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Like Shattered Glass: a Review by of Kurzweil's the Singularity Is Near

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Like Shattered Glass: a Review by of Kurzweil's the Singularity Is Near Like Shattered Glass A review of Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity is Near: conclusions presented in it, is summed up in Kurzweil’s When Humans Transcend Biology; (2005). Viking proclamation that intelligence supersedes cosmology.2 The Penguin: New York. Singularity is Near takes intelligence to an extreme at the expense of everything else including the cosmos itself. Ul- by Benjamin Butler timately, the human being and cosmos are reduced to ma- For Verena Buob chines for intelligent computation. It is important that light is shed on this book and Ray Kurzweil foresees a future in which each organ its clever author, Ray Kurzweil. Anthroposophists in of the human being is gradually replaced by intelligent particular should be aware of Kurzweil’s predictions and nanobots or otherwise synthetic technological research especially because of the nature of materials. The heart and brain I became interested the thoughts presented. I became interested in Kurzweil are seen as flawed in design, badly in Kurzweil through in need of an upgrade, because through discussions with friends about the dark aspects discussions with of transhumanism, the movement to augment people they are run by outdated bio- 3 friends about the with technology. Author Daniel Pinchbeck has also been logical programming. Kurzweil a great source of inspiration.1 describes his discomfort with his dark aspects of Ray Kurzweil (b. 1948) is an American inventor, au- physical body, thus he seeks to transhumanism, thor, and futurist. He is currently the Director of Engi- radically “reprogram” it by taking the movement to neering at Google, working with them closely on robotics, 250 pills a day so as to completely augment people with 4 AI (artificial intelligence), and natural language recogni- change his metabolic processes. technology. tion. Google is one sponsor of his Singularity University. He does this so he can live for fur- At the time of this book, he was on the Army Science ther biotechnological innovations which he foresees will Advisory Group. He has invented scanners and text-to- allow humans within a few decades to become immortal speech technology utilized by the blind. His other books by uploading their consciousness into computers. He sees include The Age of Spiritual Machines (1999) and How to the “nonbiological” intelligence increasingly taking over Create a Mind (2012). inside augmented human beings as biotechnology comes I offer that the central key to understanding what un- 2 p. 364. derpins this book and the methods used to arrive at the 3 pp. 306, 198-199. 1 See his work 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl (2006), pp. 152-160, 103-106. 4 p. 211. easter–spring issue 2016 • 43 research & reviews to actually replace their biological brain. cloned animal meat, manipulation of bacteria’s limbs and Kurzweil believes that in the 21st century “strong the destruction of their metabolisms, increasing stiffness AI” will emerge: an inherently uncontrollable super-intel- in computer systems so as to reduce thermal effects, and ligence. Because he holds intelligence as the highest value, an appreciation of straight lines over curves for their ef- his vision culminates with swarms of nanobots blasting ficiency.8 All stem from a worldview striving to exhaust out into the cosmos, saturating “dumb matter” with in- technology in an empty cosmos. telligence, while using the stars and planets, including the The individual with this worldview seeks preser- sun, as computational substrates.5 His description of the vation at any cost. Kurzweil and other transhumanists ultimate cold computer and the possible computational wish to evade death and become immortal. Although potential of black holes really show the dark extreme of this is his aim, The Singularity is Near reads like it con- thought here presented.6 stantly seeks to displace living life, one could say in an- In coming decades Kurzweil foresees virtual reality throposophical terms “the etheric,” with death.9 It is a taking over basically every domain of human activity. book about death: death of what makes human beings The various senses will be augmented for virtual reality true feeling beings and warm-blooded active beings. (including touch) and people will project different virtual Kurzweil calls religion “deathist rationalization” and urg- bodies for different audiences. Kurzweil appeals to the es his followers