Rating: 
Summary: Just started it. Quite interesting.
Review: This is one of those books that you are either going to like or hate. I for my part like it. But there are a few reviews down there that show how "repulsive" this book can be if you're just thinking about what you want to read. When dealing with a book, the first thing to remember is that writting a book is no easy subject. We are not dealing with a word processor like Isaac Asimov, you know? Secondly, a book can't include all the subjects that you want to read about. That's why libraries (and book stores) exist. Jacob Bronowski went into alot of hard work when writing The ascent of Man (A great book to all this) and still, it doesn't include many things that I wanted to read about. Mr. Kurzwell is a vissionary with the mind of a science fiction writer. He feels exited when dealing with such interesting topics that he simply focusses on the good marks. And being himself the designer of the first voice recognition software, well, it is acceptable. Still, I don't agree with him on many things. First of all, his calculation about computers beating us as the supreme life form of this planet by 2020. Although it is true that computer are advancing at quite fast rate, the year seems far fetched to me. The human brain is a far more complex machine than a box with I don't know how many silicon microchips. Computers might be faster than us. They could solve millions of chaotic equations per second, but that doesn't make them smarter than we are. The key to real and successful A.I lies in a very human notion, something that in a personal point of view, I don't think machinces will ever have, at least in the near future. Feelings. All in all, this is a great book that draws interesting ideas.
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Summary: Spiritual Machines? Oh, come on, I said...at first...
Review: This book is definitely an adventure. I'll admit I found some parts challenging, such as some of the quantum physics stuff, but like all good books, this one is worth more than a few reads. Just the historical perspective is valuable - Mr. Kurzweil has put together a very comprehensive overview of the development of key ideas in Western civilization relevant to his ideas about the future. I especially appreciate that he discusses, in detail, the philosophical views that have shaped our world. And the timeline is fascinating. It is just amazing how quickly technology has advanced, especially over the past 50 or so years. One important aspect that a lot of futurists seem to miss is this accelerating pace of technical advancement. One of the things I really like about this book is that it does not present farfetched visions and is not based on a limited worldview. Because the logic behind Kurzweil's train of thought is so grounded in facts and rational progressions, the predictions are unsettling, if not downright scary. He never says that computers will necessarily be conscious or "spiritual." He only says that we will eventually accept that they are. Although I am convinced, after reading the book, that extremely advanced new forms of intelligence will happen, exactly how this will all play out is not yet clear. Our earth, the universe, and we humans are all ultimately unpredictable in the actual stories that will unfold. He acknowledges that a man-made, environmental, or celestial disaster could put and end to the current trend in technological growth - although, he does firmly believe that technology, as a natural extension of evolution, will inevitably develop beyond its organic origins. Although I am not a scientist myself, I know an important book when I see one. And, I would encourage teachers to include this book in their curriculums - lots to think about!
Rating: 
Summary: An unintentional primer for Luddites
Review: Want to know why many people fear and loathe technology? Read anything Kurzweil has written. This book draws the incredibly arrogant conclusion that just because computers will soon surpass human being in computing power, they will become superior thinkers and spiritual beings.What a load of crap. Tell me, who will write the software that exceeds human intelligence? The machines themselves? Or perhaps the geniuses of modern computing, who can't even write code to shut down a modern PC without crashing it 20 percent of the time. This book is a catalog for sci-fi horrors. It happily forecasts a world with no privacy, filled with carbon-based morons even less willing than today to create works of art or use the one organ that sets us apart from other beasts. But,hey, it will be a great century for blow-'em up computer games.
Rating: 
Summary: Imaginative but off the mark
Review: No doubt this is an interesting book, but I just don't see how realistic some of Kurzweil's ideas or perspectives are going to be. Namely, he goes into detail on how we'll be able to "download" our brains into computers one day (once we've mapped all the neurons), thus replicating our personality and memory on the desktop. To me, this is the same old mechanistic view of the brain that Western science has held for decades, and misses the whole essence of what "mind" and consciousness mean. Anyone who has ever read HOLOTROPIC MIND by Stanislav Grof will have to admit the possibility that there's far more going on in our head then just neurons firing (as Kurzweil would seem to say). To be sure, Kurzweil does dabble a bit in the quantum-aspects of our minds, but he doesn't integrate the full mplications of this into his own theory. Like many western scientists, he admits quantum findings are puzzling as relates to our existence, then dismisses them in favor of more familar mechanistic ground. What a mistake. It seems to me that our growing understanding of quantum-physics is going to revolutionize a new scientific paradigm in the near future, bringing us a new outlook that our minds as more than just a set of neurons. It's as if Kurweil wants to capture the music he hears on the radio...by building another radio. He forgets that it's just a tool for tuning frequencies. The music (ie. our consciousness) originates from somewhere else. When "rational" scientists accept this notion of the mind, we might actually get somewhere. Otherwise, Kurzweil is just another reductionist, convinced the big picture lies in the pieces of the puzzle, not the puzzle itself. He provides absolutely no real accounting for the nature of consciousness -- and anybody purporting to make claims about future A.I. had better answer this question. Instead, Kurzweil has a near-obsessive zeal for gleefully predicting faster calculations-per-second, as if that alone will be the key to successful machine-intelligence. More troubling are his blue-sky predictions for the future. In his crystal-ball gazing of 2009, 2019, 2029, and 2099, there is no allowance for the threat of biosphere and environmental collapse that we seem to be facing today on planet Earth. It's as if Kurzweil, writing from his corporate ivory-tower of western rational thought, is blithely unaware that bad news continues to mount daily about the state of our ecosystem, and the very real omens for 21st century disaster. Kurzweil cites NO examples of how all his wonderful A.I. predictions might help solve that, or how a biosphere-collapse would hinder/help further computer development. (He talks about nano-robots, but not in any practical sense. Like can they avert global-warming? Repair our dying coral reefs? Regrow the rain-forests? Reduce alarming levels of animal extinctions? Fix the rising levels of pesticides in drinking water? etc.) Instead, Kurzweil remains enthralled with the consumption-driven system of ecomony that provides all these neat new computer toys and gadgets. I think the toys are pretty cool too, but they're produced by a system that's rapidly devouring our planet of its resources, and we're going to have to acknowledge that fact in the very near future. It will have MAJOR impact on the direction that technological progress takes, and a smart guy like Kurzweil ought to be able to recognize that. So in the end, when you hear about scientific "paradigm shifts", it's self-assured experts like Kurzweil that have the most shifting to do. They should give us less bubble-gum blather about improved cyber-sex in 2029, and more meat on the issues that threaten our well-being as a species. I fully expect the failure of scientists like him in "downloading" human minds to computers, or creating true A.I., to be the catalyst for transforming our simplistic view of the human mind. At least all this song-and-dance will useful for something -- when we're humbled by the limitations of our mechanical view of the world. (And if I knew Mr. Kurzweil personally, I would make a friendly wager on this).
