Digital Singularity

Imagine a world where technology is all around us, but there's not a device in sight. It's automatically supporting us, our relationships, and our businesses. It's "smarter" than ever, anticipating our wants and needs, acting on our behalf based on our preferences. Our appliances know when they need repairs and schedule service. A digital copy of ourselves online keeps our identity and our entire financial portfolio secure from hackers while working to keep our business and personal connections strong and healthy. This is how we'll be living not too far from now when we enter digital singularity, the point at which human experience meets technological omnipresence. Despite the alarmist views espoused by some futurists, singularity will be a time of great opportunity for humanity. It will also be a time of great change for business, requiring new strategies, investments, and viewpoints for companies to not only remain relevant but to stay competitive. In Digital Singularity: A Case for Humanity, Kevin S. Parikh applies unique insights to the emerging technologies that are creating new business and social imperatives for those operating in our increasingly global economy. When all individuals have the same access, boundaryless communities supporting them, and a powerful virtual bullhorn giving them an equal voice to interact directly with the president and compete for work with corporate entities of any size, we'll experience a new way of working, communicating, and living, together.

The noted inventor and futurist’s successor to his landmark book The Singularity Is Near explores how technology will transform the human race in the decades to come Since it was first published in 2005, Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near and its vision of an exponential future have spawned a worldwide movement. Kurzweil's predictions about technological advancements have largely come true, with concepts like AI, intelligent machines, and biotechnology now widely familiar to the public. In this entirely new book Ray Kurzweil brings a fresh perspective to advances toward the Singularity—assessing his 1999 prediction that AI will reach human level intelligence by 2029 and examining the exponential growth of technology—that, in the near future, will expand human intelligence a millionfold and change human life forever. Among the topics he discusses are rebuilding the world, atom by atom with devices like nanobots; radical life extension beyond the current age limit of 120; reinventing intelligence by connecting our brains to the cloud; how exponential technologies are propelling innovation forward in all industries and improving all aspects of our well-being such as declining poverty and violence; and the growth of renewable energy and 3-D printing. He also considers the potential perils of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, including such topics of current controversy as how AI will impact employment and the safety of autonomous cars, and "After Life" technology, which aims to virtually revive deceased individuals through a combination of their data and DNA. The culmination of six decades of research on artificial intelligence, The Singularity Is Nearer is Ray Kurzweil’s crowning contribution to the story of this science and the revolution that is to come.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Celebrated futurist Ray Kurzweil, hailed by Bill Gates as “the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence,” presents an “elaborate, smart, and persuasive” (The Boston Globe) view of the future course of human development. “Artfully envisions a breathtakingly better world.”—Los Angeles Times “Startling in scope and bravado.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times “An important book.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer At the onset of the twenty-first century, humanity stands on the verge of the most transforming and thrilling period in its history. It will be an era in which the very nature of what it means to be human will be both enriched and challenged as our species breaks the shackles of its genetic legacy and achieves inconceivable heights of intelligence, material progress, and longevity. While the social and philosophical ramifications of these changes will be profound, and the threats they pose considerable, The Singularity Is Near presents a radical and optimistic view of the coming age that is both a dramatic culmination of centuries of technological ingenuity and a genuinely inspiring vision of our ultimate destiny.

Imagine a world where technology is all around us, but there's not a device in sight. It's automatically supporting us, our relationships, and our businesses. It's "smarter" than ever, anticipating our wants and needs, acting on our behalf based on our preferences. Our appliances know when they need repairs and schedule service. A digital copy of ourselves online keeps our identity and our entire financial portfolio secure from hackers while working to keep our business and personal connections strong and healthy. This is how we'll be living not too far from now when we enter digital singularity, the point at which human experience meets technological omnipresence. Despite the alarmist views espoused by some futurists, singularity will be a time of great opportunity for humanity. It will also be a time of great change for business, requiring new strategies, investments, and viewpoints for companies to not only remain relevant but to stay competitive. In Digital Singularity: A Case for Humanity, Kevin S. Parikh applies unique insights to the emerging technologies that are creating new business and social imperatives for those operating in our increasingly global economy. When all individuals have the same access, boundaryless communities supporting them, and a powerful virtual bullhorn giving them an equal voice to interact directly with the president and compete for work with corporate entities of any size, we'll experience a new way of working, communicating, and living, together.

A selection of fiction and nonfiction traces the path of the Singularity, an era when advances in technology will totally transform human reality, and features stories and essays by H. G. Wells, Elizabeth Bear, Ray Kurzweil, Justina Robson, Cory Doctorow and many more. Original.

The last human invention will change not only our environment but the very essence of what it means to be a human. The process has started and this book will likely catch you in your transition from human to non-human. Read how you are forging the coming apocalypse with you own hands and how the following aftermath devastates everything you know and hold dear. By 2020 you have found yourself inside a digital prison. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest - they all are invisible iron bars of your digital prison. And it's not evil Nasdaq CEOs who invited you to this digital jail with open arms but something much bigger and scarier became self aware and took control over your life. Humans are transformed from social to antisocial digital species in the blink of an eye. Now you shall learn when and how it shatters into the billions of pieces along with your life, in all its glory and all its horror.

