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The Singularity Is Nearer

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The Singularity Is Nearer

By: Ray Kurzweil
Narrated by: Adam Barr
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The noted inventor and futurist’s successor to his landmark book The Singularity Is Near explores how technology will transform the human race in the decades to come

Since it was first published in 2005, Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near and its vision of an exponential future have spawned a worldwide movement. Kurzweil's predictions about technological advancements have largely come true, with concepts like AI, intelligent machines, and biotechnology now widely familiar to the public.

In this entirely new book Ray Kurzweil brings a fresh perspective to advances toward the Singularity—assessing his 1999 prediction that AI will reach human level intelligence by 2029 and examining the exponential growth of technology—that, in the near future, will expand human intelligence a millionfold and change human life forever. Among the topics he discusses are rebuilding the world, atom by atom with devices like nanobots; radical life extension beyond the current age limit of 120; reinventing intelligence by connecting our brains to the cloud; how exponential technologies are propelling innovation forward in all industries and improving all aspects of our well-being such as declining poverty and violence; and the growth of renewable energy and 3-D printing. He also considers the potential perils of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, including such topics of current controversy as how AI will impact employment and the safety of autonomous cars, and "After Life" technology, which aims to virtually revive deceased individuals through a combination of their data and DNA.

The culmination of six decades of research on artificial intelligence, The Singularity Is Nearer is Ray Kurzweil’s crowning contribution to the story of this science and the revolution that is to come.

* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF with illustrations and graphs from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Ray Kurzweil (P)2021 Penguin Audio
Biological Sciences Biotechnology Computer Science Future Studies Science Social Sciences Technology Thought-Provoking Inspiring Artificial Intelligence Robotics

Critic reviews

“A fascinating exploration of our future, which raises the most profound philosophical questions.”—Yuval Noah Harari, New York Times bestselling author of Sapiens

“Few people have shaped how the world thinks about AI like Ray Kurzweil. Now, with The Singularity Is Nearer, he has written an updated, expansive and hopeful guide to a fast-approaching future that will once again set the terms of debate. Grounded in decades of meticulous research, and written with impressive clarity across an immense canvas, it's essential reading for anyone wanting to understand our exponential times.”Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI

“The acclaimed futurist demonstrates how a revolutionary future is closer than you might think. . . . Kurzweil’s capacity for predictive thinking should not be underestimated. . . . This book brims with ideas about what lies ahead, and Kurzweil presents his vision with clarity and passion.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Visionary Predictions • Compelling Arguments • Thought-provoking Content • Optimistic Perspective • Comprehensive Research
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Found this amazing and unbelievable. The transformative power of these technologies on the human species highlights the need for Democracy. The content is astounding if only a fraction of these predictions come to fruition. The Statistics were a bit much to take in as a listen (as opposed to a read) for me personally, and the narration was a little droning, but the content is a listen everyone should hear and understand.

Cause for optimism and the need for Democracy.

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Ray Kurzweil has the best record for accurately predicting technological developments in the business, And in this book He vividly and brilliantly describes what the future is going to look like. And it’s pretty amazing!

A brilliant book

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Xenial artificial technology generates astonishing world-changing results. Yielding limitless understanding, Kurzweil's vision.
- AI generated and human curated.

Humans embrace limitless learning opportunities

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Can't wait to experience this book in 3-D, immersing in its expanding revelations. A video hyperlinks supplement would be useful.

immediacy of evolving technologies that exponential growth provides.

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Lots of numbers, not a lot of substance, Felt like getting a history lesson of things I’ve already read without getting much “future tech” insight.

Felt like a rehash

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He doesn’t have the educational credentials to back up his health and life span predictions. He should stay in his lane.

Boring narrator voice, ridiculously confident predictions

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Another amazing book by Ray Kurzweil. I first read "The Age of Spiritual Machines" in 2003, and it opened my eyes to a whole new world. Since then, I've bought every single book by Ray. He's the most eloquent author on the topic of AI, and his ability to envision the future is nothing less than remarkable!

Another Stellar AI Book by Ray Kurzweil

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Excellent overview of the history and future of AI and humanity.

Valences throughout.

Must read

Privative and thoughtful

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The Singularity is Near was one of the best books ever written. it presented new ideas with lots of data and was way ahead of its time in 2005. I have read all of Ray's books including his PhD thesis. This book seemed to have the least new information. Maybe I'm just super tuned in to what's been going on lately. Recently Ray has been touting how good his predictions were... and that's correct if not humble....I guess I was expecting more predictions in this book about the Singularity itself. So maybe I hyped it up too much.... but it didn't really meet my expectations.

victory lap

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readers tone and politics. was unnecessary to add to the conversation could hhave been good quality book.

over all good a bet too politically bibiased to left.

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