Are We Spiritual Machines?: Ray Kurzweil vs. the Critics of Strong AI

by Ray Kurzweil, Jay W. Richards (Editor)

Computers are becoming more powerful at an ever-increasing rate, but will they ever become conscious? Artificial intelligence guru Ray Kurzweil thinks so and explains how we will "download" our software (our minds) and "upgrade" our hardware (our bodies) to become immortal -- before the dawn of the 22nd century. In this debate with his critics, including several Discovery Institute Fellows, Kurzweil defends his views and sets the stage for the central question: "What does it mean to be human?"

Genres: Science, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Technology, Artificial Intelligence

228 pages, Paperback

First published June 6, 2001

About the author

Ray Kurzweil is a world class inventor, thinker, and futurist, with a thirty-five-year track record of accurate predictions. He has been a leading developer in artificial intelligence for 61 years – longer than any other living person. He was the principal inventor of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, omni-font optical character recognition, print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, text-to-speech synthesizer, music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition software. Ray received a Grammy Award for outstanding achievement in music technology; he is the recipient of the National Medal of Technology and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He has written five best-selling books including The Singularity Is Near and How To Create A Mind, both New York Times best sellers, and Danielle: Chronicles of a Superheroine, winner of multiple young adult fiction awards. His forthcoming book, The Singularity Is Nearer, will be released June 25, 2024. He is a Principal Researcher and AI Visionary at Google.

Reviews

[Scott Lerch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent follow up to Ray Kurzweil's Are We Spiritual Machines. It clearly represents the critics of strong A.I. with Kurzweil taking on each in turn. After reading this I was even more convinced computers can and will possess the ability to exceed humans in any activity. The critics are grasping for straws and either don't understand the subject matter or feel threatened. Maybe the issue is they fear that it will be us versus them when computers become intelligent, but Ray Kurzweil sees it as an evolution of man, not some alien intelligence invasion. There is no reason to assume machine intelligence will be created in our image with our current knowledge, morals, and understanding of the universe. Some argue it is impossible that man can conceive and create something greater than itself since it’s confined to its own limited intelligence. That may be true, but it’s not one individual creating A.I. it’s an entire advanced civilization. I guess then it was just a ridiculous when the first single celled organisms “decided” to band together and create complex multi-cellular organisms that would one day fly to the moon. It’s time people take Ray Kurzweil arguments seriously and prepare for future of intelligent machines.

[Ilya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kurzweil's main essay is good, but the counterarguments from other authors are not really compelling. Thomas Ray is the only that makes something resembling a cogent critique. The others are not even worth reading.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kurzweil responds to his critics. A thoughtful debate.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Searle is an ignorant asshole, Dembski is insane, Thomas Ray is awesome and I want to read more of his stuff. I forgot what I thought of Denton.

[gem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of Kurzweil's critics take themselves a bit too seriously, but there were still lots of fantastic ideas in this book.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

RAY KURZWEIL RESPONDS TO A SERIES OF CRITICAL ESSAYS

This 2002 book was published by the Discovery Institute (best known for their support of Intelligent Design), and includes an introductory essay by futurist and "strong AI" advocate Ray Kurzweil, followed by critiques by philosopher John Searle (author of books such as 'The Mystery of Consciousness'), Michael Denton (author of 'Evolution: A Theory In Crisis' and 'Nature's Destiny: How the Laws of Biology Reveal Purpose in the Universe'), William Dembski (author of books such as 'The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions About Intelligent Design'), and biologist Thomas Ray; Kurzweil then has the "last word" in responding to each of the critical essays, and there is a closing essay by George Gilder and Jay Richards.

Kurzweil argues forcefully that "There will not be a clear distinction between human and machine as we go through the twenty-first century. First of all, we will be putting computers---neural implants---directly into our brains. We've already started down this path. We have ventral posterior nucleus, subthalmic nucleus, and ventral lateral neural implants to counteract Parkinson's Disease and tremors from other neurological disorders..." (Pg. 14) He notes that "People often talk about consciousness as if it were a clear property of an entity that can readily be identified, detected, and gauged... (But) There exists no objective test that can absolutely determine its presence" (Pg. 45)

Searle, on the other hand, asks, "If I have my old programs downloaded onto a better brain and hardware but leave my old body still alive, which one is really me? The new robot or the old pile of junk... Suppose I make a thousand or a million copies of myself. Are they all me? Who gets to vote? Who owns my house? Who is my spouse married to? Whose driver's license if it, anyhow?" (Pg. 59) He admits that one can program a computer to SAY that "I am conscious," but he argues "that has nothing to do with whether or not it really is conscious. Actual human brains cause consciousness by a series of specific neurolobiological processes in the brain. What a computer does is a simulation of these processes." (Pg. 66)

Denton suggests, "Even the less spectacular self re-organizing and self-regenerating capacities of living things... should leave the observer awestruck... It is an achievement of transcending brilliance, which goes beyond the wildest dreams of mechanism." (Pg. 85-86)

Kurzweil responds to Searle, admitting that "orderly sequential processes cannot recreate true thinking," but adds, "But that's not the only way to build machines, or computers... Machines can be massively parallel. And machines can use chaotic emergent techniques just as the brain does." (Pg. 141)

This is an absolutely fascinating dialogue, that will be of interest to anyone even remotely concerned with the AI discussion, philosophy of mind, or the psychology of consciousness.

[Kenneth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays from both Kurzweil and critics. I don’t know what I like better- Kurzweil’s eye-opening optimism of the future or his in-your-face rebuttals of the naysayers who speak as if they have never done their homework on the subject.

[Paul Mamani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Computers are becoming more powerful at an ever-increasing rate, but will they ever become conscious? Artificial intelligence guru Ray Kurzweil thinks so and explains how we will "download" our software (our minds) and "upgrade" our hardware (our bodies) to become immortal -- before the dawn of the 22nd century. In this debate with his critics, including several Discovery Institute Fellows, Kurzweil defends his views and sets the stage for the central question: "What does it mean to be human?"