KindleRay Kurzweil is doing his usual amazing job of explaining the mind-boggling nature of exponential change -- the acceleration of progress. He's the ultimate optimist.Dan's been really good about going to all these hyper-leet events and taking realtime notes as they unfold. It's journalism 3.0! Link DiscussHis future is one where biology and machines become seamless, where machines and intelligence help humanity become (in my mind) somewhat disturbingly "God-like," for lack of a better expression. I also crave that future, because it is where we need to go.
You have to take a lot of this on faith. Kurzweil says these changes, which will lead to advances that we truly cannot grasp at this stage, are inexorable and vastly more powerful than human civilization's greatest dreams today.
"We will become these machines and merge with them," he says.
Another line: "The universe will ultimately wake up and command its own destiny." Hmmm.
I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.