Product Description

Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil examines the next step in the evolutionary process of the union of human and machine. Kurzweil foresees the dawning of a new civilization where we will be able to transcend our biological limitations and amplify our creativity, combining our biological skills with the vastly greater capacity, speed and knowledge-sharing abilities of our creations. In practical terms, human ageing and illness will be reversed; pollution will be stopped and world hunger and poverty will be solved. There will be no clear distinction between human and machine, real reality and virtual reality. 'The Singularity is Near' offers a view of the coming age that is both a dramatic culmination of centuries of technological ingenuity and a genuinely inspiring vision of our ultimate destiny.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5958 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 683 pages

Review
'Ray Kurzweil is the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence. His intriguing new book envisions a future in which information technologies have advanced so far and fast that they enable humanity to transcend its biological limitations - transforming our lives in ways we can't yet imagine' --Bill Gates

About the Author
Ray Kurzweil is one of the world's leading inventors, thinkers and futurists. A recipient of the National Medal of Technology and 12 honorary doctorates, he is the author of four previous books: 'Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever', 'The Age of Spiritual Machines', 'The 10 per cent Solution for a Healthy Life' and 'The Age of Intelligent Machines'.

Customer Reviews

Contains some wonderful ideas.
For those of you who don't know, Ray Kurzweil is the man who invented Optical Character Recognition, along with various other pattern-recognition technologies. He is well-versed in what technology is theoretically capable of, and has spent his professional life trying to make it do these things.

I have nothing but good things to say about Ray Kurzweil, and this book in particular. The ideas that he puts forward may seem very optimistic, sometimes verging on techno-fanaticism, but nothing he is saying is negative. If he's right, the human race only has to survive until the 2040s and things will markedly improve.

However excellent I found the technological predictions made in this book, there are two points that brought it down to four stars. First, and a matter I admit is one of personal preference, there were far too many graphs to do with economy and business. This is an American book, so capitalism has to figure somewhere, and he is forgiven. The other point is that some of the speculations he is making are sociological ones and these are far more spurious than any technological speculations. However, they are not fundamental to what he is arguing.

All in all, an excellent, if at times overwhelming, read. I heartily recommend it as an introduction to transhumanism and futurism.

Excellent. Thought-provoking.
A very well presented, and extremely well researched effort. Everyone should read this. One star deducted jointly for the shameless (and frequent) promotion of the author's other works, and the sometimes unnecessarily long-winded passages in the book - its still very well done, but this is my own opinion.

I strongly recommend this book, very hard to put down.

Revelatory
I discovered this book a couple of years ago. There was a sale at Waterstone's, and I had all but one of the books needed to take advantage of said sale. This took my interest, so I got a hold of it, and thank goodness I did.

I can honestly say that this is the most important non-fiction book I have ever read, and quite possibly one of the most important books period. Whilst I have always sensed something important might be taking place regarding technology, and I have always had a deep love of science and technology, Kurzweil highlights and articulates some incredible and illustrative concepts. I don't agree with everything he says, but the fundaments of the book seem entirely solid. Sometimes this terrifies me, but Kurzweil offers a great deal of hope as well.

Whether you embrace or reject the implications, however, Kurzweil's book makes an extremely imposing case that I have yet to see refuted. Reading it will prepare you for the future, whether that future looks glorious or horrifying to you.