Interesting Reads
The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human
Intelligence
-Ray
Kurzweil
Ray Kurzweil has proven himself to be one of the great geniuses
alive today. In this work, he takes a startling, but sober look into the future
in which humans will no longer be the most intelligent or even creative beings
on the planet. Kurzweil's claims may seem fantastic at first, but remember that
many of his predictions in "The Age of Intelligent Machines" written ten years
ago actually turned out to be conservative.
Generation X
-Douglas Coupland
If you were born in the US between the
years 1965 and 1975, then you are X. Don't fight it, just read this book. It's
not like you don't have time, because you probably don't even have a job
anyways, slacker. Learn to embrace your apathy, because unlike the Backstreet
Boys, it's real, and maybe we understand something that the sellout Baby Boomers
and Generation Y sheep don't get. In the words of the immortal Kurt Cobain,
"Just because you're paranoid don't mean they're not after you".
-Bill Joy
This is Sun Microsystems founder Bill Joy's
alarmed reaction to reading the above mentioned bolt of lightning by Kurzweil.
Both come to very different conclusions, but it is the parts that they both
accept as inevitable that are truly eye opening, such as the probability
that this century will be humanity's last.
Childhood's End
-Arthur C.
Clarke
While we are on the topic of geniuses, great works, and the
transcendence of humanity, I should not leave out this old classic. Short and
sweet, but full of brilliant insights. Should it be a surprise to anyone that it
is somehow more relevant today than when it was written?
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