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  • The Singularity Is Near

  • When Humans Transcend Biology
  • Written by: Ray Kurzweil
  • Narrated by: George Wilson
  • Length: 24 hrs and 38 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (37 ratings)

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The Singularity Is Near cover art

The Singularity Is Near

Written by: Ray Kurzweil
Narrated by: George Wilson
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Publisher's Summary

“Startling in scope and bravado.” (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)

“Artfully envisions a breathtakingly better world.” (Los Angeles Times)

“Elaborate, smart and persuasive.” (The Boston Globe)

“A pleasure to read.” (The Wall Street Journal)

One of CBS News’ Best Fall Books of 2005
Among St Louis Post-Dispatch’s Best Nonfiction Books of 2005
One of Amazon.com’s Best Science Books of 2005

A radical and optimistic view of the future course of human development from the best-selling author of How to Create a Mind and The Singularity is Nearer who Bill Gates calls “the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence”.

For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines, he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary process: The union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations.

©2005 Ray Kurzweil (P)2019 Penguin Audio

What the critics say

“Anyone can grasp Mr. Kurzweil’s main idea: that mankind’s technological knowledge has been snowballing, with dizzying prospects for the future. The basics are clearly expressed. But for those more knowledgeable and inquisitive, the author argues his case in fascinating detail.... The Singularity Is Near is startling in scope and bravado.” (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)

“Filled with imaginative, scientifically grounded speculation.... The Singularity Is Near is worth reading just for its wealth of information, all lucidly presented.... [It’s] an important book. Not everything that Kurzweil predicts may come to pass, but a lot of it will, and even if you don’t agree with everything he says, it’s all worth paying attention to.” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

“[An] exhilarating and terrifyingly deep look at where we are headed as a species.... Mr. Kurzweil is a brilliant scientist and futurist, and he makes a compelling and, indeed, a very moving case for his view of the future.” (The New York Sun)

What listeners say about The Singularity Is Near

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  • SL
  • 2024-03-20

Terrible Audio

Poor quality very robotic and digital sounding. Ill be seeking a refund. The narrator is very monotonous. Sounds like a crappy AI reading it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Still relevant and a must read

Despite being relatively old the content still is relevant.
Performance is not ideal but tolerable.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Genetics, Nanotechnology, and Robotics but mostly Nanotechnology

Kurzweil covers all 3 but seemed particularly preoccupied by nanotechnology by my reading. It was all the rage late in 90s and early 00s but hasn’t been as visible as advances in AI and genetics in recent years

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  • Tom
  • 2021-01-31

interesting theory

an interesting hypothesis, a way of looking to a future full of hope and such. I do not buying, but for each their own dream guess. Seems silly to give up on God to become a second rate one yourself. not the singularity I dream of. more akin to Buddhism than Christianity. but might be the source of some folks thinking Bill Gates is going to inject robots to control us with the Vivid vaccine (he isn't by the way)

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