Post by whiterose on Nov 20, 2007 16:41:40 GMT -5
Coming Soon to a Theater Near You: The Singularity
By Eliza Strickland 11.13.07 | 3:00 PM
Ray Kurzweil speaks on Singularity at the RAS Conference 2007 in San Francisco, Feb. 7, 2007.
Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images Ray Kurzweil has plenty of titles already: inventor, author, futurist, techno-optimist, artificial intelligence expert. Now he's adding a Hollywood gloss to that list by writing, directing, producing and acting in his first feature film. He's adapting his latest book to make a movie titled The Singularity Is Near: A True Story About The Future.
The "technological singularity" is a concept that's enchanting to some, like Kurzweil, and terrifying to others. As a result of the exponential progress of technology, Kurzweil believes, we're racing towards a day when the power of the artificially intelligent machines we create will exceed human brainpower. Our computers will then carry on fashioning a new world -- with luck, they'll keep our best interests in mind.
Wired News talked to Kurzweil about the movie that he hopes will give us a glimpse into that world.
Wired News: Can you tell me a bit about the structure of the movie?
Ray Kurzweil: There's an intertwined A-line and B-line: The A-line is a documentary, and the B-line is a narrative. Did you see What The Bleep Do We Know!? I didn't like the movie that much. But you can convey information well with that structure. On its own, the narrative line is so specific, it can't give you all the information. But sitting through 100 minutes of a documentary can be ponderous. So we're combining the two.
WN: What's in the documentary part?
Kurzweil: It contains footage of myself, and also me interviewing 20 big thinkers, talking about their ideas, and their ideas about my ideas. We have people like Eric Drexler, one of the founders of nanotech; Aubrey de Grey, a theorist about radical life extension; Bill Joy.
Bill Joy had a famous cover story in Wired that created a firestorm, because you had a technological leader talking about the dire prospects of technology. His article was based on my previous book, The Age of Spiritual Machines. He and I are often compared. Even though I'm known as an optimist, I've always investigated the promise of new technology versus the peril. In that Wired article, Bill Joy focused on the peril.
WN: So you're debating some of these people in the interviews?
Kurzweil: Yes, there's Bill McKibben -- have you ever heard about this phenomenon called global warming? Well, he coined the term. He has a book called Enough, where he says we should not pursue more GNR -- that's genetics, nanotech, robotics. He argues for the relinquishment view, and says, "Let's relinquish these new technologies, they're too dangerous."
That's not a view I can accept, for three reasons. One, it would deprive us of all the benefits, like curing cancer. One of the questions I ask him is, "If you really want to stop global warming and wean us from fossil fuels, and (technological progress) is the only way to do it, would you give it up?" Second, it would require an authoritarian system to implement such a drastic change. Third, it wouldn't work, it would just drive the technology underground.
WN: OK, that's the A-line. What's the narrative you use for a B-line?
Kurzweil: The narrative story is an outgrowth of the Ramona Project, which I started in the year 2000. I gave a presentation at TED 2001 (the Technology Entertainment Design conference) -- the theme was that in virtual reality you can be someone else.
I turned myself into a computer avatar named Ramona. I had magnetic sensors in my clothing, picking up all my motions and sending the data to Ramona, who followed my movements in real time. My voice was turned into Ramona's voice, so it looked like she was giving the presentation. I was standing next to the screen, so people could see what was happening. A band came onstage, and I sang two songs: "White Rabbit," and a song I wrote called "Come Out and Play." Then my daughter came out, who was 14 at the time, and she was turned into a male backup dancer. Her avatar was in the form of Richard Saul Wurman, the impresario of the conference. He's kind of a heavyset gentleman, not known for his hip-hop kicks, so it was quite a show.
WN: Ramona is also a presence on your website, right? You can interact with her, ask her questions, and sort of test her artificial intelligence.
Kurzweil: Right. It's a real 20-year project of mine, to create an AI that can pass the Turing Test.
WN: So in the movie's narrative, Ramona the avatar is the main character?
Kurzweil: It's a Pinocchio story. She detects a "gray goo" attack, an attack of self-replicating nanobots. The Department of Homeland Security is oblivious to this, and won't listen to her, so she gets her other avatar friends to work on this. But she breaks some homeland security protocols in the process. She's arrested -- and there's a discussion about how you can arrest a virtual person. She hires (civil rights attorney) Alan Dershowitz to defend her, and also to establish her rights as a legal person. She feels she's human enough to have human rights. There's a whole courtroom scene, and finally the judge says, "OK, I'll grant your legal rights if you can pass the Turing Test." She hires Tony Robbins, the motivational speaker, to help her become more human, and the plot goes on from there.
WN: You're making a thriller! That's ambitious. How far along in the process are you?
