The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

by Ray Kurzweil

Most major universities now provide extensive courses online, many of which are free. MIT’s OpenCourseWare (OCW) initiative has been a leader in this effort. MIT offers nine hundred of its courses—half of all its course offerings—for free on the Web.56 These have already had a major impact on education around the world. For example, Brigitte Bouissou writes, “As a math teacher in France, I want to thank MIT … for [these] very lucid lectures, which are a great help for preparing my own classes.” Sajid Latif, an educator in Pakistan, has integrated the MIT OCW courses into his own curriculum. His Pakistani students regularly attend—virtually—MIT classes as a substantial part of their education.57 MIT intends to have every one of its courses online and open source (that is, free of charge for noncommercial use) by 2007. The U.S. Army already conducts all of its nonphysical training using Web-based instruction. The accessible, inexpensive, and increasingly high-quality courseware available on the Web is also fueling a trend toward homeschooling.