to hold strong, looking forward to the sin- pleasure-seeking impulse in people when he describes the gularity, an event which supposedly will allow the trans- possibilities virtual reality (VR) offers regarding sex. He humanists to conquer death.10 This goal of uploading claims that along with humans meeting in VR, artificial- human beings into computers could be seen as nothing ly intelligent programs will fulfill less than putting people Kurzweil believes sexual desires. This discussion of into the ahrimanic “pre- that in the 21st sex in VR is revealed in one of serving jars” described by century “strong the many end-of-chapter sections Rudolf Steiner.11 AI” will emerge: where Kurzweil has characters Rudolf Steiner shared an inherently discuss aspects of the singularity that Nietzsche’s Ecce among other characters and him- Homo and The Anti- uncontrollable self. It all has a very odd quality Christ were actually writ- super­intelligence... when his invented “Molly 2004” ten by Ahriman,12 the In coming decades character talks to “Molly 2104” supersensible being who he foresees virtual and “Ray” about nanobot bodies wants to divert humanity reality taking over and digital sex.7 The critical point from any spiritual under- basically every is that the boundary between standing, diverting them domain of human real and virtual reality will dis- especially through dense integrate just like the boundary materialism. He is the os- activity. between the biological and new, sified intelligence, the op- “nonbiological” parts of the human being, as Kurzweil ponent of the light, and we live in an era when the “ahri- sees it. manic” forces are especially active. I believe this book by Kurzweil’s thinking leads him to see nothing else in Kurzweil to be inspired by Ahriman. The predominance the world except information patterns; believing the cos- of illusion, deception, frozen intellect, and technological mos to be empty he seeks to imbue it with the intelli- dominance, at the expense of beauty, art, and warmth is gence he feels it to be so badly lacking. Technology is his indicative of the inspiration behind this work. It is not bridge between the “I” and the world. The details could fill themselves in: nanobots in the blood, nonfluid nutri- 8 pp. 254, 306, 221, 224, 236, 238, 181. ent delivery systems in the body, “reprogramming” cells, 9 Kurzweil foresees respiration, digestion, and reproductive systems eventu- human cloning (“weak immortality” as he refers to it), ally becoming unnecessary. 10 p. 372. 5 pp. 349, 434-435. 11 In Lecture 1 of the cycle entitled Lucifer and Ahriman, given in Dornach 6 p. 362. November 1, 1919. 7 pp. 319, 203. 12 Karmic Relationships Volume 3, Lecture 11. 44 • being human an accident that Kurzweil brings up Nietzsche, citing his random, accidental. Without any knowledge of the re- concern that man balances on a “rope over an abyss” with lation of body, soul, and spirit, or of reincarnation, this regards to technology use and the future, and then slyly baffles him. I appreciate that he included this comment; encourages readers that humanity is in no such position, it reveals a riddle which eludes his sharp thinking. that the path to the singularity goes up and not down into The ideas and aims of individuals like Ray Kurzweil the abyss.13 should be given careful attention and permeated with in- Of interest to anthroposophists is Kurzweil’s hon- sights from anthroposophical spiritual science; they serve est statement that he doesn’t understand why his (mind) as a clear warning of the times. We must see the one- “pattern” is continually attached to and perceives the sidedness of such viewpoints. We are tasked with facing feelings and experiences of the one person called “Ray what comes with the firm conviction that we know the Kurzweil.”14 Questions arise for his outlook: how is it that spirit in the human being and in the cosmos. We must love consciousness arises in the body? Why isn’t his specific what we create and what we see ourselves becoming. information pattern inside a different body? It all appears Benjamin Butler ([email protected]) holds a Masters in So- 13 pp. 373-374. See also the article: “Rudolf Steiner’s Meeting of Destiny with ciology from the University of North Texas. “Thank you for reading Friedrich Nietzsche and the Adversary of Our Age” by C.T. Roszell in being this essay. Please reach out if you have comments or are conducting human Spring Issue 2015 similar research. Thank you to Steven Usher, Andrew Linnell, and all 14 p. 381. my friends who supported this essay and provided helpful insights.” easter–spring issue 2016 • 45.
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