The rest at the link below:
www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/news/2007/11/kurzweil_qa
www.redicecreations.com/
Coming Soon to a Theater Near You: The Singularity
By Eliza Strickland 11.13.07 | 3:00 PM
Ray Kurzweil speaks on Singularity at the RAS Conference 2007 in San Francisco, Feb. 7, 2007.
Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images Ray Kurzweil has plenty of titles already: inventor, author, futurist, techno-optimist, artificial intelligence expert. Now he's adding a Hollywood gloss to that list by writing, directing, producing and acting in his first feature film. He's adapting his latest book to make a movie titled The Singularity Is Near: A True Story About The Future.
The "technological singularity" is a concept that's enchanting to some, like Kurzweil, and terrifying to others. As a result of the exponential progress of technology, Kurzweil believes, we're racing towards a day when the power of the artificially intelligent machines we create will exceed human brainpower. Our computers will then carry on fashioning a new world -- with luck, they'll keep our best interests in mind.
Wired News talked to Kurzweil about the movie that he hopes will give us a glimpse into that world.
Wired News: Can you tell me a bit about the structure of the movie?
Ray Kurzweil: There's an intertwined A-line and B-line: The A-line is a documentary, and the B-line is a narrative. Did you see What The Bleep Do We Know!? I didn't like the movie that much. But you can convey information well with that structure. On its own, the narrative line is so specific, it can't give you all the information. But sitting through 100 minutes of a documentary can be ponderous. So we're combining the two.
WN: What's in the documentary part?
Kurzweil: It contains footage of myself, and also me interviewing 20 big thinkers, talking about their ideas, and their ideas about my ideas. We have people like Eric Drexler, one of the founders of nanotech; Aubrey de Grey, a theorist about radical life extension; Bill Joy.
Bill Joy had a famous cover story in Wired that created a firestorm, because you had a technological leader talking about the dire prospects of technology. His article was based on my previous book, The Age of Spiritual Machines. He and I are often compared. Even though I'm known as an optimist, I've always investigated the promise of new technology versus the peril. In that Wired article, Bill Joy focused on the peril.
WN: So you're debating some of these people in the interviews?
Kurzweil: Yes, there's Bill McKibben -- have you ever heard about this phenomenon called global warming? Well, he coined the term. He has a book called Enough, where he says we should not pursue more GNR -- that's genetics, nanotech, robotics. He argues for the relinquishment view, and says, "Let's relinquish these new technologies, they're too dangerous."
That's not a view I can accept, for three reasons. One, it would deprive us of all the benefits, like curing cancer. One of the questions I ask him is, "If you really want to stop global warming and wean us from fossil fuels, and (technological progress) is the only way to do it, would you give it up?" Second, it would require an authoritarian system to implement such a drastic change. Third, it wouldn't work, it would just drive the technology underground.
WN: OK, that's the A-line. What's the narrative you use for a B-line?
Kurzweil: The narrative story is an outgrowth of the Ramona Project, which I started in the year 2000. I gave a presentation at TED 2001 (the Technology Entertainment Design conference) -- the theme was that in virtual reality you can be someone else.
I turned myself into a computer avatar named Ramona. I had magnetic sensors in my clothing, picking up all my motions and sending the data to Ramona, who followed my movements in real time. My voice was turned into Ramona's voice, so it looked like she was giving the presentation. I was standing next to the screen, so people could see what was happening. A band came onstage, and I sang two songs: "White Rabbit," and a song I wrote called "Come Out and Play." Then my daughter came out, who was 14 at the time, and she was turned into a male backup dancer. Her avatar was in the form of Richard Saul Wurman, the impresario of the conference. He's kind of a heavyset gentleman, not known for his hip-hop kicks, so it was quite a show.
WN: Ramona is also a presence on your website, right? You can interact with her, ask her questions, and sort of test her artificial intelligence.
Kurzweil: Right. It's a real 20-year project of mine, to create an AI that can pass the Turing Test.
WN: So in the movie's narrative, Ramona the avatar is the main character?
Kurzweil: It's a Pinocchio story. She detects a "gray goo" attack, an attack of self-replicating nanobots. The Department of Homeland Security is oblivious to this, and won't listen to her, so she gets her other avatar friends to work on this. But she breaks some homeland security protocols in the process. She's arrested -- and there's a discussion about how you can arrest a virtual person. She hires (civil rights attorney) Alan Dershowitz to defend her, and also to establish her rights as a legal person. She feels she's human enough to have human rights. There's a whole courtroom scene, and finally the judge says, "OK, I'll grant your legal rights if you can pass the Turing Test." She hires Tony Robbins, the motivational speaker, to help her become more human, and the plot goes on from there.
WN: You're making a thriller! That's ambitious. How far along in the process are you?
