Technological Singularity
In a guest column, Computers vs. Brains on the Opinionator of The New York Times, Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang analyzed some of the arguments by inventor Raymond Kurzweil, one of the leading inventors of our time, in his most recent futurist manifesto: “The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology” (2005). Kurzweil estimates that machines will inevitably be able to surpass our thinking capabilities within a few decades. Kurzweil's speculative reasoning has been heavily debated and challenged. In Aamodt and Wang's article they point out that there are fundamental differences between our brains and computers that makes Kurzweil's predictions improbable. The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the arguments of sides, Kurzweil's book and Aamodt and Wang's article. I will attempt to accomplish this by using various critical thinking methods such as defining, clarifying and explaining some of the history of the concepts and the debates involved.
To understand the debate we must first clarify what is technological singularity. A technological singularity is the moment our technological development becomes so rapid that it makes the future after the singularity unpredictable. Writers on singularity, such as Raymond Kurzweil, define the concept in terms of the technological creation of super-intelligence (Kurzweil, 2005). The article points out that any comparison of the brain and computers misses the messy truth about the fundamental differences between them. The article provides various reasons why the brain is superior to computers and ways in which it is not. The debate focuses on differences on energy consumption, information processing strategies and capacity, and the pros and cons of artificial versus biological between brain and computers.
The brain contains many systems that have evolved through natural selection for one task then was adopted for another. It is efficient for nature to adapt an old system that to build a new one. As such, the brain is
To understand the debate we must first clarify what is technological singularity. A technological singularity is the moment our technological development becomes so rapid that it makes the future after the singularity unpredictable. Writers on singularity, such as Raymond Kurzweil, define the concept in terms of the technological creation of super-intelligence (Kurzweil, 2005). The article points out that any comparison of the brain and computers misses the messy truth about the fundamental differences between them. The article provides various reasons why the brain is superior to computers and ways in which it is not. The debate focuses on differences on energy consumption, information processing strategies and capacity, and the pros and cons of artificial versus biological between brain and computers.
The brain contains many systems that have evolved through natural selection for one task then was adopted for another. It is efficient for nature to adapt an old system that to build a new one. As such, the brain is
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