Microsoft Word Kurzweil, Ray The Singularity Is Near doc

do, I see you being in rather good shape around then. 
M
OLLY 
2104:
 
Yes, quite a few of you baby boomers did make it through. But most were unmindful of the opportunities 
in 2004 to extend human mortality long enough to take advantage of the biotechnology revolution, which hit its 
stride a decade later, followed by nanotechnology a decade after that. 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
So, Molly 2104, you must be quite something, considering that one thousand dollars of computation in 
2080 can perform the equivalent of ten billion human brains thinking for ten thousand years in a matter of ten 
microseconds. That presumably will have progressed even further by 2104, and I assume you have access to 
more than one thousand dollars' worth of computation. 
M
OLLY 
2104:
 
Actually, millions of dollars on average—billions when I need it. 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
That's pretty hard to imagine. 
M
OLLY 
2104:
 
Yeah, well, I guess I'm kind of smart when I need to be. 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
You don't sound that bright, actually. 
M
OLLY 
2104:
 
I'm trying to relate on your level. 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
Now, wait a second, Miss Molly of the future.... 
G
EORGE 
2048:
 
Ladies, please, you're both very engaging. 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
Yes, well, tell that to my counterpart here—she feels she's a jillion times more capable than I am. 

---

G
EORGE 
2048:
 
She is your future, you know. Anyway, I've always felt there was something special about a biological 
woman. 
MOLLY
2104:
 Yeah, what would you know about biological women anyway? 
G
EORGE 
2048:
 
I've read a great deal 
about it and engaged in some very precise simulations. 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
It occurs to me that maybe you're both missing something that you're not aware of 
G
EORGE 
2048:
 
I don't 
see how that's possible. 
M
OLLY 
2104:
 
Definitely not. 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
I didn't think you would. But there is one thing I understand you can do that I do find cool. 
M
OLLY 
2104:
 
Just one? 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
One that I'm thinking of, anyway. You can merge your thinking with someone 
else and still keep your separate identity at the same time. 
MOLLY
2104:
 If the situation—and the person—is right, then, yes, it's a very sublime thing to do. 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
Like falling in love? 
MOLLY
2104:
 Like being in love. It's the ultimate way to share. 
G
EORGE 
2048:
 
I think you'll go for it, Molly 2004. 
M
OLLY 
2104:
 
You ought to know, George, since you were the first person I did it with. 

---

C H A P T E R F O U R
Achieving the Software of Human Intelligence: 
How to Reverse Engineer the Human Brain 
There are good reasons to believe that we are at a turning point, and that it will be possible within the next 
two decades to formulate a meaningful understanding of brain function. This optimistic view is based on 
several measurable trends, and a simple observation which has been proven repeatedly in the history of 
science: 
Scientific advances are enabled by a technology advance that allows us to see what we have not been 
able to see before.
At about the turn of the twenty-first century, we passed a detectable turning point in both 
neuroscience knowledge and computing power. For the first time in history, we collectively know enough 
about our own brains, and have developed such advanced computing technology, that we can now seriously 
undertake the construction of a verifiable, real-time, high-resolution model of significant parts of our 
intelligence. 
—L
LOYD 
W
ATTS
,
NEUROSCIENTIST
1 
Now, for the first time, we are observing the brain at work in a global manner with such clarity that we should 
be able to discover the overall programs behind its magnificent powers. 
—J.
G.
T
AYLOR
,
B.
H
ORWITZ
,
K.
J.
F
RISTON
,
NEUROSCIENTISTS
2 
The brain is good: it is an existence proof that a certain arrangement of matter can produce mind, perform 
intelligent reasoning, pattern recognition, learning and a lot of other important tasks of engineering interest. 
Hence we can learn to build new systems by borrowing ideas from the brain....The brain is bad: it is an 
evolved, messy system where a lot of interactions happen because of evolutionary contingencies. ... On the 
other hand, it must also be robust (since we can survive with it) and be able to stand fairly major variations 
and environmental insults, so the truly valuable insight from the brain might be how to create resilient 
complex systems that self-organize well....The interactions within a neuron are complex, but on the next level 
neurons seem to be somewhat simple objects that can be put together flexibly into networks. The cortical 
networks are a real mess locally, but again on the next level the connectivity isn't that complex. It would be 
likely that evolution has produced a number of modules or repeating themes that are being re-used, and when 
we understand them and their interactions we can do something similar. 
—A
NDERS 
S
ANDBERG
,
C
OMPUTATIONAL 
N
EUROSCIENTIST
,
R
OYAL 
I
NSTITUTE OF 
T
ECHNOLOGY
,
S
WEDEN
Reverse Engineering the Brain: An Overview of the Task 

---

he 
combination of human-level intelligence with a computer's inherent superiority in speed, accuracy, and 
memory-sharing ability will be formidable. To date, however, most AI research and development has 
utilized engineering methods that are not necessarily based on how the human brain functions, for the 
simple reason that we have not had the precise tools needed to develop detailed models of human cognition. 
Our ability to reverse engineer the brain—to see inside, model it, and simulate its regions—is growing 
exponentially. We will ultimately understand the principles of operation underlying the full range of our own thinking, 
knowledge that will provide us with powerful procedures for developing the software of intelligent machines. We will 
modify, refine, and extend these techniques as we apply them to computational technologies that are far more powerful 
than the electrochemical processing that takes place in biological neurons. A key benefit of this grand project will be 
the precise insights it offers into ourselves. We will also gain powerful new ways to treat neurological problems such 
as Alzheimer's, stroke, Parkinson's disease, and sensory disabilities, and ultimately will be able to vastly extend our 
intelligence.