The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI

by Ray Kurzweil

The adoption of television followed a pattern similar to radio’s, but with the nation already much more developed, its exponential growth was even faster. Scientists and engineers began theorizing in the late nineteenth century about the advances that would lead to television, and by the late 1920s the first primitive television systems were being developed and demonstrated.[84] The technology had reached commercial viability in the United States by 1939, but the outbreak of World War II brought worldwide television production to a virtual halt.[85] As soon as the war ended, though, Americans rapidly began buying televisions. New stations sprang up nationwide, and by 1954 a majority of households had at least one TV.[86] Adoption increased rapidly, and by 1962 more than 90 percent of households had a set.[87] Growth then slowed as late adopters trickled into the TV-watching ranks over the next three decades.[89] By 1997 use had peaked, at 98.4 percent of households, before slightly declining in the years since, standing around 96.2 percent in 2021.[90] The falloff can be attributed to a range of factors: a cultural shift away from excessive television watching, the emergence of competing pastimes online, and the recent trend toward television-style programming being available for streaming on online devices.[91]