Ray Kurzweil speaks at The Long Now

Fri, Sep 23
doors 7pm, talk at 7:30
Free

Ray Kurzweil's "law of accelerating returns" is one of the most
sweeping ideas ever, embracing all of human history and technology,
all of biological evolution, and possibly the whole cosmic frame.
Fit subject for a Seminar About Long-term Thinking.

Kurzweil presents compelling, and highly visual, proof of the
accuracy of the idea for describing events in the past and present
(where "Moore's Law" of accelerating computer technology is the most
familiar version of the idea for most people). In his brand new
book, THE SINGULARITY IS NEAR: WHEN HUMANS TRANSCEND BIOLOGY,
Kurzweil spells out how hyper-acceleration of technology is likely to
play out in the next few decades and beyond. (He even sets a date
for the Singularity: 2045--- when a normal trillion dollars worth of
worldwide computer intelligence will be a billion times more powerful
than all human intelligence today).

Ray Kurzweil, "Kurzweil's Law," 7pm (doors open), Friday, September
23, Herbst Theater (at San Francisco Civic Center). The lecture
starts promptly at 7:30pm. Admission is free ($10 donation very
welcome, not required). Kurzweil will sign books after the talk.

Kurzweil's knowledge of technology is not second hand. His
inventions in pattern recognition and digital music have earned him
the National Medal of Technology, the Lemelson-MIT Prize, and
induction into the National Inventor Hall of Fame, among other
honors. His books include THE AGE OF INTELLIGENT MACHINES (1990) and
THE AGE OF SPIRITUAL MACHINES (2000).

This is one of a monthly series of Seminars About Long-term Thinking
organized by The Long Now Foundation, usually (but not this time)
given on second Fridays at Fort Mason. Future speakers in the series
include Freeman Dyson (with Esther Dyson and George Dyson, on Oct.
5), Clay Shirky, Sam Harris (author of THE END OF FAITH), and Stephen
Lansing. If you would like to be notified by email of forthcoming
talks, please contact Simone Davalos--- ,
415-561-6582.

--Stewart Brand


PS... Last year in the lecture series Bruce Sterling gave a
stinging send-up of the Singularity and its enthusiasts--- "The
Singularity: Your Future as a Black Hole." It is the most popular
download of all the talks so far. Lately Kevin Kelly has been
writing about the sudden and all-embracing takeoff of the World Wide
Web. I asked him if it might be a form of Singularity. He said he
thinks it is and wrote the following (Kurzweil agreed with it):

Kevin Kelly: "My current understanding of singularities (the
cultural kind) is that they are completely imperceptible from WITHIN
the transition, because a singularity is primarily a movement to
another level, a level which by definition is incapable of being
represented by the lower level (just as the mind arises from
neurons). Thus a singularity is only visible from the perch of the
new level -- after arrival there. From within our emerging global
cultural, the coming singularity is real, but it will be
imperceptible to us during the transition. Sure, things will speed
up, but that will only hide the real change, which is a change in the
rules of the game, as the next level of organization and being kick
in, levels that we are incapable of perceiving now because the level
of their perception has not yet happened "

Venue:

The Herbst Theater
401 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco
415 307 3482

The Herbst Theater is located across the street from the Civic Center
in San Francisco. Please note this talk is NOT at Fort Mason Center.

Additional Info:

415 561 6581
http://www.longnow.org