Will Ray Kurstweil’s theories ever become reality?

Today’s lecture touched on Ray Kurtsweil and his three predictions for 2099. He reckons by then human thinking will posses no advantage over computer minds. This made me what to explore an answer to the question; will Ray Kurstweil’s theories ever become reality? Technology is moving forward rapidly but will computer technology have developed sufficiently to match human thinking by the. Computers tend to be rational and logical in their decision making and tend to rely on pre-programmed knowledge to inform decisions made. They can weigh up known variables and perform ‘what ifs’ when these are known. Can they do this to the unknown what about gut instinct, hunches and just feeling lucky can you replicate this. This is where there is always an advantage for human thinking that unknown X factor, which you can’t programme.
His second prediction is that machines will have attained equal legal status with humans. This probably will depend on the type of machine. A machine that has some form of independent thought or decision making ability may well be protected. Is this not a logical development from freedom for slaves, the animal rights act – next stage robots would seem logical. People are generally against exploitation and abuse and I can see this happening, if only around proper maintenance and care of the product. It will say something about the type of person the owner is and at present all machines are owned by someone, there are no independent machines. Machines are at the end of the day a tool for a purpose and robots thinking machines will be no different to this.
His third prediction is that humans and machines will merge together in the physical and mental realms. I think this is likely there are already signs of this in the medical world. With bionic fingers in the paper last week, and a range of machines that can keep the heart beating, the lungs breathing and the blood cleaned etc. We know the brain can control simple devices directly now what in the future. Artificial limbs become more sophisticated, hearing and seeing devices are common place.

This is a link to a video profile of Ray Kurtsweil
http://www.kurzweiltech.com/media/ray_profile.mov

The link below shows the news story relating to bionic fingers: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8401205.stm



On the entertainment front machines offer almost limitless opportunities. Gaming machines and avatars offer a new world experience and a life that you only previously dreamed about. Simulators offer opportunities to do all those things that you can’t normally do, fly planes, drive fast cars etc. Second worlds already exist in the gaming world and crossovers are already happening. 2099 read 2059.