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Topic: The Singularity Is Near

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	The Law of Accelerating Returns
		The Singularity is technological change so rapid and so profound that it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history.
		Before considering further the implications of the Singularity, let's examine the wide range of technologies that are subject to the law of accelerating returns.
		One of the principal assumptions underlying the expectation of the Singularity is the ability of nonbiological mediums to emulate the richness, subtlety, and depth of human thinking.
	www.kurzweilai.net /articles/art0134.html?printable=1 (6430 words)

	The Singularity Is Near - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (Viking Books, ISBN 0-670-03384-7) is a 2005 update of Raymond Kurzweil's 1999 book, The Age of Spiritual Machines and his 1987 book The Age of Intelligent Machines.
		That a technological-evolutionary jump known as "the singularity" exists as an achievable goal for humanity.
		That through a "law of accelerating returns", technology is progressing toward the singularity at an exponential rate.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/The_Singularity_Is_Near (540 words)

	joelshepherd.com: The Singularity is (not) Near
		I’m not a big reader on issues surrounding The Singularity, but sometimes I find knowing less about the concept actually helps to critique it better, because my brain isn’t overloaded with other peoples’ arguments and I can actually find my own opinion and draw my own conclusions.
		The concept of The Singularity revolves around the idea that one day, the human race will lose control of its own evolution to superior machines (artificial intelligences) which, combined with a range of other technologies, will combine to make human beings essentially obsolete.
		In truth, The Singularity is not actually an imaginative concept -- rather it represents a failure of imagination.
	www.joelshepherd.com /2006/01/singularity-is-not-near.html (2213 words)

	Cool Tool: The Singularity is Near
		Ray Kurzweil has taken all the strands of the Singularity meme circulating in the last decades and has united them into a single tome which he has nailed on our front door.
		I emphasize the word "currently" because one of the salient implications of the Singularity will be a change in the nature of our ability to understand.
		By the time of the Singularity, there won't be a distinction between humans and technology.
	www.kk.org /cooltools/archives/001094.php (547 words)

	Singularity Summit - What Is the Singularity?
		In futures studies, the singularity represents an "event horizon" in the predictability of human technological development past which present models of the future cease to give reliable or accurate answers, following the creation of strong AI or the enhancement of human intelligence.
		Many futurists predict that after the singularity, humans as they exist presently won't be the driving force in scientific and technological progress, eclipsed cognitively by posthumans, AI, or both, with all models of change based on past trends in human behavior becoming obsolete.
		While some regard the singularity as a positive event and work to hasten its arrival, others view the singularity as dangerous, undesirable, or unlikely.
	sss.stanford.edu /overview/whatisthesingularity (644 words)

	Amazon.com: The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology: Books: Ray Kurzweil (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Humankind, it runs, is at the threshold of an epoch ("the singularity," a reference to the theoretical limitlessness of exponential expansion) that will see the merging of our biology with the staggering achievements of "GNR" (genetics, nanotechnology and robotics) to create a species of unrecognizably high intelligence, durability, comprehension, memory and so on.
		By building up the concept of singularity, Kurzweil is also forced to prove that other civilizations with higher levels of intelligence than us does not exist (if they existed they would have crossed the point of singularity and expanded across the universe) throwing the work of organizations like SETI out of the door.
		The Singularity is Near draws you in by the excitement it creates through highlighting the wondrous developments that could be made possible by the revolution in genetics and nanotechnology.
	www.amazon.com /Singularity-Near-Humans-Transcend-Biology/dp/0670033847 (3235 words)

	Kevin Kelly -- The Technium
		The singularity is a term borrowed from physics to describe a cataclysmic threshold in a fl hole.
		The term "Singularity" is not in analogy to a mathematical singularity where a function approaches infinity as a limit, but in analogy to the breakdown that occurs in our model of the laws of physics when we try to figure out what happens at the center of a fl hole.
		Vinge's Singularity is an absolute threshold, not an affect of accelerating anything; it happens when the upper bound on intelligence that has held since the dawn of Homo sapiens in its modern form, the past fifty thousand years, ceases to hold.
	www.kk.org /thetechnium/archives/2006/02/the_singularity.php (6209 words)

	Technological singularity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		In futures studies, a technological singularity (often the Singularity) is a predicted future event believed to precede immense technological progress in an unprecedentedly brief time.
		Singularity themes are common in cyberpunk novels, such as the recursively self-improving AI Wintermute in William Gibson's novel Neuromancer.
		The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research institute for the study and advancement of beneficial AI that is working to shape what statistician I.J. Good called the "intelligence explosion." It has the additional goal of fostering a broader discussion and understanding of Friendly Artificial Intelligence.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Technological_singularity (2595 words)

