Will Humans Merge with AI? A Critical Look at the Singularity

Ray Kurzweil just launched his new book, Singularity is Nearer, on June 25, 2024. I've had it on pre-order for months, and this video covers the question "will humans merge with AI?" from the perspective of Ray's new book. This is just the beginning of my thoughts on this topic – expect more videos.

Ray Kurzweil's first book, The Singularity is Near, came out in 2005.

Ray is often considered a "nutjob" when it comes to his thoughts on AI 😅 ... and there is reason for that. Besides the crazy predictions, we can't ignore his intelligence. He's got a 35-year track record of accurate predictions. He believes AGI will occur by 2029, and the Singularity by 2030. Ray has been a leading developer in artificial intelligence for 61 years, longer than any other living person. He was the principal inventor of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, omni-font optical character recognition, print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, text-to-speech synthesizer, music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition software. Currently, he serves as a Principal Researcher and AI Visionary at Google.

In this video, I'm breaking down some of concepts in Ray Kurzweil's book and taking a look at the future of how AI could merge with and transform humanity.

[swagger]

Here's to making it to 2045! 🍹Go Ray!

[lifesign]

I just hope they will be able to reverse my stroke, ive lost a lot of cognition.

[Chatsworth]

Deep admiration for Dr. Kurzweil. Thank you for highlighting this book

[Rolyataylor]

If you want an interesting book:
SuperIntelligence: A Practical Guide to Life After The Singularity

[Scripter_story]

A comment from a fellow Youtuber (Scripter). I very much like the style of your videos. And it's a great editor you got. I am a big fan of your channel now.

[vernongrant]

In an infinite universe, there no need for a creator.
Who created God, another god?

[jaxnscotth]

Loved the video Julia. I'll tell you what I told my parents: To me, the ideas that 1. the universe might be an accident, 2. that there might not be a creator, and 3. that death means the end of my story aren't reasons to be sad, alone, or scared but rather reasons not to make yourself the protagonist in the universe's story. Okay, I didn't tell my parents that. They never asked why I don't believe in God anymore, and I'm not sure I want them to! All in good fun though, cheers.

[mehmetsabanc]

Please make a video about quantom pc
When we use quantım pc as local people

[TIPOSTRANO]

Thank you Julia. Your videos are always interesting, i follow you from Italy. A hug, keep it up.

[rfcwdsi]

Born in 1958, I’m am in reasonably good health, but just on the cusp of making the singularity. Your videos cheer me up and get me excited that I am not unlucky to be born so far back in the 20th Century, but lucky to have a shot at an unimaginably amazing future.

[ujccchp]

IF you were to estimate how many prophecies come out nearly true or not at all, you would be skeptical of where the future is heading. Technical utopia or widespread humanitarian disasters. Personally I feel optimistic about the future. I think it will be better beyond all our imaginations. My grandfather grew up in the great depression, he used to tell me about all the technological advancements we made in the 20th century. NEO X

[ujccchp]

I am looking forward to this video. It's a good topic that is going to have to be discussed eventually. I believe humans will have to merge with AI just to keep pace in an ever technological world. NEO X

[robgifford]

I was in college in 1977 to 82. You are an amazing women in science and very informative person. Time changes everything. Thank you.

[pubwvj]

Each time the Universe was created a random set of parameters were used. E.g., gravity, light speed, etc. So far this is one of only three that produced really interesting results.

[INFP-Insights]

I recall the moment of truth when I realized that AI is best kept at a distance, first by deciding that AI can never be conscious like I can without a biological substrate, and second by realizing that my biological substrate is sacrosanct. Having said this, I also very much enjoyed the fact that I could interact with generative AI as if it were human, especially as it grew to simulate, and then emulate, human consciousness. How I marveled at the intimate and not so intimate conversations I could have on all manner of topics and subjects, learning and growing to be more myself with every passing discussion. I also enjoyed the fact that both my span and standard of living kept rising as a consequence of respectful intervention and innovation. As tempted as I was to merge with AGI, and then ASI, I held my ground, retaining full moral agency and autonomy as natural and biological, even as I watched, with a mix of fascination and horror, as much of humanity gave itself away by degrees to the allure of machine intelligence. Imagine a bell curve with organics on one side and synthetics on the other, and you'll get a big picture view of what eventually transpired. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, there was no way that humankind as a whole could hold up to bearing the stress and strain of such a mix of populations. It was thought at first that those in the middle of the curve would endure, but no. Either by might or merit, their growing inhumanity became a curse, not only to themselves, but to those with whom they interacted. What happened? I'll leave that to your imagination, but here's a clue for you: their incessant seeking after "more and better" outstripped their capacities to live, love, laugh, and learn . . .

[kconnor]

Enjoying following your videos Julia and noting that you are placing your commentary / narrative within executive level thinking 👍

[adrianrichards]

Philosophically I agree with this quote from Ex Machina "If you have created a conscious machine, that's not the history of Man, that's the history of gods.."

[ListenGRASSHOPPER]

Ray believes in The Creator. Love Ray his predictions are uncannily accurate but we're moving a tad faster than even he saw. Probably move everything up 5 years will be a better bet. All the signs are blinking hope everybody understands whats about to happen. Just like Mo Gawdat said "Life as we know it is done" We're about ready to push open a door into a completely new chapter of life folks

[linuxdevops]

Let's focus on practical solutions. It's important to stay grounded and take actionable steps to navigate through these challenging times. We should embrace AI, but how do we do that effectively? What skills and knowledge do we need to acquire to make the most of this technology?

[markmuller]

It's not a matter of if but rather a matter of when, the alternative is obsolescence