The Singularity Is Near
by Ray Kurzweil · first published 2005
29% recommend56% neutral15% critical
Why HN recommends it
Argues, with data on exponential technological progress, that machine intelligence and human-technology merging are coming. Valued for a different way of thinking about technology; suits readers curious about futurism.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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.
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I thought that R. Kurzweil's book, The Singularity is Near, really had a compelling argument against space travel in the short term. There's nothing more ridiculous than sending biological life into space. Let's shed some of our biological baggage, merge a little…
on “More Water than Ever Found on the Moon” ↗IMHO, relevant reading would include The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil and Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan. I bet everyone here knows the former book. Kurzweil's exploration of the ramifications of thinking machines is fascinating, but his response to…
on “Human Brain Project: $1.61 billion to achieve human brain emulation by 2024” ↗Ray Kurzweil's latest book about all this 'The Singularity is Near', was released in 2005. It has some compelling arguments is definitely worth a read if you are interesting in the longer term implications of computer technology and networking. He hasn't said all that…
on “Machines 'to match man by 2029'” ↗I'm sure there are many, but a few that jump to mind, in no particular order, and spanning both fiction and non-fiction: The Selfish Gene - Dawkins A New Kind of Science - Wolfram The Singularity is Near - Kurzweil Gödel, Escher, Bach - Hofstadter Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies - Hofstadter Atlas Shrugged - Rand The Fountainhead - Rand Nineteen Eighty-Four - Orwell The Trouble With Physics…
on “Ask HN: What are the most thought-provoking books that you have read?” ↗Perhaps you should read Kurzweil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singularity_Is_Near
on “The Joy of Cosmic Mediocrity” ↗…(the bridges the gap between programming and maths elegantly). His work is also closely related to that of Leslie Lamport's TLA+ project. Lamport describes TLA+ as "thinking above the code". 2. The Singularity is near by Ray Kurzweil. This is more of a popular computer science book. I don't any other book articulates the true (optimistic) potential of the computer better than this. It made me appreciate computers…
on “Ask HN: The book that did it for you in math and/or CS?” ↗Getting Things Done, by David Allen anything by Edward Tufte The Singularity Is Near, by Ray Kurzweil Dip, by Seth Godin
on “Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?” ↗…often: No Contest & Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton PG's essays & ITConversations interviews The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto The Singularity is Near by Kurzweil This graph: http://alexkrupp.com/picture_library/plot.jpg Dee Hock's essay on leadership A handful of blog posts by Mark Cuban All Marketers are Liars & Free Prize Inside by Seth Godin.…
on “Articles, Ideas, Books and/or Concepts that have changed your life” ↗I recommend reading "The Singularity Is Near". Sure, maybe Kurzweil doesn't understand the brain on any deep level and indeed maybe even those who understand the better than him don't understand it well enough at this point. But Kurzweil's basic…
on “Ray Kurzweil does not understand the brain” ↗- Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (a fun read. Pretty insightful. One of the best books about success, I think.) - The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil (opened my mind to what the world could be)
on “Ask HN: What are some books that changed how you think?” ↗I don't know that any one book exactly changed my life, but a handfull of titles do stand out in my mind. Zero To One by Peter Thiel The Art Of Profitability by Adrian Slywotzky The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil After Dark by Haruki Murakami
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?” ↗The Four Steps To The Epiphany - Steve Blank Neuromancer - William Gibson Predictable Revenue - Aaron Ross, Marylou Tyler The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand The Ultimate Question 2.0 - Fred Reichheld The Singularity is Near - Ray Kurzweil Moonshot! - John Sculley Zero To One - Peter Thiel Republic - Plato Meditations - Marcus Aurelius Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury The Mysterious…
on “Please recommend a book to read. List for 2015” ↗I really like what I'm reading now: http://www.amazon.com/The-Singularity-Is-Near-Transcend/dp/0... ...but it may not be what you want (some may consider it fiction)
on “Ask HN: Books with a high signal to noise ratio?” ↗…true. Two reads that border on fringe speculation that I happened to enjoy thoroughly were: The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead by Frank J. Tipler, and The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil. Now, I am an atheist, and I fully know the zaniness of Kipler's Omega Point and its ties to Christianity, but there are discussions in there like in Kurzweil's book about how we will…
on “Climate-Related Death of Coral Around World Alarms Scientists” ↗The Four Steps To The Epiphany - Steve Blank Code by Charles Petzold Artificial Life - Steven Levy Time Reborn - Lee Smolin The Singularity is Near - Ray Kurzweil Surfaces and Essences - Douglas Hofstadter How to Measure Anything - Douglas Hubbard -- One of my favorites is How Not to Be Wrong by Jordan Ellenbreg I have that on my list of "to…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books?” ↗