Ray Kurzweil On The Future of Technology

[Garritan]

Ray Kurzweil has been one of the people I admire most in the music and tech industry. He has been behind many of the innovations in the technology revolution. He helped invent the first optical character reading technology, the first text-to-voice synthesizer, computer-based musical instruments, and the first large-vocabulary speech-recognition system

His V.A.ST. technology in the Kurzweil samplers were years beyond the rest of the pack - the idea of being able to program and shape articulations in real-time was something the Kurzweil samplers did very well. Some of his concepts have inspired GPO.

I just read a fascinating interview with Ray Kurzweil - which you can read here: http://www.cio.com/archive/101504/interview.html

He says that in "20 years or so, we will be able to create virtually any physical product at almost no cost, just from information and fabrication techniques." Hmmm... this sounds like the Jetsons!

"Technology will be very mobile; it'll be so small that it'll be virtually invisible. Everybody will be online. Images will be written right to our retinas". Kurzweil says that one day, software will run inside our brains.

He also believes that by 2020, "we will be placing millions or billions of nanobots -- blood cell-size devices -- inside our bloodstream to travel into our brains and interact with our neurons." He believes machines and humans will merge.

He's also pursuing anti-aging quest. He claims that by the year 2030, "there's going to be very little difference between a guy who's 120 and a guy who's 30. And with so much of our lives spent in virtual reality, we'll able to express ourselves in many different ways. "

He writes about technology progressing "at an exponential pace because we use the latest generation of technology to create the next generation."

Fascinating read!

What do you think? Do you share Ray Kurzweil's visions of the future?

Gary Garritan

[CString]

Thanks for the post, Gary. I enjoy reading that sort of material. I didn't realize his knowledge was so broad.

To see if he's right just look to the military. They get everything first. If we start seeing "super" troops with nano implants for targeting, navigation, bio-night vision or infrared, etc. we will know he's on to something. Look at where the www started.

Then again, who knows what we are developing now. We were testing an atomic bomb at a time when a large percentage of rural America still didn't even have electricity and indoor plumbing! The engineering for the B-2 and F/A-117 was in place in the mid-late 70's. Who would have thought?

Very cool. I could stand to live to 130+. More time to write.
-Chad

[tgfoo]

That's a cool article. It really fascinates me to see all of these great advances in technology. It's exciting to see what new wonderful things are and will be coming out to make life better and easier. But at the same time, the idea of little nano machines floating around in my brain is kinda creepy. It also gives me that weird "technology is going to kill us all" vibe that I get when I watch Terminator or the Matrix (both of which i've probably seen far too many times for my own good ). It's just one of those odd subjects to think about.

[FredProgGH]

RK is an amazing person and I would trust his musings as much as anybodies. Of course, there is always the saying (to paraphrase) that the future will be stranger not only than we imagine but than we can imagine. But I think the changes of the next 20 years will be much more profound than those of the whole last century (and that's saying something.)

Me, I don't care if I live to be 130- unless they can make me thin!!

[Quasar]

Intriguing interview, but I have my reservations. By nature I tend to be both a Luddite and a technophobe, although I'm one who thinks it's cool to have the NY Philharmonic living in my apartment, which I do now, thanks to GPO. (So I'm a hypocrite, sue me!)

I once read Alfred Nobel, commenting on his invention of dynamite, expressing the hope and belief that it would never be used for non-peaceful purposes. As it turned out of course, this optimism proved to be naive to the point of absurdity.

I have no quarrel with the broad point that humankind has both the privilege and the responsibility of "mastering" the global environment. But I am concerned that all these astonishing technological leaps forward, without a corresponding conscious spiritual leap in our understanding, will only lead to rain and ruin.

And I certainly don't want "software processes" running inside my body based on the decisions of HMO bean-counters who have already tapped out their health care premium quotas for the month.

There's an ancient Chinese proverb:

May you have the good fortune not to live in interesting times.

But this isn't our choice, and I've got to admit that living in interesting times is, well, interesting. Thanks for posting the link.

[Styxx]

He's also pursuing anti-aging quest. He claims that by the year 2030, "there's going to be very little difference between a guy who's 120 and a guy who's 30. "

120 years old? But, would a person feel 30 at 120 or just look 30? I personally don't find any comfort in the thought of living that long in this world. I don't mean to sound pessimistic just can't imagine what or how a person could fathom supporting him or herself through all those years. I would hope that technology would address more important problems like energy for the future, global warming, world food supplies, health care, THE HOMELESS, and other important issues necessary for the survival of the human race!
Oh, I don't know. I guess whatever happens, happen but personally living to 120 years old is not in my wishes. Just don't feel much like prolonging the difficulty.
As far as the other musical technological inovations perspective for the future composers, cool.

[robh]

And the majority of us could not afford a retirement at 60-65 yrs of age in this particular scenario. . .

So, is this a good thing after all?

Rob

[Styxx]

Wow, ROBH! You don't look a day past 2 (days that is).

[robh]

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm the guinea pig in the anti-aging experiment mentioned above. I'm 37 and still need a diaper change!

Rob

[dewdman42]

The aliens that created us will come wipe us out way before our own machines do. (baahhh)