The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence

Berglund Authority Level 3

by Ray Kurzweil
Penguin Books, 1999. ISBN 0140282025, paperback.

Review by Drew Harrington <harrington@pacificu.edu>
University Librarian, Pacific University

Remember "Hal", the soft-spoken, but relentless computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey? Those of us who are old enough to have seen the movie when it first came out certainly understood that it was science fiction, and computer Hal was more wryly amusing than he was threatening. Now, futurist Ray Kurzweil's book explores what he believes to be the very real future of computer technology—2020 when computers match the complexity of the human brain, and 2100, when they surpass human intelligence and are well established as part of "society". Technology, says Kurzweil, develops according to a "Law of Accelerating Returns", so that development occurs at an exponential rate. Kurzweil believes that computers will have the ability to replicate themselves and to organize themselves according to evolutionary principles, actually becoming the "next stage of evolution". That which we consider "human" experience—spirituality, love, sexuality, etc., will become entirely virtual. To make his case, Kurzweil takes an in-depth look at the painstakingly slow history of evolution, and then applies similar principles to a fast forward version of accelerated technological development over the next 100 years. His case is reasonably compelling, though his writing is occasionally awkward, especially when he employs the gimmick of an extended conversation with a woman from the future. The book is demanding and thought provoking, and Kurzweil, a brilliant inventor and computer scientist, is well qualified to speculate on the future of artificial intelligence. Kurzweil also authored The Age of Intelligent Machines.

Drew Harrington can be reached at harrington@pacificu.edu.