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The Next Generation

Posted by michael on from the leap-full-tower-cases-in-a-single-bound dept.

EReidJ writes "Washingtonpost.com has a story about what biotechnology means to being post-human. While the article gets a little dorky at times, and the comic-book references somewhat over-the-top, it manages to penetrate well past the surface of what most articles would do. (And come on, admit it, how many of us have daydreamed well into our twenties about doing the kinds of things they only comic book heros can do?) They reference a lot of good material, talk to Kurzweil and Max Moore, and use the excellent Science Magazine issue on this subject for a lot of their material."

5 of 226 comments (clear)

  1. RAY Kurzweil by SkywalkerOS8 · · Score: 4, Informative

    His name is Ray not John.

  2. discussion on NPR right now... by rapid+prototype · · Score: 2, Informative
    i'm listening to a discussion on this very topic right now on my local NPR station - "Talk of the Nation".

    Researchers at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory are working to create robots as intelligent and as sociable as humans are. At the same time, medical advances are making humans more robot-like, with mechanical hearts and artificial limbs. Join the show in its second hour for a look at the relationship between humans and machines.

    for your local NPR station (which probably has an online stream) visit npr.org.

    i'm not posting mine because i enjoy the speed of the stream :)

    -rp
  3. John? by Black_Logic · · Score: 2, Informative

    Um.. I think his name is Ray Kurzweil.

    I read "The Age of Spiritual Machines" and really enjoyed it. He's the guy who showed the 'Law of Accelerating Returns' (exponential growth in computational power) It's held true even taking into account pre-silicon based processers. It's the foundation for his 'AI Prophecy'. :) It was definitaly a fun read. No comic book references though, unfourntunately. :) Although he did base a lot of his theory on Daniel Dennet (contemporary philosapher) Who wrote among others, Consiousness Explained. (Pretty bold title, eh?) I think a lot of his assumptions were correct, but only by virtue of being fairly simple/logical theory's. He basically comes up with a new model of consiousness that contrasts with dualism. Good read, pretty relevant to AI research.

    --
    Ansi's and stupid tricks!
  4. PDF Mirror by daeley · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here's a PDF mirror just in case of /.-ing:

    TheNextGeneration.pdf

    --
    I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
  5. Re:Kurzeil's Assumption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    All there is in this universe is: 1) matter 2) energy. If you don't think the brain works based on these things, I think you've gone religious.

    Wrong. There is also quantum information, distinct from matter/energy. And if Dr. Penrose is correct (and a LOT of people think he is), there are aspects of human consciousness that transcend mere matter. That does not necessarily mean that such processes are "religious", just that they are not currently understood.

    And, of course, that does not mean a machine could not be built to interact with quantum information in the same way the human brain does, provided it has QM components.

    As for the latter comment, if you believe that a human brain is "deterministic" then you either simply aren't paying attention or need to start hanging around a better class of people...