Age Of Spiritual Machines

The Age of Spiritual Machines was written in 1999 and makes predictions for 2009, 2019, 2029 and 2099. The ones for 2009 are right on track. The first half of the book is about artificial intelligence, Moore’s law, the law of accelerating returns, why evolution seems to go against the second law of thermodynamics, the origin and fate of the universe, quantum entanglement and a lot more. If you think this is a book about robots, you’re in for a surprise. This is a book about immortality, the transcendence of the human race by our creations. The second – I think, weaker – half of the book is all prognostication. Past 2009 I find the predictions rather hard to believe, and a little boring. Thankfully, Kurzweil ends each chapter with dialogue between himself and a fictional character who is living in each of the time periods. Much more interesting, but I can see some people finding the device a bit annoying. The predictions are more than a bit optimistic and this book is a real mind-bender, but you’ll want to believe that this is our future.

An excellent read. The author observes the trends of current technology to forecast where it could possibly take humanity in years to come. He speaks of ideas and possiblities that will get anyone excited about the future. The book is broken into different time frames in which he has a conversation with a virtual person at the end of the chapters. The development in personality of this virtual person as we change from one time frame to another (ie; past to present to future) is a great dimension to the book.

The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil is an ideal non-fiction, but largely conjectural compliment to Calculating God by acclaimed Toronto science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer. Accessably written and logically based on foundations as diverse (or not!) as natural selection and microchip and nanotube development, Kurzweil's vision of our just-begun 21st century provides a fascinating explanation of how the human race might follow civilizations alluded to in Calculating God that uploaded themselves into vast computer systems. Indeed, Kurzweil prognosticates that the greatest moral debate in the second half of our new century will be how to differentiate between what is man and what is machine. For more on the author, see www.kurzweiltech.com.

Ray Kurzweil writes a compelling view about what are future will be like. Whether you are into science fiction or science fact you are sure to enjoy this book. You will find this book hard to put down. It causes your mind to open up into the possibility of the unknown and yet makes it seem like reality. This book is such an eye-opener that it spawned the making of a concept album (Spiritual Machines) by alt-rockers Our Lady Peace.