Transhumanist author predicts artificial super-intelligence, immortality, and the Singularity by 2045

Alfonso Maruccia

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Dystopian Kurzweil: As Big Tech continues frantically pushing AI development and funding, many users have become concerned about the outcome and dangers of the latest AI advancements. However, one man is more than sold on AI's ability to bring humanity to its next evolutionary level.

Raymond Kurzweil is a well-known computer scientist, author, and artificial intelligence enthusiast. Over the years, he has promoted radical concepts such as transhumanism and technological singularity, where humanity and advanced technology merge to create an evolved hybrid species. Kurzweil's latest predictions on AI and the future of tech essentially double down on twenty-year-old predictions.

In a recent interview with the Guardian, Kurzweil introduced his latest book, "The Singularity Is Nearer," a sequel to his bestselling 2005 book, "The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology." Kurzweil predicted that AI would reach human-level intelligence by 2029, with the merging between computers and humans (the singularity) happening in 2045. Now that AI has become the most talked-about topic, he believes his predictions still hold.

Kurzweil believes that in five years, machine learning will possess the same abilities as the most skilled humans in almost every field. A few "top humans" capable of writing Oscar-level screenplays or conceptualizing deep new philosophical insights will still be able to beat AI, but everything will change when artificial general intelligence (AGI) finally surpasses humans at everything.

Bringing large language models (LLM) to the next level simply requires more computing power. Kurzweil noted that the computing paradigm we have today is "basically perfect," and it will just get better and better over time. The author doesn't believe that quantum computing will turn the world upside down. He says there are too many ways to continue improving modern chips, such as 3D and vertically stacked designs.

Kurzweil predicts that machine-learning engineers will eventually solve the issues caused by hallucinations, uncanny AI-generated images, and other AI anomalies with more advanced algorithms trained on more data. The singularity is still happening and will arrive once people start merging their brains with the cloud. Advancements in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are already occurring. These BCIs, eventually comprised of nanobots "noninvasively" entering the brain through capillaries, will enable humans to possess a combination of natural and cybernetic intelligence.

Kurzweil's imaginative nature as a book author and enthusiastic transhumanist is plain to see. Science still hasn't discovered an effective way to deliver drugs directly into the brain because human physiology doesn't work the way the futurist thinks. However, he remains confident that nanobots will make humans "a millionfold" more intelligent within the next twenty years.

Kurzweil concedes that AI will radically change society and create a global automated economy. People will lose jobs but will also adapt to new employment roles and opportunities advanced tech brings. A universal basic income will also ease the pain. He expects the first tangible transformative plans will emerge in the 2030s. The inevitable Singularity will enable humans to live forever or extend our living prospects indefinitely. Technology could even resurrect the dead through AI avatars and virtual reality.

Kurzweil says people are misdirecting their worries regarding AI.

"It is not going to be us versus AI: AI is going inside ourselves," he said. "It will allow us to create new things that weren't feasible before. It'll be a pretty fantastic future."

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Raymond Kurzweil is 76 years old and will (in all statistical likelihood) be dead before anyone can call him out on his predictions. I'm not saying I know if he'll be right or wrong, but he can also say pretty much whatever we wants and not be afraid of enduring the consequences to his reputation if he is wrong. So place as much stock in his statements as you will.
 
"It is not going to be us versus AI: AI is going inside ourselves," he said.

Something needs to get into our heads. Even common sense is a thing of the past. The young are looking for an "app" to replace it.
 
"It is not going to be us versus AI: AI is going inside ourselves," he said.

Something needs to get into our heads. Even common sense is a thing of the past. The young are looking for an "app" to replace it.
Its already been replaced by marketing.
 
Ready to blend your brain with the cloud and put nanobots into your bloodstream?
Well, if the nanobots can fix things, prevent disease, and extend my lifespan? Sure! I'll take it! I'd like to live to be hmm... 200 or so.

Maybe by then we'll be on Alpha Centauri or some other planet which would be really cool. I'm looking forward to warp drive.
 
Kurzweil was great at voice to text technology. A pioneer in the field. Everything else is wishful thinking by a man uneducated in the science of biological senescense. The human body has a built in expiration date of about 120 years. Technology is making our older years less painfull and more fulfilling. That's it. Enjoy what we're given, as time is limited.
 
The next evolutionary level with AI will be blob people that have strong fingers to go with weak eyes and brains
 
Well, if the nanobots can fix things, prevent disease, and extend my lifespan? Sure! I'll take it! I'd like to live to be hmm... 200 or so.

Maybe by then we'll be on Alpha Centauri or some other planet which would be really cool. I'm looking forward to warp drive.

umm... Alpha Centauri isn't a planet
 
Raymond Kurzweil is 76 years old and will (in all statistical likelihood) be dead before anyone can call him out on his predictions. I'm not saying I know if he'll be right or wrong, but he can also say pretty much whatever we wants and not be afraid of enduring the consequences to his reputation if he is wrong. So place as much stock in his statements as you will.
He thinks he can live forever 😂
Wikipedia said:
Kurzweil admits that he cared little for his health until age 35, when he was found to suffer from a glucose intolerance, an early form of type II diabetes (a major risk factor for heart disease). He then found a doctor, Terry Grossman, who shared his unconventional beliefs and helped him to develop an extreme regimen involving hundreds of pills, chemical intravenous treatments, red wine, and various other methods to attempt to extend his lifespan. In 2007, Kurzweil was ingesting "250 supplements, eight to 10 glasses of alkaline water and 10 cups of green tea" every day and drinking several glasses of red wine a week in an effort to "reprogram" his biochemistry. By 2008, he had reduced the number of supplement pills to 150. By 2015, Kurzweil further reduced his daily pill regimen to 100 pills.

Kurzweil asserts that in the future, everyone will live forever. In a 2013 interview, he said that in 15 years, medical technology could add more than a year to one's remaining life expectancy for each year that passes, and we could then "outrun our own deaths". Among other things, he has supported the SENS Research Foundation's approach to finding a way to repair aging damage, and has encouraged the general public to hasten their research by donating.
There's only 4 years left until we find out if we can "outrun our own deaths" lol!
 
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