Maljonic
Can't get enough of FH
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 1,297
This is a review for last night's Horizon in the Radio Times, which I didn't watch but thought it might be an interesting topic:
Personally I think that anyone expecting a power increase of a billion in 25 years will be disappointed. Actually I think the statement about the last 25 years is cobblers too.
Techno guru Ray Kurzweil takes 250 pills a day. Why? Because he wants to be alive for the "singularity". That's the name hip scientists have given to the moment in history when computers will match the power of the human brain and allow us to download our thoughts and memories. "Computers are about one billion times more powerful than they were a quarter of a century ago," Kurzweil observes, "and they will become a billion times more powerful than they are today in a quarter of a century." At which point these fantastically clever machines or "artilects" artificial intellects) will take over the world - and perhaps stop crashing. Kurzweil is just one of the visionaries in this swirly film, which flits around neuroscience and computing. It's the kind of programme you want to stick in a vault for 25 years to see if it all turns out to be cobblers. In the meantime, we can ponder its daft children-in-the-woods filler shots and enjoy the bizarre scene featuring a live, remote-controlled rat.
Personally I think that anyone expecting a power increase of a billion in 25 years will be disappointed. Actually I think the statement about the last 25 years is cobblers too.