Currently Reading: The Singualrity Is Near

By Ray Kurzweil

Yeah, I'm reading Ray's book. I took a gratuitous pot-shot at him the other day, calling his idea that the singularity will happen in his lifetime a fantasy. I worked for him for nearly four years and, while I can't say we were friends or even very close, you could not work for KAI (Kurzweil AI) for more than 4 hours without getting a heaping spoonful of Ray's ideas (and a lesser, but potent dose of his optimism). Kathy, Amy and Mike, also KAI alum(1) and occasionally blog readers (Hi Guys!) should feel especially free to chime in here if I'm being too soft or mush-headed. Especially you Mike(2) After the pot-shot I figured the least I could do was read his book and base some of my judgment on that.

I did skip to the appendix in the store though and read his mathematical proof of the singularity. The math was flawless and straight-forward. It was also based on an incorrect assumption, rendering the proof invalid. Not a stunning start.


(1) In the interests of honestly and full disclosure, I am not actually a member of Listen to Me. "Listen to Me" was the phrase one used to activate the interactive mode of the recognizer and serves today as the name of the alumni news letter. My occasional petition for membership is always quietly rejected in part because many of the members of "Listen to Me" were people I either had fired or fired myself. The news-letter operator, Steve Rothman, was my boss for awhile at KAI. I got him fired.

(2) technically I own Mike's soul. I bought it for $5 one afternoon and so I feel justified in occasionally using the imperative voice with him. Mike is another Atheist and a good friend.