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The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
by Kurzweil, Ray
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Good in very good dust jacket. Highlighting/underlining. Ink underlining and marginal marks noted. DJ has slight wear, soiling a
- ISBN 10
- 0670882178
- ISBN 13
- 9780670882175
- Seller
-
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Viking, 1999. First edition. First printing [stated]. Hardcover. Good in very good dust jacket. Highlighting/underlining. Ink underlining and marginal marks noted. DJ has slight wear, soiling and edge wear.. xii, 388 p. Illustrations. Timeline. Glossary. Notes. Suggested Readings. Web Links. Index An eye-opening forecast on the subject of computers and how they will exceed the memory capacity of the human brain by the year 2020. Ray Kurzweil, called a "restless genius" by The Wall Street Journal, is responsible for some of the most compelling technology of our era. The brains behind the Kurzweil Reading Machine (which helps Stevie Wonder read his mail), the Kurzweil synthesizer, and the voice-recognition program that appears on Windows 98, he is also a formidable thinker who a decade ago predicted the emergence of the World Wide Web and that a computer would beat the world chess champion. Finally, someone with the authority to speak about the future also has the courage and imagination to do so. The Age of Spiritual Machines is no list of predictions but a framework for envisioning the 21st century in which one advance or invention leads inexorably to another. After establishing that technology is growing exponentially, Kurzweil forecasts that computers will exceed the memory capacity and computing speed of the human brain by 2020, with the other attributes of human intelligence not far behind. By that time paraplegics will be able to walk by using a combination of nerve stimulation and robotic devices. You will be able to choose the personality of your automated computer assistant, who will conduct business on your behalf with other automated personalities. A mere nine years later, you will be able to enhance your intelligence with neural implants. The upshot is that human identity will be called into question as never before, as a billion years of evolution are superseded in a mere hundred by machine technology that we ourselves have created. We will become cyborgs, but what will computers become?
Synopsis
The Age of Spiritual Machines is a book by futurist Ray Kurzweil about the future course of humanity, particularly relating to the development of artificial intelligence and its impact on human consciousness. It is also a study on the concept of technological singularity.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Ground Zero Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 60935
- Title
- The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
- Author
- Kurzweil, Ray
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Good in very good dust jacket. Highlighting/underlining. Ink underlining and marginal marks noted. DJ has slight wear, soiling a
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First edition. First printing [stated]
- ISBN 10
- 0670882178
- ISBN 13
- 9780670882175
- Publisher
- Viking
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1999
- Keywords
- Charles Babbage, Bioengineering, Brain Scans, Evolutionary Algorithms, Gary Kasparov, Stuart Kauffman, Accelerating Returns, Theodore Kaczynski, Marvin Minsky, Moore's Law, Nanotechnology, Neural Nets, Quantum Computing, Cybernetic Poet, Speech Recog
Terms of Sale
Ground Zero Books
Books are offered subject to prior sale. Satisfaction guaranteed. If you notify us within 7 days that you are not satisfied with your purchase, we will refund your purchase price when you return the item in the condition in which it was sold.
About the Seller
Ground Zero Books
Biblio member since 2005
Silver Spring, Maryland
About Ground Zero Books
Founded and operated by trained historians, Ground Zero Books, Ltd., has for over 30 years served scholars, collectors, universities, and all who are interested in military and political history.
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Much of our diverse stock is not yet listed on line. If you can't locate the book or other item that you want, please contact us. We may well have it in stock. We welcome your want lists, and encourage you to send them to us.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...