The rest at the link below:
www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/news/2007/11/kurzweil_qa
www.redicecreations.com/
By Eliza Strickland 11.13.07 | 3:00 PM
Ray Kurzweil speaks on Singularity at the RAS Conference 2007 in San Francisco, Feb. 7, 2007.
Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images Ray Kurzweil has plenty of titles already: inventor, author, futurist, techno-optimist, artificial intelligence expert. Now he's adding a Hollywood gloss to that list by writing, directing, producing and acting in his first feature film. He's adapting his latest book to make a movie titled The Singularity Is Near: A True Story About The Future.
The "technological singularity" is a concept that's enchanting to some, like Kurzweil, and terrifying to others. As a result of the exponential progress of technology, Kurzweil believes, we're racing towards a day when the power of the artificially intelligent machines we create will exceed human brainpower. Our computers will then carry on fashioning a new world -- with luck, they'll keep our best interests in mind.
Wired News talked to Kurzweil about the movie that he hopes will give us a glimpse into that world.
Wired News: Can you tell me a bit about the structure of the movie?
Ray Kurzweil: There's an intertwined A-line and B-line: The A-line is a documentary, and the B-line is a narrative. Did you see What The Bleep Do We Know!? I didn't like the movie that much. But you can convey information well with that structure. On its own, the narrative line is so specific, it can't give you all the information. But sitting through 100 minutes of a documentary can be ponderous. So we're combining the two.
WN: What's in the documentary part?
Kurzweil: It contains footage of myself, and also me interviewing 20 big thinkers, talking about their ideas, and their ideas about my ideas. We have people like Eric Drexler, one of the founders of nanotech; Aubrey de Grey, a theorist about radical life extension; Bill Joy.
Bill Joy had a famous cover story in Wired that created a firestorm, because you had a technological leader talking about the dire prospects of technology. His article was based on my previous book, The Age of Spiritual Machines. He and I are often compared. Even though I'm known as an optimist, I've always investigated the promise of new technology versus the peril. In that Wired article, Bill Joy focused on the peril.
WN: So you're debating some of these people in the interviews?
Kurzweil: Yes, there's Bill McKibben -- have you ever heard about this phenomenon called global warming? Well, he coined the term. He has a book called Enough, where he says we should not pursue more GNR -- that's genetics, nanotech, robotics. He argues for the relinquishment view, and says, "Let's relinquish these new technologies, they're too dangerous."
That's not a view I can accept, for three reasons. One, it would deprive us of all the benefits, like curing cancer. One of the questions I ask him is, "If you really want to stop global warming and wean us from fossil fuels, and (technological progress) is the only way to do it, would you give it up?" Second, it would require an authoritarian system to implement such a drastic change. Third, it wouldn't work, it would just drive the technology underground.
WN: OK, that's the A-line. What's the narrative you use for a B-line?
Kurzweil: The narrative story is an outgrowth of the Ramona Project, which I started in the year 2000. I gave a presentation at TED 2001 (the Technology Entertainment Design conference) -- the theme was that in virtual reality you can be someone else.
I turned myself into a computer avatar named Ramona. I had magnetic sensors in my clothing, picking up all my motions and sending the data to Ramona, who followed my movements in real time. My voice was turned into Ramona's voice, so it looked like she was giving the presentation. I was standing next to the screen, so people could see what was happening. A band came onstage, and I sang two songs: "White Rabbit," and a song I wrote called "Come Out and Play." Then my daughter came out, who was 14 at the time, and she was turned into a male backup dancer. Her avatar was in the form of Richard Saul Wurman, the impresario of the conference. He's kind of a heavyset gentleman, not known for his hip-hop kicks, so it was quite a show.
WN: Ramona is also a presence on your website, right? You can interact with her, ask her questions, and sort of test her artificial intelligence.
Kurzweil: Right. It's a real 20-year project of mine, to create an AI that can pass the Turing Test.
WN: So in the movie's narrative, Ramona the avatar is the main character?
Kurzweil: It's a Pinocchio story. She detects a "gray goo" attack, an attack of self-replicating nanobots. The Department of Homeland Security is oblivious to this, and won't listen to her, so she gets her other avatar friends to work on this. But she breaks some homeland security protocols in the process. She's arrested -- and there's a discussion about how you can arrest a virtual person. She hires (civil rights attorney) Alan Dershowitz to defend her, and also to establish her rights as a legal person. She feels she's human enough to have human rights. There's a whole courtroom scene, and finally the judge says, "OK, I'll grant your legal rights if you can pass the Turing Test." She hires Tony Robbins, the motivational speaker, to help her become more human, and the plot goes on from there.
WN: You're making a thriller! That's ambitious. How far along in the process are you?
