The Singularity is Near- When Humans Transcend Biology Ray Kurzweil 0-670-03384-7 A giant and forward looking [rather than historical] “What if” 1. Kurzweil is a very impressive, extremely well respected author. He’s been right before, and is often on the edge. Not easily dismissible 2. The quotes on the back cover are from some very high level people /with superb credentials. The quotes inside the book are worth it all by themselves 3. Two key current activities are the main backbone of his perspective; A. Moore’s Law: Accelerating returns, exponential growth in price performance of computation, doubles every 12months. 50 years of documentation (transistor, memory, speed, cost, transmission etc.)Very hard to argue with or ignore! Very hard, nevertheless to believe, but it’s happening every day in most commodities /processes in our life [e.g., Health Care, Defense, Telecommunications] B. Three important trends are converging (genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics with “Strong” A.I.) 4. His perspective is that humans will hugely benefit from, not be taken over by technology’s ever increasing pace/spread, and that essentially this trend” is already happening [and been clearly documented for 50+ years]. 5. Pope Benedict -“Technology makes the human person into an object rather than a Subject”. 6. The Futurist March- April, 2006 “People often go through three stages in considering the impact of technology: Awe and Wonderment at its potential to overcome age-old problems, then a sense of dread at the grave new dangers….AND FINALLY A REALIZATION THAT THE ONLY VIABLE AND RESPONSIBLE COURSE IS TO SET A CAREFUL COURSE THAT CAN REALIZE THE BENEFITS WHILE MANAGING THE DANGERS.” 7. Some reactions of my own so far: Overwhelming, beyond comprehension, maybe ignore it, crazy, undeniable, causes a compelling real assessment of life and my children’s and my grandchildren’s lives. I’m already skeptical about technology, but I have been professionally in this field for 47 years, am well known and still practicing. What if the bad guys control it (i.e., Hitler)? Real change of thought is of course, for any of us, very difficult! I am now “hooked” by this book, re-reading it carefully, not yet captive nor fully believing but very energetically exploring, checking, pondering. I believe that we must address the questions he raises and explore this thoughtfully, in an open dialogue, for each of our own private & professional leadership development. Dick Dooley 580-771-1534 [email protected] .