Product Description
For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines, he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary process: the union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 147 reviews)

A logical argument for the end of the age by VFTW (Middle East)

3 Stars
October 20, 2009
Kurzweil states: "our technology will match and then vastly exceed the refinement and suppleness of what we regard as the best of human traits"...but what about the worst of human traits? Richard Swenson also argues that technology is going to exponentially change our world, but not just for good, but also for ill...read "Hurtling Toward Oblivion" for another perspective: [...]

SingularitySymposium.com review: The Singularitarian Bible by Nikola Danaylov (Toronto, On, Canada)

5 Stars
September 30, 2009
It is probably not farfetched to say that "The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology" is the Singularitarian Bible. It is the one book that anyone interested (together with everyone not interested) in the Technological Singularity must read. No subject, field or issue is too big to fit within this book's subject matter. It examines the cutting edge research in and the implications thereof physics, mathematics, chemistry, medicine, computer science, biotechnology and genetics, artificial intelligence and robotics, nanotechnology and molecular manufacturing, nuclear physics and quantum theory, evolutionary theory and sociology, astronomy and cosmology, economics, politics and philosophy. This book is meticulously researched and contains over 100 pages of scientific notes and references. It also contains a whole chapter of criticisms which are addressed in detail by Ray Kurzweil. If it does have a weakness it has to be the fact that it is so conceptually and theoretically advanced, so breathtakingly far-sighted and so exhaustively precise in its most minute cutting-edge scientific detail that readers may find it at times hard to follow. (I know I did) At the same time the book is undoubtedly successful at communicating "the singularity is near" message to a broad non-scientific readership.

The future is bearign down on us. by James C. Schuyler (Baltimore, MD.)

4 Stars
September 18, 2009
Mr. Kurzweil has a dramatic view of the near future that makes most science fiction look timid. He takes 500 pages to carefully document how genetic, nano, and robot technologies will soon lead us to first, biological immortality, and then to the creation of a digital super-intelligence that will eventually expand throughout the visible Universe. Kurzweil builds the case that the Integration of human minds with the digital mind (The Singularity) will be possible by 2045. At first blush, the thesis of this book appears far-fetched and the time-line absurd. Mr Kurzweil, arguably one of the greatest intellects of our time, carefully builds a complete defense of his predictions and responds to criticisms. This is required reading for anyone who wants to think seriously about the future of mankind and the planet.

Great service by Benedict Ciantar (Australia)

5 Stars
September 15, 2009
Quick service. Product packed well and arrived quickly. Would certainly buy from this seller again.

Entertaining by S. D. Sawyer (United States)

4 Stars
September 03, 2009
This is a fun read. Kurzweil's enthusiasm and optimism for the future is evident in the prose. I'm not sure how grounded he is, but he seems to be making an attempt to be an informed and researched dreamer. Its fun, read it, then go to work and feed your family.

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	The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence by Ray Kurzweil (Author) The national bestseller by the "ultimate thinking machine" (Forbes) whose predictions for the future are startling, provocative--and closer to fruition than you think. Ray Kurzweil is the inventor of the most innovative and compelling technology of our era, an international authority on artificial intelligence, and one of our greatest living visionaries. Now he offers a framework for envisioning the twenty-first century--an age in which the marriage of human sensitivity and artificial...
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	Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies -- and What It Means to Be Human by Joel Garreau (Author) Taking us behind the scenes with today’s foremost researchers and pioneers, bestselling author Joel Garreau shows that we are at a turning point in history. At this moment we are engineering the next stage of human evolution. Through advances in genetic, robotic, information, and nanotechnologies, we are altering our minds, our memories, our metabolisms, our personalities, our progeny–and perhaps our very souls. Radical Evolution reveals that the powers of our comic-book superheroes...
	Are We Spiritual Machines?: Ray Kurzweil vs. the Critics of Strong A.I. by George F. Gilder; Ray Kurzweil (Author), Jay Richards (Editor) Computers are becoming more powerful at an ever-increasing rate, but will they ever become conscious? Artificial intelligence guru Ray Kurzweil thinks so and explains how we will "download" our software (our minds) and "upgrade" our hardware (our bodies) to become immortal -- before the dawn of the 22nd century. In this debate with his critics, including several Discovery Institute Fellows, Kurzweil defends his views and sets the stage for the central question: "What does it mean to be human?"