Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2001 12:02:37 -0500
From: Azad Bolour <azad@notbolour.com>
Subject: Re: Raymond Kurzweil
To: "Dennis G. Allard" <allard@oceanpark.com>
Cc: <recipient list omitted>

About a year ago Bill Joy wrote an article and appeared on the lecture
circuit with warnings about the growing power of cheap computing
and the resulting risks ("Why the future doesn't need us").
He credited Kurzweil in large part to his (Joy's) awakening to
these risks. I listened to one interview with Joy on the public
TV program Digital West, and thought many of the issues he
raised were legitimate cause for concern for humans as a species.

Azad

"Dennis G. Allard" wrote:

> Has anyone heard of Raymond Kurzweil?
>
> Apparently he was instrumental in developing character recognation
> algorithms.  OK, that's excellent.
>
> But I came across some predictions he has made about the advent of AI
> and the 'exponential' increase in the development of technology.  He is
> predicting that machines will exceed human intelligence within the next
> twenty to thirty years.  It's total garbage (I guess I'm giving away my
> view of his 'analysis').  I was wonderding if any of you have seen or
> heard of this guy and his views?
>
> --
> Dennis G. Allard                               telephone: 1.310.399.4740
> Ocean Park Software                                 http://oceanpark.com
> ________________________________________________________________________