The rest at the link below:
www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/news/2007/11/kurzweil_qa
www.redicecreations.com/
Coming Soon to a Theater Near You: The Singularity
By Eliza Strickland 11.13.07 | 3:00 PM
Ray Kurzweil speaks on Singularity at the RAS Conference 2007 in San Francisco, Feb. 7, 2007.
Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images Ray Kurzweil has plenty of titles already: inventor, author, futurist, techno-optimist, artificial intelligence expert. Now he's adding a Hollywood gloss to that list by writing, directing, producing and acting in his first feature film. He's adapting his latest book to make a movie titled The Singularity Is Near: A True Story About The Future.
The "technological singularity" is a concept that's enchanting to some, like Kurzweil, and terrifying to others. As a result of the exponential progress of technology, Kurzweil believes, we're racing towards a day when the power of the artificially intelligent machines we create will exceed human brainpower. Our computers will then carry on fashioning a new world -- with luck, they'll keep our best interests in mind.
Wired News talked to Kurzweil about the movie that he hopes will give us a glimpse into that world.
Wired News: Can you tell me a bit about the structure of the movie?
Ray Kurzweil: There's an intertwined A-line and B-line: The A-line is a documentary, and the B-line is a narrative. Did you see What The Bleep Do We Know!? I didn't like the movie that much. But you can convey information well with that structure. On its own, the narrative line is so specific, it can't give you all the information. But sitting through 100 minutes of a documentary can be ponderous. So we're combining the two.
WN: What's in the documentary part?
Kurzweil: It contains footage of myself, and also me interviewing 20 big thinkers, talking about their ideas, and their ideas about my ideas. We have people like Eric Drexler, one of the founders of nanotech; Aubrey de Grey, a theorist about radical life extension; Bill Joy.
Bill Joy had a famous cover story in Wired that created a firestorm, because you had a technological leader talking about the dire prospects of technology. His article was based on my previous book, The Age of Spiritual Machines. He and I are often compared. Even though I'm known as an optimist, I've always investigated the promise of new technology versus the peril. In that Wired article, Bill Joy focused on the peril.
WN: So you're debating some of these people in the interviews?
Kurzweil: Yes, there's Bill McKibben -- have you ever heard about this phenomenon called global warming? Well, he coined the term. He has a book called Enough, where he says we should not pursue more GNR -- that's genetics, nanotech, robotics. He argues for the relinquishment view, and says, "Let's relinquish these new technologies, they're too dangerous."
That's not a view I can accept, for three reasons. One, it would deprive us of all the benefits, like curing cancer. One of the questions I ask him is, "If you really want to stop global warming and wean us from fossil fuels, and (technological progress) is the only way to do it, would you give it up?" Second, it would require an authoritarian system to implement such a drastic change. Third, it wouldn't work, it would just drive the technology underground.
WN: OK, that's the A-line. What's the narrative you use for a B-line?
Kurzweil: The narrative story is an outgrowth of the Ramona Project, which I started in the year 2000. I gave a presentation at TED 2001 (the Technology Entertainment Design conference) -- the theme was that in virtual reality you can be someone else.
I turned myself into a computer avatar named Ramona. I had magnetic sensors in my clothing, picking up all my motions and sending the data to Ramona, who followed my movements in real time. My voice was turned into Ramona's voice, so it looked like she was giving the presentation. I was standing next to the screen, so people could see what was happening. A band came onstage, and I sang two songs: "White Rabbit," and a song I wrote called "Come Out and Play." Then my daughter came out, who was 14 at the time, and she was turned into a male backup dancer. Her avatar was in the form of Richard Saul Wurman, the impresario of the conference. He's kind of a heavyset gentleman, not known for his hip-hop kicks, so it was quite a show.
WN: Ramona is also a presence on your website, right? You can interact with her, ask her questions, and sort of test her artificial intelligence.
Kurzweil: Right. It's a real 20-year project of mine, to create an AI that can pass the Turing Test.
WN: So in the movie's narrative, Ramona the avatar is the main character?
Kurzweil: It's a Pinocchio story. She detects a "gray goo" attack, an attack of self-replicating nanobots. The Department of Homeland Security is oblivious to this, and won't listen to her, so she gets her other avatar friends to work on this. But she breaks some homeland security protocols in the process. She's arrested -- and there's a discussion about how you can arrest a virtual person. She hires (civil rights attorney) Alan Dershowitz to defend her, and also to establish her rights as a legal person. She feels she's human enough to have human rights. There's a whole courtroom scene, and finally the judge says, "OK, I'll grant your legal rights if you can pass the Turing Test." She hires Tony Robbins, the motivational speaker, to help her become more human, and the plot goes on from there.
WN: You're making a thriller! That's ambitious. How far along in the process are you?
The rest at the link below:
www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/news/2007/11/kurzweil_qa
www.redicecreations.com/