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Summary and Reviews of The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil

The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil

The Singularity Is Near

When Humans Transcend Biology

by Ray Kurzweil
  • Critics' Consensus (3):
  • First Published:
  • Sep 1, 2005, 672 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Sep 2006, 672 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

The bestselling author of The Age of Spiritual Machines presents the next stage of his compelling view of the future: the merging of humans and machines.

The great inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil is one of the best-known and controversial advocates for the role of machines in the future of humanity. In his latest, thrilling foray into the future, he envisions an event — the "singularity" — in which technological change becomes so rapid and so profound that our bodies and brains will merge with our machines.

The Singularity Is Near
portrays what life will be like after this event—a human-machine civilization where our experiences shift from real reality to virtual reality and where our intelligence becomes nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful than unaided human intelligence. In practical terms, this means that human aging and pollution will be reversed, world hunger will be solved, and our bodies and environment transformed by nanotechnology to overcome the limitations of biology, including death.

We will be able to create virtually any physical product just from information, resulting in radical wealth creation. In addition to outlining these fantastic changes, Kurzweil also considers their social and philosophical ramifications. With its radical but optimistic view of the course of human development, The Singularity Is Near is certain to be one of the most widely discussed and provocative books of 2005.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. What's arresting isn't the degree to which Kurzweil's heady and bracing vision fails to convince--given the scope of his projections, that's inevitable--but the degree to which it seems downright plausible.

Kirkus Reviews
Kurzweil backs his predictions with numerous citations of other experts, and while some of the arguments are dense, the book repays close attention. An attractive picture of a plausible future; in 20 years, we may know if it actually works.

Booklist - Gilbert Taylor
An involved presentation, this is best for readers of the wide-angle, journalistic treatment Radical Evolution (2005), by Joel Garreau.

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Beyond the Book



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Read-Alikes

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  • Radical Evolution jacket

    Radical Evolution

    by Joel Garreau

    Published 2006

    About this book

    Taking us behind the scenes with today's foremost researchers and pioneers, Garreau reveals that the super powers of our comic-book heroes already exist, or are in development in hospitals, labs, and research facilities around the country -- from the revved up reflexes and speed of Spider-Man and Superman, to the enhanced mental acuity and ...

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