The Singularity is Nearer cover art

The Singularity is Nearer

When We Merge with AI

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The Singularity is Nearer

By: Ray Kurzweil
Narrated by: Adam Barr
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER.

The legendary oracle of technological change explains how AI will transform our species beyond recognition within two decades.

What will it mean to live free from the limits of our bodies? Who will we become if our minds can be stored and duplicated? What new realms of beauty, connection and wonder might we inhabit? How will we navigate the risks presented by such awesomely powerful technology?

By the end of this decade, AI will exceed human levels of intelligence. During the 2030s, it will become ‘superintelligent’, vastly outstripping our capabilities and enabling dramatic interventions in our bodies. By 2045, we will be able to connect our brains directly with AI, enhancing our intelligence a millionfold and expanding our consciousness in ways we can barely imagine. This is the Singularity.

Ray Kurzweil is one of the greatest inventors of our time with over 60 years’ experience in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Dozens of his long-range predictions about the rise of the internet, AI and bioengineering have been borne out. In this visionary and fundamentally optimistic book, Kurzweil explains how the Singularity will occur, explores what it will mean to live free from the limits of biology and argues that we can and will transform life on Earth profoundly for the better.

‘The best person I know at predicting the future of AI’ BILL GATES
'Essential reading to understand our exponential times' MUSTAFA SULEYMAN
'Fascinating . . . raises the most profound philosophical questions' YUVAL NOAH HARARI

©2024 Ray Kurzweil (P)2024 Penguin Audio

 Computer Science Future Studies History & Culture Machine Theory & Artificial Intelligence Social Sciences Technology & Society Technology Thought-Provoking Programming

Critic Reviews

Ray Kurzweil is the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence (BILL GATES)
A fascinating exploration of our future, which raises the most profound philosophical questions -- YUVAL NOAH HARARI
Few people have shaped how the world thinks about AI like Ray Kurzweil. Now, with The Singularity Is Nearer, he has written an expansive and hopeful guide to a fast-approaching future that will once again set the terms of debate. Grounded in decades of meticulous research, and written with impressive clarity across an immense canvas, it's essential reading for anyone wanting to understand our exponential times (MUSTAFA SULEYMAN, CEO of Microsoft AI and author of The Coming Wave)
Ray Kurzweil is the greatest oracle of our digital age. The Singularity Is Nearer is more than just a book—it's a survival guide for the technological renaissance we're about to experience. Ray’s accurate projections of what is likely to happen and when, makes the difference between surfing atop the tsunami of change, versus being crushed by it (Peter H. Diamandis, founder of the XPRIZE)
Kurzweil makes a compelling case . . . It is only 2023 and already the world he envisioned years ago is taking shape. Curious about the Future? Read this book (Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist, Google)
When it comes to artificial intelligence, no one has more experience than Ray Kurzweil
What Kurzweil describes in his book isn't just the dawn of a beautiful new age, but the unknowable night at the ending of one
This is one of the best books to read to understand the urgent now
Exhilarating and scary ... It sounds like science ficiton, but Kurzweil has often proved an accurate prophet
All stars
Most relevant
This is a great book that puts technology into perspective of its potential future. Let's create a beautiful future together with the help of technology. But lets be careful doing it.

Excited for the future

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A great listen and lots of food for thought. Highly recommend to all who want to know how our lives will be greatly improved as well as what we need to consider in the future with AI.

The future of AI

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The robotic voice and terrible audio quality of this recording made me wonder if this was AI, rather than human narrator. I think AI would have done a better job. I can hear the sound clipping throughout. Please re-record Penguin, this is poor by your standards.

Excellent book, terrible narrator

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The robotic reading does nothing to make the material enjoyable. The pieces of interest are few and far between; once a point is made, it is reworded several times before moving on. If you want to think deeply on the singularity, get "Scary Smart" instead.

Fairly Plain & Boring.

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Exactly what I was looking for to get a deeper understanding of AI and its potential implications on society.

Absolutely perfect!

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This book is a MUST READ for everyone interested in the future of our lives. It goes without saying that we have to read this book. Forget everything you've ever read and just concentrate on THIS. This book is truly astonishing. I can't wait to give to my relatives at least.
I must get started before time runs out.

We are a consequence of this universe.

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About an hour into this book I was almost ready to abandon it. The narration at that point was incredibly dull and monotone and it really was a chore to stay with it.
But I did stay with the book. It is an interesting read and I think the narration became a bit better. One thing that did irk me is that the narrator pronounces 'Epoch' as 'Epic'. As an Australian, I occasionally come across American pronunciations that still surprise me - and maybe this is one of those. Maybe not. Anyway, the book is very interesting and contains many provocative ideas, which are consistently thoroughly researched and argued. The book is also quite well-written. For anyone with an interest in cutting edge technologies, I thoroughly recommend it.

Interesting predictions-well written

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Ray paints an optimistic future but there are some gaping holes in his logic. The missing chapter is that with improved brain interface, world’s indiscernible from reality will be possible and then it would be wasteful and unnecessary to focus on societal issues when individuals could live within simulations. Read The Word of Bob - an AI Minecraft Villager for details.

The last chapter is missing

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Great and hopeful view of AI, I hope it happens as per predicted. Well read and easy to follow.

Intriguing view of AI

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why do the chapters not have names? just numbers does not tell me much about the contents of each chapter

lots of stats

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