LEADER 00000cam a2200361 a 4500 
001    ocm71826177 
005    20100405121441.0 
008    061003s2006    nyua     d    001 0 eng d 
020    9780143037880 
040    EGM|cEGM|dBAKER|dCRH|dBTCTA|dYDXCP|dBUR|dHZK 
050 14 QP376|b.K85 2006 
100 1  Kurzweil, Ray. 
245 14 The singularity is near :|bwhen humans transcend biology /
       |cRay Kurzweil. 
260    New York :|bPenguin,|c2006. 
300    xvii, 652 p. :|bill. ;|c24 cm. 
336    text|btxt|2rdacontent 
337    unmediated|bn|2rdamedia 
338    volume|bnc|2rdacarrier 
500    "First published in the USA by Viking Penguin, 2005"--T.p.
       verso. 
504    Includes bibliographical references (p. 497-602) and 
       index. 
505 0  Prologue. The power of ideas -- 1. The six epochs -- The 
       intuitive linear view versus the historical exponential 
       view -- The six epochs -- Epoch one : physics and 
       chemistry -- Epoch two : biology and DNA -- Epoch three : 
       brains -- Epoch four : technology -- Epoch five : the 
       merger of human technology with human intelligence -- 
       Epoch six : the universe wakes up -- The singularity is 
       near -- 2. A theory of technology evolution : the law of 
       accelerating returns -- The nature of order -- The life 
       cycle of a paradigm -- Fractal designs -- Farsighted 
       evolution -- The S-curve of a technology as expressed in 
       its life cycle -- The life cycle of a technology -- From 
       goat skins to downloads -- Moore's law and beyond -- 
       Moore's law : self-fulfilling prophecy? -- The fifth 
       paradigm -- Fractal dimensions and the brain -- DNA 
       sequencing, memory, communications, the Internet, and 
       miniaturization -- Information, order, and evolution : the
       insights from Wolfram and Fredkin's cellular automata -- 
       Can we evolve artificial intelligence from simple rules? -
       - The singularity as economic imperative -- Get eighty 
       trillion dollars, limited time only -- Deflation ... a bad
       thing? -- 3. Achieving the computational capacity of the 
       human brain -- The sixth paradigm of computing technology 
       : three dimensional -- Molecular computing and emerging 
       computational technologies -- The bridge to 3-D molecular 
       computing -- Nanotubes are still the best bet -- Computing
       with molecules -- Self-assembly -- Emulating biology -- 
       Computing with DNA -- Computing with spin -- Computing 
       with light -- Quantum computing -- The computational 
       capacity of the human brain -- Accelerating the 
       availability of human-level personal computing -- Human 
       memory capacity -- The limits of computation -- Reversible
       computing -- How smart is a rock? -- The limits of 
       nanocomputing -- Setting a date for the singularity -- 
       Memory and computational efficiency : a rock versus a 
       human brain -- Going beyond the ultimate : pico- and 
       femtotechnology and bending the speed of light -- Going 
       back in time -- 
505 0  4. Achieving the software of human intelligence : how to 
       reverse engineer the human brain -- Reverse engineering 
       the brain : an overview of the task -- New brain-imaging 
       and modeling tools -- The software of the brain -- 
       Analytic versus neuromorphic modeling of the brain -- How 
       complex is the brain? -- Modeling the brain -- Peeling the
       onion -- Is the human brain different from a computer? -- 
       The brain's circuits are very slow -- But it's massively 
       parallel -- The brain combines analog and digital 
       phenomena -- The brain rewires itself -- Most of the 
       details in the brain are random -- The brain uses emergent
       properties -- The brain is imperfect -- We contradict 
       ourselves -- The brain uses evolution -- The patterns are 
       important -- The brain is holographic -- The brain is 
       deeply connected -- The brain does have an architecture of
       regions -- The design of a brain region is simpler than 
       the design of a neuron -- Trying to understand our own 
       thinking : the accelerating pace of research -- Peering 
       into the brain -- New tools for scanning the brain -- 
       Improving resolution -- Scanning using nanobots -- 
       Building models of the brain -- Subneural models : 
       synapses and spines -- Neuron models -- Electronic neurons
       -- Brain plasticity -- Modeling regions of the brain -- A 
       neuromorphic model : the cerebellum -- Another example : 
       Watts's model of the auditory regions -- The visual system
       -- Other works in progress : an artificial hippocampus and
       an artificial olivocerebellar region -- Understanding 
       higher-level functions : imitation, prediction, and 
       emotion -- Interfacing the brain and machines -- The 
       accelerating pace of reverse engineering the brain -- The 
       scalability of human intelligence -- Uploading the human 
       brain -- 
505 0  5. GNR : three overlapping revolutions -- Genetics : the 
       intersection of information and biology -- Life's computer
       -- Designer baby boomers -- Can we really live forever? --
       RNAi (RNA interference) -- Cell therapies -- Gene chips --
       Somatic gene therapy -- Reversing degenerative disease -- 
       Combating heart disease -- Overcoming cancer -- Reversing 
       aging -- DNA mutations -- Toxic cells -- Mitochondrial 
       mutations -- Intracellular aggregates -- Extracellular 
       aggregates -- Cell loss and atrophy -- Human cloning : the
       least interesting application of cloning technology -- Why