Rating:
Summary: A solid foundation for the growth of machine intelligence
Review: Although most of the attention on Ray Kurzweil's new book is focused on his outlook for humans and machines, his presentation of his Law of Accelerating Returns is particularly fascinating and made a lot of sense. This is basically a broadening of Moore's Law, and it answers the question of where Moore's Law comes from. I haven't seen too many other people discuss this, other than to simply say that it's something we expect to happen, so it happens. Kurzweil answers the question of why Moore's Law is happening, links it to a general theory of evolution, and why this acceleration of computer technology will continue through the next century. His discussion of how we will use these enormous resources is also convincing. Reverse engineering the human brain, as he discusses it, seems like it will happen. As he points out, we are already doing this successfully, and these insights are there for us to apply. We are doing a similar thing with the human Genome scan. The discussion of how all this will impact society is particularly breathtaking. I hope to see it happen.
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Summary: This is the best book of its kind I have ever read!
Review: Sometimes "IT IS THE ENVIOUS NEGATIVE DISCIPLES OF NOTHINGNESS" hiding out in their secured tenured positions who write the MOST critical reviews of those who have had the courage and vision to contribute to the world in concrete and measurable ways. Other times, such reviews are written by people who misinterpret content and are fearful of progress. Some even write reviews about books they have not carefully read! Then again, there are those in the educational and business world who enthusiastically applaud Ray Kurzweil history and his future success with "The Age of Spiritual Machines. I am one of them. I wrote a 10,000 word paper last summer that involved extensive current research covering the areas explored in this book. As I see it, Ray Kurzwell is "right on the mark" and should receive more than adequate support from the scientific community. Dr. Kurzwell has an outstanding track record, first as a compassionate and generous human being who has helped untold numbers of individuals with his Kurzweils Reading Machine, the Kurzweil Synthesizer and the Advance Speech Recognition and other outstanding and innovative technological concepts and products. AND It is not only those he has helped that are appreciative. In 1990 Kurzweil won the Award for the Most Outstanding Computer Science Book. In 1994, he was the receipitant of the Dickson Prize, Carnegie Mellons top science prize. He also holds nine honary doctorates and honors from two U.S. Presidents. As if this is not enough, he also was named Inventor of the Year by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology back in 1988! (When I read a book I am interested in knowing the back ground of the person, whether it be in education or business or a combination of both.) I would not be surprised to find his most recent work on the 1999 New York Times Best Seller list! A Harvard University Student
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Summary: Good mind f---
Review: This book is a good mind f---, and I mean that in a good way! This book will get you thinking about the future in new ways. The intelligent layreader will definitely not regret delving into this. Well worth your while. I do agree with the one reviewer who said he takes an earth-centric view of things. And in retrospect, no doubt many of his predictions will seem naive, misguided or even silly. However he's doing pretty well with the information available today. I would have liked to hear more of what he had to say about the economic trends of the future, and why the high rate of improvement combined with constantly lowering prices of computers will soon seep into most consumer goods, producing unprecedented value for the consumer, as well as soaring prosperity. This is exciting stuff, and I would love to see a whole book on it. Any economists out there? As for the predictions, it's only too bad that gambling is regulated, or else the doubters and the optimists could each put there money where their mouths are. Oh well...
Rating:
Summary: Misguided extrapolations of current information science.
Review: The "one-line" summary above is beautifully developed in a comprehensive, tough-thinking review of this book by John Searle (Professor of Philosophy at UCal Berkeley) in the most recent New York Review of Books, Vol.XLVI, No. 6, April 8, 1999. This review is must reading for all those who philosophize on future implications of our remarkable progress in information sciences and technology. In a nutshell, the review cogently and dispassionately analyzes the basic differences between "animal intelligence" (including humans) and man-made AI--artificial intelligence.
Rating:
Summary: A great book.
Review: The Age of Spiritual Machines was a great book. It was witty, creative, funny, insightful and above all very informative. Ray Kurzweil is an outstanding innovator with a keen grasp of technology in this century and the next. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the future of human society!
Rating: 
Summary: spooky
Review: I find it chilling to read books like this, not so much for the possibilities presented but that the authors seems to so readily place little value on human life (especially Hans Morvac) and so much on technology. Many of the things in this book may come to pass, but let us remember we heard promises of AI since the late 40's. So far we have some neat algorithms, and different ways of looking at the art of programming, but AI...hmmm?
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