The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI

by Ray Kurzweil

At some point in the 2030s we will reach this goal using microscopic devices called nanobots. These tiny electronics will connect the top layers of our neocortex to the cloud, allowing our neurons to communicate directly with simulated neurons hosted for us online.[182] This won’t require some kind of sci-fi brain surgery—we’ll be able to send nanobots into the brain noninvasively through the capillaries. Instead of human brain size being limited by the need to pass through the birth canal, it can then be expanded indefinitely. That is, once we have the first layer of virtual neocortex added, it won’t be a one-shot deal—more layers can be stacked on top of that one (computationally speaking) for ever more sophisticated cognition. As this century progresses and the price-performance of computing continues to improve exponentially, the computing power available to our brains will, too. Remember what happened two million years ago, the last time we gained more neocortex? We became humans. When we can access additional neocortex in the cloud, the leap in cognitive abstraction will likely be similar.