       is cloning important? -- Preserving endangered species and
       restoring extinct ones -- Therapeutic cloning -- Human 
       somatic-cell engineering -- Solving world hunger -- Human 
       cloning revisited -- Nanotechnology : the intersection of 
       information and the physical world -- The biological 
       assembler -- Upgrading the cell nucleus with a 
       nanocomputer and nanobot -- Fat and sticky fingers -- The 
       debate heats up -- Early adopters -- Powering the 
       singularity -- Applications of nanotechnology to the 
       environment -- Nanobots in the bloodstream -- Robotics : 
       strong AI -- Runaway AI -- The AI winter -- AI's toolkit -
       - Expert systems -- Bayesian nets -- Markov models -- 
       Neural nets -- Genetic algorithms (GAs) -- Recursive 
       search -- Deep Fritz draws : are humans getting smarter, 
       or are computers getting stupider? -- The specialized-
       hardware advantage -- Deep Blue versus Deep Fritz -- 
       Significant software gains -- Are human chess players 
       doomed? -- Combining methods -- A narrow AI sampler -- 
       Military and intelligence -- Space exploration -- Medicine
       -- Science and math -- Business, finance, and 
       manufacturing -- Manufacturing and robotics -- Speech and 
       language -- Entertainment and sports -- Strong AI -- 
505 0  6. The impact ... -- A panoply of impacts -- ... on the 
       human body -- A new way of eating -- Redesigning the 
       digestive system -- Programmable blood -- Have a heart, or
       not -- So what's left? -- Redesigning the human brain -- 
       We are becoming cyborgs -- Human body version 3.0 -- ... 
       on the human brain -- The 2010 scenario -- The 2030 
       scenario -- Become someone else -- Experience beamers -- 
       Expand your mind -- ... on human longevity -- The 
       transformation to nonbiological experiences -- The 
       longevity of information -- ... on warfare : the remote, 
       robotic, robust, size-reduced, virtual-reality paradigm --
       Smart dust -- Nanoweapons -- Smart weapons -- VR -- ... on
       learning -- ... on work -- Intellectual property -- 
       Decentralization -- ... on play -- ... on the intelligent 
       destiny of the cosmos : why we are probably alone in the 
       universe -- The Drake equation -- The limits of 
       computation revisited -- Bigger or smaller -- Expanding 
       beyond the solar system -- The speed of light revisited --
       Wormholes -- Changing the speed of light -- The Fermi 
       paradox revisited -- The anthropic principle revisited -- 
       The multiverse -- Evolving universes -- Intelligence as 
       the destiny of the universe -- The ultimate utility 
       function -- Hawking radiation -- Why intelligence is more 
       powerful than physics -- A universe-scale computer -- The 
       holographic universe -- 7. Ich bin ein singularitarian -- 
       Still human? -- The vexing question of consciousness -- 
       Who am I? : what am I? -- The singularity as transcendence
       -- 
505 0  8. The deeply intertwined promise and peril of GNR -- 
       Intertwined benefits ... -- ... and dangers -- A panoply 
       of existential risks -- The precautionary principle -- The
       smaller the interaction, the larger the explosive 
       potential -- Our simulation is turned off -- Crashing the 
       party -- GNR : the proper focus of promise versus peril --
       The inevitability of a transformed future -- Totalitarian 
       relinquishment -- Preparing the defenses -- Strong AI -- 
       Returning to the past? -- The idea of relinquishment -- 
       Broad relinquishment -- Fine-grained relinquishment -- 
       Dealing with abuse -- The threat from fundamentalism -- 
       Fundamentalist humanism -- Development of defensive 
       technologies and the impact of regulation -- Protection 
       from "unfriendly" strong AI -- Decentralization -- 
       Distributed energy -- Civil liberties in an age of 
       asymmetric warfare -- A program for GNR defense -- 9. 
       Response to critics -- A panoply of criticisms -- The 
       criticism from incredulity -- The criticism from Malthus -
       - Exponential trends don't last forever -- A virtually 
       unlimited limit -- The criticism from software -- Software
       stability -- Software responsiveness -- Software price-
       performance -- Software development productivity -- 
       Software complexity -- Accelerating algorithms -- The 
       ultimate source of intelligent algorithms -- The criticism
       from analog processing -- The criticism from the 
       complexity of neural processing -- Brain complexity -- A 
       computer's inherent dualism -- Levels and loops -- The 
       criticism from microtubules and quantum computing -- The 
       criticism from the Church-Turing thesis -- The criticism 
       from failure rates -- The criticism from "lock-in" -- The 
       criticism from ontology : can a computer be conscious? -- 
       Kurzweil's Chinese room -- The criticism from the rich-
       poor divide -- The criticism from the likelihood of 
       government regulation -- The unbearable slowness of social
       institutions -- The criticism from theism -- The criticism
       from holism -- Epilogue. How singular? : human centrality 
       -- Resources and contact information -- Appendix. The law 
       of accelerating returns revisited. 
520    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.--Publisher 
       description. 
650  0 Brain|xEvolution. 
650  0 Human evolution. 
650  0 Genetics. 
650  0 Nanotechnology. 
650  0 Robotics. 
914    MID.b20184633