Answer, the One Truth, the Single Cause".
Nowhere is this impulse better illustrated, or the scientific mien so resemblant of a religious one, than in Ray Kurzweil's hymn to forthcoming technology, The Singularity Is Near. For if ever a man were committed ... Read More
Rating: - Maddewar
Although a bit eccentric this author has a very good point. His futuristic outlook seems to have merit. Technology is increasing at a very fast pace and I do believe it will increase longevity and improve quality of life.
Rating: - Much hype - litle to show
Much hype - litle to show. If interested in this subject get it at your library.
- Petra SchoningIf you want hope and a whole new perspective on the future, this is the book for you! I first read Ray Kurzweil's book, The Age of Spiritual Machines, in 1999 and it was a total paradigm shift for me. Since that time, what he projected back then has been almost totally on track. There is great hope for humanity and Ray Kurzweil will tell you why... Here's to Ray Kurzweil, futurism, and the fast track to hope!
- And So's the ApocalypseWhile its thesis -- that computers will soon overtake and subsume us -- is arresting and provocative, this lengthy meditation on the logic of Moore's Law is clumsy, repetitive and extremely poorly written: essentially a magazine article that's been padded with graphs (and an assortment of academic debris) to fill a largely unreadable five hundred pages.
The whole idea's kinda cool, but, wow, the presentation blows.
- The Apocalypse is NighJulian Jaynes rounds out his wonderful The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind with a sanguine remark that the idea of science is rooted in the same impulse that drives religion: the desire for "the Final Answer, the One Truth, the Single Cause".
Nowhere is this impulse better illustrated, or the scientific mien so resemblant of a religious one, than in Ray Kurzweil's hymn to forthcoming technology, The Singularity Is Near. For if ever a man were committed ... Read More
- MaddewarAlthough a bit eccentric this author has a very good point. His futuristic outlook seems to have merit. Technology is increasing at a very fast pace and I do believe it will increase longevity and improve quality of life.
- Much hype - litle to showMuch hype - litle to show. If interested in this subject get it at your library.
