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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
slow-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced
It's definitely audacious in its claims, and by the end you're definitely tired of some of the repetition (every thing is exponential, non-biological intelligence will quickly replace biological intelligence, we'll be able to live forever), but it's a fairly rational look at where technology is headed. I don't expect precise, accurate predictions of the future (even though the book makes them), but the general ideas outlined are well worth looking at and considering. People who end up regurgitating this content as though it were religion make it annoying and turn people off from it, but that doesn't mean it's not fascinating and insightful. If nothing else there's some great fodder for near-future science fiction, and as I was reading I kept thinking if I had read any good sci-fi with the described technologies prominently featured. I don't think there's been any great nano-bot sci-fi that I've read. I'll have to look for some.
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
The most interesting aspect of this book is that it came out in 2005. Kurzweil is objectively a crackpot but reading his essays with the benefit of hindsight is entertaining. Too bad the ideologies espoused by this book were appropriated by a generation of insufferable crypto bros
The author is delusional at best and a terrible researcher at worst. Even his initial premise of researchers underestimating the rate of scientific and technological progress falls apart immediately. He makes the claim that researchers are pessimists and cannot accurately predict growth rates, but also that humans will practically be cyborg by 2030. So the scientists are smart enough to create this grand technology but can't estimate the time it will take? It simply doesn't make sense.
Asserting that humanity's progress is exponential is also laughable, as this is true for maybe a small percentage of tech, and there is barely any proof provided that a singularity would follow such a trend.
Considering that most of Kurzweil's predictions have not come true, I can safely say that this book is not worth reading. It has been 20 years since the book was published, and neither nanotechnology nor AI is at the level that he describes for a singularity to occur. DNF due to how underdeveloped and scientifically inaccurate the arguments were.
Asserting that humanity's progress is exponential is also laughable, as this is true for maybe a small percentage of tech, and there is barely any proof provided that a singularity would follow such a trend.
Considering that most of Kurzweil's predictions have not come true, I can safely say that this book is not worth reading. It has been 20 years since the book was published, and neither nanotechnology nor AI is at the level that he describes for a singularity to occur. DNF due to how underdeveloped and scientifically inaccurate the arguments were.
Un libro importante. Todos deberían por lo menos conocer la idea básica de él.