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Summary: optomistic view of a depressing future
Review: Kurtzweil's future is astonishingly different than most of what one comes across in contemporary science and science fiction writing. In sum, his prediction that computation speeds will continue to increase exponentially at the current rate (as per Moore's law) and exceed human intelligence in a mere 20 years, followed by a gradual merging of machine and human intelligence, amounts to the death-nell for humanity and human history. While his view that we will evolve into more intelligent beings, with the accompanying elimination of hunger, disease, war and other human foibles is intensely optomistic, I couldn't help felling a measure of sadness at the imminent demise of the human race, whose greatness lies, at least partly, in its imperfection. Notwithstanding, an incredibly thought provoking book and well worth a read. cheers.
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Summary: Absolutely astonishing!
Review: This is possibly the second most influential book I've read in the last 20 years. If Kurzweil is correct, there are only a few more MOSH (Mostly Original Substrate Human) generations remaining before a new human/machine lifeform begins to emerge on the earth. Ignore the reviewers who poo-poo this book, and BUY IT. Those who espouse conventional wisdom have never been able to see the great revolutions, even when they are occurring before their very eyes.
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Summary: Quick and Simple
Review: This book gives some insight to the possible future, and makes you think what you might be able to do with it...
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Summary: evolution misunderstood
Review: Kurzweil's book is based for a large part on the premise that evolution (biological evolution) leads to ever more complex forms as if that is the 'goal' of evolution. Evolution is about mechanisms that perform well with regard to reproduction; nothing more or nothing less. This leads to a wild variety of lifeforms, some complex (and one form of intelligence) and some very simple. But some simple forms survive for millions of years. That is the 'successstory' of evolutin, not an ever growing complexity.
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Summary: A Potentially Flawed Premise Still Offers Amazing Insight
Review: This book is simply amazing! Its portrait of the computing world to come (as well as the developing one of today) is both fascinating and horrifying. From nanobots to quantum computers, Kurzweil explains in understandable and engaging prose what the future will bring. While I disagree with his 'LAW of Accelerating Returns'--perhaps 'trend' would be better--it makes no difference. Whether or not the developments he discusses happen in 20 or 40 years isn't very important in my opinion; the simple fact that they will EVENTUALLY occur make the book more than worthwile.
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Summary: Intriguing reading
Review: This was fascinating reading, but I would recommend reading a piece by computer scientist Jaron Lanier called "One Half of a Manifesto" for some more on this topic. There are AI skeptics out there, and Jaron has written some rather interesting pieces in critique of machine intelligence. All the same, Kurzweil entertains and fascinates.
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Summary: A book built on fundamentally flawed assumptions
Review: This was a book so torturous, so sensationalistic, it was a brutally difficult read. Unfortunately, the premises of this book are so crucially flawed for all but the most fundamentalist believer in the power of technology, it's almost a complete waste of time.Kurzweil's claim of thinking machines for less than $1000 within 20 years is clearly outlandish, obviously designed to make headlines. Even if the hardware continues to accelerate at his predicted rate, a somewhat dubious assumption, he doesn't even seriously address simple software engineering issues. In fact, virtually all of his assumptions and analogies have an excessive technological zeal and don't hold up to any real questioning; it is, after all, easy to believe you could create a human-equivilant computer if you have an extremely low opinion of human intelligence (which Kurtzweil does, apparently). I think one of the advantages of a liberal education is that it teaches you not to try to see every problem and issue within the narrow scope of your own specialty, and it gives you a certain respect for history. Kurtzweil seems to think of absolutely everything (including art and music) as purely technological developments and engineering problems, and seems to be possessed by the late-19th century belief that (technological) progress is not only inevitable but the driving force of our existance; i.e., his stated belief is that technology is simply a seamless continuation of evolution, inevitable and involuntary. If we assume human intelligence were really this trivial (in one telling example, Kurtzweil mentions the harpsichord as being obsolete in the same way as a manual typewriter - perhaps not completely untrue, but clearly not a particularly compelling analogy on which to build an arts-as-technology argument), then perhaps we could develop computers of human intelligence just by giving them a motivation for continuous self-improvement. Despite Kurzweil's fervor, it is not so simple to say this with any real conviction. In order to predict with confidence that we can create a being of human intelligence, we would have to understand what we would be creating. Kurtzweil's assumptions, that everything we do is technology- and progress-oriented, don't pass logical muster for me (can you really believe that Mozart composed for some evolutionary advantage?); since he rapidly convinced me he doesn't have any more of a clue as to the nature of life or human intelligence than the rest of us, in my opinion it makes all of his outlandish claims of being able to create somthing as good or superior unsustainable and the book superflous.
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Summary: difficult to put down
Review: Even though I haven't finished this book, so far I've found it simply fascinating. Maybe it's because this is a possible future I'm looking forward to. I like to learn new things. I like to interact with everything. And most important, I like machines. Quite possibly it would be that I want to hook up with implants and get out of this weak fleshy body. I constantly upgrade my computer. I want to upgrade myself.
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Summary: STOP KURZWEIL'S WORLD -- I WANT OFF
Review: I looked in vain for the 1979 book by Christopher Evans, MICRO MILLENNIUM, on Kurzweil's reading list. Although Evans skipped the hundred year predictions, Kurzweil might have used Evans' book as an outline for his Spiritual Machines with only the dates changed. All Kurzweill adds to the earlier book is bells and whistles and also the tooting of his own horn. Unfortunately, Evans died in 1979 so he won't be protesting his omission. What the author fails to do is substantiate any of his premises re downloading a human brain into a silicone chip or nanotube computer. Doesn't he realize that a download is like a millisecond snapshot of a living process? While the living brain is in constant flux through contact with its quantum milieu, the downloaded brain would be a freeze frame, a one time blueprint of the total picture. How would this downloaded brain receive the constant neuron firings that are input every microsecond into the real brain (floating in enzymatic fluid and nitrous oxide)? His future download would stop cold the genetic mutations fueling evolution, which Kurzweill acknowledges is a natural form of nanotechnology, and which has taken man to his present height. His metaphor for brain download, of transferring the vinyl record music to the CD, is just plain silly. Analog recorded music does have a different tone and timber from the digital brand; but his metaphor illustrates his simplistic approach of playing the word game to the exclusion of context and meaning. Kurweill's dialogs with Molly (his feminine side) do give comic relief to his pontificating style. If he would openly admit to writing fiction all would be forgiven and he would get his four or five stars. Like the folly of Ponce de Leon, Kurzweill has found his fountain of youth by escaping from the living nanobot molecules of his hardware body and becoming pure, dead software. Kurzweill has racism toward bodies made of amino acids. He greatly prefers the strong as steel carbon nanotubes; but it is going to be hard to weave his nanotubes into fleshy material as soft as a baby's butt. Simply put, to be human is to be soft and mortal. The proper title for this work would be KURZWEIL'S GOD IN A MACHINE --The Electronic Cloning of a Dissipated Man. But a more graven image has never been articulated -- a less spiritual picture of man has never been painted. His originality smacks of the financial page of the Wall Street Journal.
Rating:
Summary: An enlightening book
Review: I would have to admit that this is one of the best books I have read. It decides to propose the opposite of the popular gothic view of the future, and turns it into a hopefull, optomistic place of peace. I only have two problems with the book. One, it takes a very agnostic veiw of the universe, giving evolution all the credit for creating man. Second, I went to his web site to download his FREE cybernetic poet, and turns out you have to pay money. But besides that I think anyone who is interested in the future will enjoy this book.
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