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Quotes by Ray Kurzweil

Find your passion, learn how to add value to it, and commit to a lifetime of learning.

Ray Kurzweil : Gaia Explorer
Ray Kurzweil
Source: "The Age of Spiritual Machines"
Contributed by: Asavari Honavar. More quotes added by bajarbattu from all sources
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My view is that consciousness, the seat of “personalness,” is the ultimate reality, and is also scientifically impenetrable. In other words, there is no scientific test one can postulate that would definitively prove its existence in another entity. We assume that other biological human persons, at least those who are at least acting conscious, are indeed conscious. But this too is an assumption, and this shared human consensus breaks down when we go beyond human experience (e.g., the debate on animal consciousness, and by extension animal rights).

Ray Kurzweil : Gaia Explorer
Ray Kurzweil
Source: Are We Spiritual Machines: Chapter 10: The Material World: "Is That All There Is?"
Contributed by: ~C4Chaos. More quotes added by ~C4Chaos from all sources
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To transcend means to “go beyond,” but this need not compel us to an ornate dualist view that regards transcendent levels of reality (e.g., the spiritual level) to be not of this world. We can “go beyond” the “ordinary” powers of the material world through the power of patterns. Rather than a materialist, I would prefer to consider myself a “patternist.” It’s through the emergent powers of the pattern that we transcend.

Ray Kurzweil : Gaia Explorer
Ray Kurzweil
Source: Are We Spiritual Machines?: Ray Kurzweil vs. the Critics of Strong A.I., Page: Chapter 10: The Material World
Contributed by: Gaia Team. More quotes added by Gaia Team from this | all sources
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As we gradually learn to harness the optimal computing capacity of matter, our intelligence will spread through the universe at (or exceeding) the speed of light, eventually leading to a sublime, universe wide awakening.

Ray Kurzweil : Gaia Explorer
Ray Kurzweil
Source: The Singularity is Near
Contributed by: Adam McEwen. More quotes added by Adam from all sources
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Evolution moves towards greater complexity, greater elegance, greater knowledge, greater intelligence, greater beauty, greater creativity, and greater levels of subtle attributes such as love. In every monotheistic tradition God is likewise described as all of these qualities, only without limitation: infinite knowledge, infinite intelligence, infinite beauty, infinite creativity, infinite love, and so on. Of course, even the accelerating growth of evolution never achieves an infinite level, but as it explodes exponentially it certainly moves rapidly in that direction. So evolution moves inexorably towards this conception of God, although never quite reaching this ideal. We can regard, therefore, the freeing of our thinking from the severe limitations of its biological form to be an essentially spiritual undertaking.

Ray Kurzweil : Gaia Explorer
Ray Kurzweil
Contributed by: Ryan Gendron. More quotes added by Ryan from this | all sources
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None of the global warming discussions mention the word “nanotechnology.” Yet nanotechnology will eliminate the need for fossil fuels within 20 years. If we captured 1% of 1% of the sunlight (1 part in 10,000) we could meet 100% of our energy needs without ANY fossil fuels. We can’t do that today because the solar panels are too heavy, expensive, and inefficient. But there are new nanoengineered designs that are much more effective. Within five to six years, this technology will make a significant contribution. Within 20 years, it can provide all of our energy needs. The discussions talk about current trends continuing for the next century as if nothing is going to change. I think global warming is real but it has been modest thus far - 1 degree f. in 100 years. It would be concern if that continued or accelerated for a long period of time, but that’s not going to happen. And it’s not just environmental concern that will drive this, the $2 trillion we spend on energy is providing plenty of economic incentive. I don’t see any disasters occuring in the next 10 years from this. However, I AM concerned about other environment issues. There are other reasons to want to move quickly away from fossil fuels including environmental pollution at every step and the geopolitical instability it causes.

Ray Kurzweil : Gaia Explorer
Ray Kurzweil
Source: Washington Post: Artificial Intelligence, When Humans Transcend Biology, Monday, June 19, 2006
Contributed by: ~C4Chaos. More quotes added by ~C4Chaos from all sources
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Intelligence is: (a) the most complex phenomenon in the Universe; or (b) a profoundly simple process. The answer, of course, is (c) both of the above. It's another one of those great dualities that make life interesting.

Ray Kurzweil : Gaia Explorer
Ray Kurzweil
Contributed by: ~C4Chaos. More quotes added by ~C4Chaos from this | all sources
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The Singularity denotes an event that will take place in the material world, the inevitable next step in the evolutionary process that started with biological evolution and has extended through human-directed technological evolution. however, it is precisely in the world of matter and energy that we encounter transcendence, a principal connotation of what people refer to as spirituality.

Ray Kurzweil : Gaia Explorer
Ray Kurzweil
Contributed by: ~C4Chaos. More quotes added by ~C4Chaos from this | all sources
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Molly 2004: The boundary of myself is seeming less and less clear.

Ray: Well, just wait until we're predominantly nonbiological. Then we'll be able to merge our thoughts and thinking at will, so finding boundaries will be even more difficult.

Molly 2004: That actually sounds kind of appealing, You know, some Buddhist philosophies emphasize the extent to which there is inherently no boundary at all between us.

Ray: Sounds like they're talking about the Singularity

Ray Kurzweil : Gaia Explorer
Ray Kurzweil
Contributed by: ~C4Chaos. More quotes added by ~C4Chaos from this | all sources
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Molly 2004: So you don't acknowledge the existence of the universe?

Ray: No, I just said that I do believe that it exists, but I'm pointing out that it's a belief. That's my personal leap of faith.

Molly 2004: All right, but I asked whether you believe in God.

Ray: Again, "God" is a word by which people mean different things. For the sake of your question, we can consider God to be the universe, and I said that I believe in the existence of the universe.

Ray Kurzweil : Gaia Explorer
Ray Kurzweil
Contributed by: ~C4Chaos. More quotes added by ~C4Chaos from this | all sources
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