The idea of technological singularity, and what it would mean if ordinary human intelligence were enhanced or overtaken by artificial intelligence. The idea that human history is approaching a “singularity”—that ordinary humans will someday be overtaken by artificially intelligent machines or cognitively enhanced biological intelligence, or both—has moved from the realm of science fiction to serious debate. Some singularity theorists predict that if the field of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to develop at its current dizzying rate, the singularity could come about in the middle of the present century. Murray Shanahan offers an introduction to the idea of the singularity and considers the ramifications of such a potentially seismic event. Shanahan's aim is not to make predictions but rather to investigate a range of scenarios. Whether we believe that singularity is near or far, likely or impossible, apocalypse or utopia, the very idea raises crucial philosophical and pragmatic questions, forcing us to think seriously about what we want as a species. Shanahan describes technological advances in AI, both biologically inspired and engineered from scratch. Once human-level AI—theoretically possible, but difficult to accomplish—has been achieved, he explains, the transition to superintelligent AI could be very rapid. Shanahan considers what the existence of superintelligent machines could mean for such matters as personhood, responsibility, rights, and identity. Some superhuman AI agents might be created to benefit humankind; some might go rogue. (Is Siri the template, or HAL?) The singularity presents both an existential threat to humanity and an existential opportunity for humanity to transcend its limitations. Shanahan makes it clear that we need to imagine both possibilities if we want to bring about the better outcome.

Architektur im digitalen Zeitalter, eine zwei Jahrzehnte alte und wechselvolle Geschichte. Dieses Buch aus der Reihe Architectural Design (AD) beschreibt sämtliche Stufen und Phasen: von Folding zu Cyberspace, Nichtlinearität und Hypersurface-Architektur, von Versionierung zu Skripting, Emergenz, Informationsmodellen und Parametricism. Es erfasst und interpretiert den Geist der jeweiligen Zeit mit dokumentarischer Präzision, fördert und antizipiert oftmals bedeutende Entwicklungen in Architektur und Architekturtheorie. Diese Anthologie der bedeutendsten Artikel aus Architectural Design ist chronologisch und thematisch geordnet, bietet einen vollständigen historischen Zeitstrahl zu computergestütztem Design und digitalen Produktionsformen, von den Anfängen bis zur heutigen Vorrangstellung dieser Technologien. Mario Capo gibt in seiner ausführlichen Einleitung und im Vorwort zu jedem Originaltext einen scharfsinnigen Überblick über die jüngste Geschichte des digitalen Designs. Diese Synopse fehlte bislang, sowohl als pädagogisches Instrument für Studenten als auch Forschungsinstrument für Wissenschaftler. Sie spannt den Bogen zwischen dem Status quo "digitaler" Architektur und der Geschichte und Theorie jüngster Entwicklungen und Trends, stellt wichtige Fragen zu den heutigen Methoden und Techniken im professionellen Design. Eine umfassende Anthologie digitaler Architektur von Mario Carpo, einem der herausragendsten Wissenschaftler in diesem Fachgebiet. - enthält bahnbrechende Essays von Bernard Cache, Peter Eisenman, John Frazer, Charles Jencks, Greg Lynn, Achim Menges und Patrik Schumacher - stellt die wichtigsten Werke von FOA, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Ali Rahim, Lars Spuybroek/NOX, Kas Oosterhuis und ShoP vor

How the digital revolution has shaped our language In the age of search, keywords increasingly organize research, teaching, and even thought itself. Inspired by Raymond Williams's 1976 classic Keywords, the timely collection Digital Keywords gathers pointed, provocative short essays on more than two dozen keywords by leading and rising digital media scholars from the areas of anthropology, digital humanities, history, political science, philosophy, religious studies, rhetoric, science and technology studies, and sociology. Digital Keywords examines and critiques the rich lexicon animating the emerging field of digital studies. This collection broadens our understanding of how we talk about the modern world, particularly of the vocabulary at work in information technologies. Contributors scrutinize each keyword independently: for example, the recent pairing of digital and analog is separated, while classic terms such as community, culture, event, memory, and democracy are treated in light of their historical and intellectual importance. Metaphors of the cloud in cloud computing and the mirror in data mirroring combine with recent and radical uses of terms such as information, sharing, gaming, algorithm, and internet to reveal previously hidden insights into contemporary life. Bookended by a critical introduction and a list of over two hundred other digital keywords, these essays provide concise, compelling arguments about our current mediated condition. Digital Keywords delves into what language does in today's information revolution and why it matters.

There have never been so many ways of producing news and news-like content. From podcasts, to YouTube, blogs and the phenomenal popularity of social media, seismic shifts are underway in global media. News 2.0 bridges the gap between theory and practice to present an integrated approach to journalism that redefines the profession. Key ideas in journalism theory, political economy and media studies are used to explore the changing cultures of journalism in an historical context. Hirst explains the fragmentation of the mass audience for news products, and how digital commerce has disconnected consumers from real democracy. He argues that journalism requires a restatement of the role of journalists as public intellectuals with a commitment to truth, trust and the public interest. '. a powerful reply to those whose utopian dreams cloud their thinking about the political, social, economic and cultural implications of digital convergence.' - Vincent Mosco, Canada Research Chair, Queen's University '. essential reading for students, journalists and everyone interested in the future of news and journalism.' - Bob Franklin, Professor of Journalism Studies, Cardiff University '. tackles the urgent questions that surround journalism from a pragmatic yet radical perspective.' - Janet Wasko, Knight Chair in Communication Research, University of Oregon 'Anyone interested in where journalism finds itself now, and where it may be headed any time soon, should start by reading this book.' - Michael Bromley, Professor of Journalism, University of Queensland