	The Singularity Summit at Stanford
		The implications for all aspects of human existence of this "singularity" are profound; but until now, few have begun to consider what may be the most important event in their lifetimes.
		This possibility, the singularity, may be a critical event in history, and deserves thoughtful consideration.
		With his new book, The Singularity Is Near, Ray Kurzweil has taken all the strands of the singularity meme circulating in the last decades and has united them into a single tome which he has nailed on our front door.
	sss.stanford.edu (692 words)

	neurodudes » Blog Archive » Review: Kurzweil’s The Singularity is Near
		TSIN is based on the same fundamental idea that his previous books emphasize: The acceleration of the rate of innovation.
		The singularity folks consider the rise of civilization as itself a singularity seen on a longer timescale.
		Somewhere in the near future Moore’s law will hit the ceiling, the exponential technological growth (which R. Kurzweil log-plots in his book as a stragith line, past 100 years) will not be what we have seen for the last say 20-30 years, there will be a slow down.
	neurodudes.com /2005/10/30/review-kurzweils-the-singularity-is-near (2960 words)

	Amit's Thoughts: The Singularity is Near?
		I'm only on page 10 in Kurzweil's new book, The Singularity is Near (which I received at the Accelerating Change 2005 conference), and his opening argument is suspect.
		I believe the major weakness in his proposition, and we've seen this many times before in discussions about the brain and artificial intelligence, is that there is simply too much reliance on the information processing metaphor in describing the human brain.
		For proponents of singularity theory to successfully build their case, they must make a compelling argument that the brain is simply an information processing machine.
	amitp.blogspot.com /2005/09/singularity-is-near.html (1340 words)

	Instapundit.com - (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		The Singularity is a transition, but to appreciate its importance, one needs to understand the nature of exponential growth.
		The term “Singularity” in my book and by the Singularity aware community is comparable to the use of this term by the physics community.
		GHR: The term "Singularity" -- as applied to technological/social change -- was coined by Vernor Vinge, who is both a professor of computer science and a science fiction writer.
	www.instapundit.com /archives/025289.php (3662 words)

	The Quern » Blog Archive » Book Review: The Singularity is Near (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Kurzweil posits that exponential growth in several enabling technologies, particularly the power of computer hardware, will catalyze a “Singularity” — a period of rapid change in technology that will fundamentally change the human experience.
		Vernor Vinge, a professor emeritus of computer science and a science fiction author, is credited with inventing the term, although the idea may predate him as well.
		Whether you agree with Kurzweil that the Singularity is just around the corner, or whether you think it is farther off, impossible, or that we will have killed ourselves with our own technology before we get to that point, The Singularity is Near is an excellent, thought-provoking work.
	www.wigdahl.net /blog/2006/06/06/book-review-the-singularity-is-near (1192 words)

	Powell's Books - The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil
		Controversial and insightful, Singularity illuminates the technologies that are pushing the boundaries of humanness and reveals a future that hovers amazingly near.
		The Singularity Is Near portrays what life will be like after this event — a human — machine civilization where our experiences shift from real reality to virtual reality and where our intelligence becomes nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful.
		The Singularity Is Near also considers the social and philosophical ramifications of these changes, and is certain to be one of the most widely discussed and provocative books of 2005.
	www.powells.com /cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=62-0143037889-0 (845 words)

	Albion's Seedlings: Kurzweil's The Singularity Is Near
		Kurzweil has now created a comprehensive presentation of the Singularity concept that is revolutionary in its implications and central to thinking about the Anglosphere.
		“The Singularity is Near” is a thorough, substantive introduction to the concept of the Singularity introduced in the Anglosphere Challenge.
		The 'glitch' arguments against the Singularity - ie, technology breaks down sometimes, so a Singularity is unlikely - have never made much sense to me. Lifeforms break down all the time, too, and yet, life goes on....
	anglosphere.com /weblog/archives/000166.html (3134 words)

	Singularity is Near (via CobWeb/3.1 planetlab2.cs.virginia.edu) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		The Singularity is an era in which our intelligence will become increasingly nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful than it is today—the dawning of a new civilization that will enable us to transcend our biological limitations and amplify our creativity.
		KurzweilAI.net features ideas, writing, and technologies of visionaries examining the confluence of accelerating revolutions that will shape the future and the inside story on new technological and social realities from the pioneers actively working in these arenas.
		Ray Kurzweil is one of the world’s leading inventors, thinkers, and futurists, with a twenty-year track record of accurate predictions.
	singularity.com.cob-web.org:8888 (168 words)

	pseudorandom: "The Singularity Is Near"
		My seventh book of the year (I'm still catching up from a couple of months ago) was Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology.
		The key idea underlying the impending Singularity is that the pace of change of our human-created technology is accelerating and its powers are expanding at an exponential pace...
		The Singularity will represent the culmination of the merger of our biological thinking and existence with our technology, resulting in a world that is still human but that transcends our biological roots.
	www.boosman.com /blog/2006/05/the_singularity_is_near.html (624 words)

	Accelerating Future - Who Cares About the Singularity?
		These are individuals who understand the definition of the Singularity, work in related areas, mention it occasionally (or often) in their writings, and so on.
		Part of the reason there are so many well-known people from such diverse fields participating in discussion of the Singularity is that the Singularity is a profoundly interdisciplinary and convergent concept - acceleration has been taking place in nearly every scientific and technological discipline since their founding, and people are noticing.
		Although the actual event of the Singularity will begin with a concrete invention, many see this invention as the culmination of a process that has been taking place since the beginnings of life, or even the beginnings of the universe, making the Singularity an extremely inclusive topic.
	www.acceleratingfuture.com /articles/whocares.htm (1095 words)

