The Singularity Is Nearer

When We Merge with AI

By: Ray Kurzweil

Length: Not Yet Known

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

This is what our future looks like: in the next decade, AI will be able to convince us that it’s human. During the 2030s, it will become ‘superintelligent’, vastly outstripping our capabilities by almost every measure. By 2045, it will be possible to connect our brains with these AIs using invisibly small nanotechnologies. Our minds and theirs will merge, expanding our consciousness more profoundly than we can fully comprehend, unlocking possibilities we can barely imagine. This is the singularity.

Ray Kurzweil is the world’s most renowned and successful oracle of technology. Dozens of his predictions about the internet and AI that were made decades ago are now being borne out. He sees further because of his first-hand knowledge of the machines, some of which he helped invent, and his deep understanding of the science behind them.

In this visionary, captivating book, he shares his thinking in a way that everyone can grasp. He explains how the singularity will occur and explores what it might mean to experience the world from beyond the limits of biology, to inhabit new realms of beauty, connection and wonder. The risks of such powerful technology are grave, some potentially catastrophic, but Kurzweil shows there is every reason to be optimistic that we can transform life on earth profoundly for the better.

As he argues, these are the most exciting and momentous years in all of history. As the last generation to live before the singularity, it is our duty to navigate it successfully. We should know what we’re in for and face up to its dangers and its staggering opportunities now.

©2024 Ray Kurzweil (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

'Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Nearer is to information technology what Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species was to life science – a cogent, fact-based, clear-eyed, multi-disciplinary exposition of a fundamental truth about the world. There can be no more salient guide to the next two decades of life' (Martine Rothblatt, founder of United Therapeutics)

'Ray Kurzweil is the greatest oracle of our digital age. The Singularity Is Nearer is more than just a book—it's a survival guide for the technological renaissance we're about to experience. Ray’s accurate projections of what is likely to happen and when, makes the difference between surfing atop the tsunami of change, versus being crushed by it' (Peter H. Diamandis, founder of the XPRIZE)

'Ray Kurzweil’s Moore’s Law abstraction is the most important thing ever graphed. Its continuity – over his lifetime of writing – is the greatest take-away for the future of humanity, and the future of intelligence' (Steve Jurvetson, Managing Director of Future Ventures)

'My view of the future has been forever impacted by Ray Kurzweil. Twenty-four years ago, he predicted AI would reach human-level intelligence by 2029. His vision seemed like a dream and yet here we are, right on track. This book will challenge everything you know about technology, life and death. It will light you up with answers to today’s most pressing questions about artificial intelligence and the future of humanity' (Tony Robbins, author of Awaken the Giant Within)

'Ray explores mounting evidence that we are – right now – on the brink of a new human civilization. We’ll experience life in a whole new way. Everyone seriously concerned about the future should read this book' (Dean Kamen, recipient of the US National Medal of Technology)