The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

Ray Kurzweil's "The Singularity is Near" is a mammoth book predicting the era when biological brains are connected with non-biological brains. It's quite an interesting read on what the author promises to be a huge paradigm shift happening between 2020 and 2030, where genetics, robotics and nanotechnology will reach levels allowing us to connect our brains with electronics and upload our intelligence into the cloud and crowdsource intelligence. It’s a very, very, very big deal for humanity, to be able to solve problems with this superintelligence that we as individuals cannot solve. The book is quite thick and I feel like the author repeated himself over and over again, trying to reiterate the rule of accelerated returns. He provides ample examples of why this revolution is really around the corner and will be achieved. Given all these examples, it’s actually quite convincing. In addition, he does go on a lot of other technology-related tangents, that by themselves are very interesting too, but might not really belong in this book, in my opinion. The book could have been half its size if you remove all its redundancies without compromising its main point.

His insight into the exponential nature of technological progress opened up the world as we know it - a world he has largely shaped. Kurzweil is one of a kind.

Ray Kurzweil is with out doubt knows what he is talking about. This is a great read. Ray does think too highly of what society will use this technology for. He is a bit on the dreamer with wishful thinking.