biology

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overlapping revolutions

play

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is a software process consisting of outdated software which evolved in a very different era.

Biology is a software process. Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells, each governed by this process. You and I are walking around with outdated software running in our bodies, which evolved in a very different era.

is the seat of personalness', the ultimate reality, and also scientifically impenetrable.

My view is that consciousness, the seat of personalness, is the ultimate reality, and is also scientifically impenetrable. In other words, there is no scientific test one can postulate that would definitively prove its existence in another entity. We assume that other biological human persons, at least those who are at least acting conscious, are indeed conscious. But this too is an assumption, and this shared human consensus breaks down when we go beyond human experience (e.g., the debate on animal consciousness, and by extension animal rights).

is a process of creating patterns of increasing order, in short, evolution is the evolution of patterns.

Evolution is a process of creating patterns of increasing order....I believe that it's the evolution of patterns that constitutes the ultimate story of our world. Evolution works through indirection: each stage or epoch uses the information-processing methods of the previous epoch to create the next.

is a story which unfolds with increasing levels of abstraction.

The story of evolution unfolds with increasing levels of abstraction.

is too slow for the human species and will be left in the dust in the next few decades.

Biological evolution is too slow for the human species. Over the next few decades, it's going to be left in the dust.

 works through indirection whereby each stage or epoch uses the information-processing methods of the previous epoch to create the next.

Evolution works through indirection: each stage or epoch uses the information-processing methods of the previous epoch to create the next.

is not linear in terms of information technology, but exponential... 30 steps linearly becomes 30, but exponentially it becomes a billion.

Our intuition about the future is linear. But the reality of information technology is exponential, and that makes a profound difference. If I take 30 steps linearly, I get to 30. If I take 30 steps exponentially, I get to a billion.

is where we live, for the past is over and the present is fleeting.

The past is over... the present is fleeting... we live in the future.

Does God exist' Well, I would say, not yet

is at once the most complex phenomenon in the Universe and a profoundly simple process.

Intelligence is: (a) the most complex phenomenon in the Universe... or (b) a profoundly simple process. The answer, of course, is (c) both of the above. It's another one of those great dualities that make life interesting.

is a lot like surfing in that one has to anticipate and catch the wave at just the right moment.

Inventing is a lot like surfing: you have to anticipate and catch the wave at just the right moment.

 generates tremendous suffering and we have the means to overcome it.

Nature, and the natural human condition, generates tremendous suffering. We have the means to overcome that, and we should deploy it.

is someone who understands the Singularity and has reflected on its meaning for his or her own life.

A Singularitarian is someone who understands the Singularity and has reflected on its meaning for his or her own life.

is a point at which the distinction between humans and technology will disappear.

By the time of the Singularity, there won't be a distinction between humans and technology. This is not because humans will have become what we think of as machines today, but rather machines will have progressed to be like humans and beyond. Technology will be the metaphorical opposable thumb that enables our next step in evolution.

is the inevitable next step in the evolutionary process that started with biological evolution and has extended through human-directed technological evolution.

The Singularity denotes an event that will take place in the material world, the inevitable next step in the evolutionary process that started with biological evolution and has extended through human-directed technological evolution. however, it is precisely in the world of matter and energy that we encounter transcendence, a principal connotation of what people refer to as spirituality.

is no small matter. What we spend our time on is probably the most important decision we make.

What we spend our time on is probably the most important decision we make.

is not about being more successful at problem solving, but about learning what problems are worth solving.

A successful person isn't necessarily better than her less successful peers at solving problems... her pattern-recognition facilities have just learned what problems are worth solving.

is indifferent to ethical debates, which are like stones in a stream, whereby the water runs around them and they don't hold biological technology for a week.

The ethical debates are like stones in a stream. The water runs around them. You haven't seen any biological technologies held up for one week by any of these debates.

is the metaphorical opposable thumb that will enable our next step in evolution.

Ray Kurzweil

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