	Fight Aging!: Reading "The Singularity is Near"
		This, as Kurzweil makes the case in TSiN, is a process that is growing exponentially, and we are moving out of the timespan in which exponential growth appears more linear.
		This is a defining characteristic of our time: we have blindingly fast rates of research and technological advances once the money is on the table, but the cycles of business, fundraising and research are still chained to the old human timetable.
		Kurzweil's Singularity is a Vingean slow burn across a decade, driven by recursively self-improving AI, enhanced human intelligence and the merger of the two.
	www.fightaging.org /archives/000612.php (2336 words)

	Education Futures » Kurzweil: The singularity is near
		Here is a book to watch out for: The singularity is near by Ray Kurzweil, to be released in September, 2005.
		The Singularity is near portrays what life will be like after this event—a human-machine civilization where our experiences shift from real reality to virtual reality and where our intelligence becomes nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful than unaided human intelligence.
		With its radical but optimistic view of the course of human development, The singularity is near is certain to be one of the most widely discussed and provocative books of 2005.
	www.educationfutures.com /2005/04/22/kurzweil-the-singularity-is-near (338 words)

	Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity Is Near (via CobWeb/3.1 planetlab2.cs.virginia.edu) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		The Singularity Is Near portrays what life will be like after this event-a human-machine civilization where our experiences shift from real reality to virtual reality and where our intelligence becomes nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful than unaided human intelligence.
		The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI) is a nonprofit research think tank and public interest institute for the study and advancement of beneficial artificial intelligence and ethical cognitive enhancement.
		Ray Kurzweil was the principal developer of the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition.
	www.singinst.org.cob-web.org:8888 /kurzweil.html (867 words)

	Price Compare ISBN 0670033847 The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil - Direct Textbooks (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		The great inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil is one of the best-known and most controversial advocates for the role of machines in the future of humanity.
		The Singularity Is Near portrays what life will be like after this event— a human- machine civilization where our experiences shift from real reality to virtual reality and where our intelligence becomes nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful.
		In practical terms, this means that human aging and pollution will be reversed; world hunger will be solved; our bodies and environment transformed by nanotechnology to overcome the limitations of biology, including death; and virtually any physical product can be created from information alone.
	www.directtextbook.com /prices/0670033847 (1447 words)

	The Singularity is Near --- Are we ready?
		He makes this case in The Singularity is Near.
		The overall trend and the relatively short time until we reach the singularity (a few decades and certainly by 2050) is clear.
		The singularity that Kurzweil predicts is the most dramatic change in both cultural and biological evolution that this planet has ever seen.
	www.mtnmath.com /beyond.html (1025 words)

	BOOK REVIEW - The Singularity is Near... - Transhumanists - tribe.net (via CobWeb/3.1 planetlab2.cs.virginia.edu) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Kurzweil invokes 'Moore's law' as if it were a law of nature, and extrapolates from it into a not-so-distant future in which burgeoning information processing transforms and transcends life as we know it.
		He refers to his culmination point, at which familiar human culture is obliterated by a tidal wave of unrestrained computation, as the 'singularity'.
		The word is loosely analogous to the mathematician's singularity, at which the rate of change of a quantity becomes infinite.
	transhumanists.tribe.net.cob-web.org:8888 /thread/b2999baa-9359-4988-992a-dede89710902 (1031 words)

	The Orthodox Way - The Singularity Is Near (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Glenn Reynolds, proprietor of the popular website Instapundit, reviewed for the Wall Street Journal one of the significant recent books on this topic, Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity Is Near.
		The Singularity is a term coined by futurists to describe that point in time when technological progress has so transformed society that predictions made in the present day, already a hit-and-miss affair, are likely to be very, very wide of the mark.
		Kurzweil's book consists of a closely argued analysis suggesting that the Singularity is, well, near: poised to appear in a mere three or four decades.
	www.conciliarpress.com /blog/index.php?title=the_singularity_is_near&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 (1668 words)

	New Media Musings: Review of Ray Kurzweil's 'The Singularity is Near'
		It's a good thing summer is over, because Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology is anything but a beach book.
		Before the Singularity occurs, Kurzweil predicts that current stock prices will triple in value over the next generation or so (under an exponential model rather than the conventional linear outlook).
		Ray Kurzweil will be speaking about his new book, The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, at two events in the San Francisco Bay Area next week: Thursday, Sept....
	www.newmediamusings.com /blog/2005/09/review_of_ray_k.html (1286 words)

	Singularity Summit at Stanford
		For those of you who live near Stanford U, on May 13, 2006 (9am-5pm) there is an upcoming Singularity Summit at Stanford which is open for free to the public.
		Initially he just blew off the Singularity, but after see that Ray Kurzweil will be speaking along-side Hofstadter, he might take it a little more seriously.
		I took The Singularity is Near with me and introduced my family to the concept about a week ago.
	pods.zaadz.com /singularity/discussions/view/9659 (503 words)

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