The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with Computers

Book Synopsis: The noted inventor and futurist's successor to his landmark book The Singularity Is Near explores how technology will transform the human race in the decades to come. Since it was first published in 2005, Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity Is Near and its vision of an exponential future have been influential in spawning a worldwide movement with millions of followers, hundreds of books, major films (Her, Lucy, Ex Machina), and thousands of articles. During the succeeding decade, many of Kurzweil's predictions about technological advancements have been borne out, and their viability has become familiar to the public through such now commonplace concepts as AI, intelligent machines, and biotechnology.

In this entirely new book, Ray Kurzweil brings a fresh perspective to advances toward the Singularity—assessing his 1999 prediction that AI will reach human-level intelligence by 2029 and examining the exponential growth of technology—that, in the near future, will expand human intelligence a millionfold and change human life forever. Among the topics he discusses are rebuilding the world, atom by atom with devices like nanobots; radical life extension beyond the current age limit of 120; reinventing intelligence by connecting our brains to the cloud; how exponential technologies are propelling innovation forward in all industries and improving all aspects of our well-being such as declining poverty and violence; and the growth of renewable energy and 3-D printing, which can be applied to everything from clothes to building materials to growing human organs. He also considers the potential perils of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, including such topics of current controversy as how AI will impact employment and the safety of autonomous cars, and "After Life" technology, which will reanimate people who have passed away through a combination of data and DNA.