The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

  adenoviruses, 216

  Adept Technologies, 285

  Adleman, Leonard, 529n–530n

  Adrian, E. D., 154, 539n

  Afghanistan, 280, 332, 334

  Africa:

  AIDS in, 95, 470

  GMO food in, 406, 414, 415

  natural nuclear reactor in, 139–140, 503n

  Web access in, 469

  Age of Intelligent Machines, The (Kurzweil), 3, 24, 94, 275, 277, 279, 393, 497n, 518n, 519n

  Age of Spiritual Machines, The (ASM) (Kurzweil), 3, 24, 113, 315–316, 361

  catching a fly ball examined in, 178–179

  molecular computing in, 121

  only-a-human cartoon in, 290–291, 291

  promise vs. perils of technology in, 393–394, 427

  AGEs (advanced glycation end-products), 220

  aging, 100, 233

  of cells, 209

  slowing and reversal of, 28, 141, 206, 210–221, 253, 256–257, 259, 323, 371, 373, 377, 397

  agriculture, 17, 18, 20, 536n

  GMOs and, 414–415, 471

  reduction in farm workforce and, 302, 340, 583n

  AI, see artificial intelligence; narrow AI; strong AI

  AIDS drugs, 95, 470

  Air Force, U.S., 280, 335

  Air Force Strategic Missiles Evaluation Committee, 401

  airplanes, aviation, 138, 146, 246, 266, 397, 409, 420

  Bernoulli’s principle and, 265

  guidance for, 8, 255, 276, 413, 435–436, 456

  air pollution, 243

  airports, 284

  air pressure, 265

  Akers, Nick, 247–248, 595n

  alanine, 210

  alcohol, 247–248

  algebra, 283

  algorithmic information content (AIC), 37, 38

  algorithms, 5, 444, 445, 461, 522n

  brain-modeling, 148–149

  brain reverse engineering and, 147

  Church-Turing thesis and, 454, 455

  data compression, 516n–517n

  decision or halting problem and, 601n

  DNA computing and, 118

  equivalence principle and, 136–137, 536n

  learning, 156

  minimax, 275–277

  neural net, 269, 570n–574n

  parallelizing of, 439

  reversible computing and, 130–31, 132

  self-organizing, 146, 439–40, 481, 538n; see also evolutionary (genetic) algorithms

  software, 428, 438–442

  Allan, Alasdair, 281

  Allen, Paul, 343

  Allen Telescope Array, 343, 343

  Allis, G., 561n

  Allison, Graham, 596n

  Allsop, A., 552n

  alpha (fine-structure constant), 140, 356, 503n

  ALT-711 (phenacyldimenthylthiazolium chloride), 220

  aluminum, 245, 246

  Alzheimer’s disease, 549n

  biotechnology and, 209, 220, 555n

  brain reverse engineering and, 144, 188

  Ameisen, J. C., 557n

  amino acids, 483

  nanotechnology and, 233, 233, 234, 242

  in proteins, 27, 47, 85, 148, 208–210, 309, 517n, 550n

  amygdala, 541n

  amyloid plaque, 220, 550n

  analog, analog operations:

  in brain, 71, 126, 147–151, 428, 442, 483

  criticism from, 428, 442

  digital vs., 14, 126, 147, 149–150, 308, 428, 442, 461, 519n

  image sensors, 533n

  Mead’s use of, 89, 188

  transistors’ use of, 126, 149–150, 151, 188, 189, 442, 443

  ANALOGY, 569n

  Ananthaswamy, Anil, 553n

  Andberg, Anders, 591n

  Anderson, Mark K., 527n

  Anderson, M. C., 544n

  Anderson, W. French, 196, 548n

  anger, 193, 379, 389, 477–478

  Anger, Natalie, 551n

  angiogenesis, blocking of, 218, 222

  animal rights, 378

  animals:

  antiaging experiments in, 220–221

  blood-brain barrier in, 163

  brain of, 4, 129, 145, 169

  cloning of, 221, 222, 555n–556n

  consciousness of, 378, 466–468

  defensive technologies tested on, 416

  elimination of suffering of, 224, 379

  gene therapy in, 215, 216

  medical nanobots in, 254–255

  memory in, 48

  moratorium on transplantation of vascularized organs of, 418

  motion detection in, 188

  observation by, 47, 48

  pattern recognition in, 16

  pigmentation of, 90

  SARS virus in, 402

  transgenic, 215, 222

  xenografts and, 418, 598n

  see also specific animals

  Anissimov, Michael, 10, 299, 320, 321

  ant colonies, 151

  Anthes, Gary H., 570n

  Anthropic Cosmological Principle, The (Barrow and Tipler), 500n

  anthropic principle, 15, 357, 359–364, 499n–501n

  antibiotics, 306, 409

  antibodies, 242, 255, 425

  antigens, 218

  antiparticles, 363, 486–487, 503n, 521n

  antiviral medications, 511n

  apes, 72, 191, 193, 387, 509n

  see also specific apes

  apical dendrites, 191–192, 192

  Apo-A-I Milano (AAIM), 217

  application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), 125, 135, 276, 445

  Arai, K. I., 584n

  Arbib, Michael A., 190, 548n

  arginine, 210

  Argonne National Laboratory, 283

  Aristotle, 154, 337, 539n

  Aristov, V. V., 516n

  arm:

  of kinematic constructor, 228, 229

  of nanobot, 229–230, 233

  of octopus, 181, 544n

  Army, U.S., 280, 312, 331–332, 336

  Army Science Advisory Group (ASAG), 331

  Arndt, Michael, 580n, 581n

  Arnold, Michael S., 527n

  ARPANET, 78

  art, 17, 18, 20, 145, 191, 340, 498n

  as knowledge, 372, 375

  pattern and, 388

  Artificial General Intelligence Research Institute, 599n

  artificial intelligence (AI), 8, 111, 144, 240, 438

  Bayesian nets and, 267–268, 280

  combining methods in, 278–279, 293

  defined, 265

  development of, 497n

  divergence of human intelligence and, 146

  education of, 202–203, 294

  expert systems and, 266–267, 280, 282–283

  genetic algorithms and, see evolutionary (genetic) algorithms

  Lanier’s views on, 441

  Markov models and, see Markov models

  narrow, see narrow AI

  neural nets and, see neural nets

  recursive search and, 272–273, 279, 576n–580n

  from simple rules, 91–94

  in software, 428

  strong, see strong AI

  toolkit of, 265–273, 278–279, 293, 435, 439, 456, 570n–580n

  winter of, 263–266, 289, 569n

  see also computers, computation; nonbiological intelligence; robots, robotics

  art programs, recursive search and, 273, 577n–580n

  Asaad, W. F., 542n

  Ascent Technology, 284

  Asia, 95, 469

  GMOs in, 471

  poverty in, 99, 470

  vitamin A deficiency in, 414

  ASICs, see application-specific integrated circuits

  Asilomar conference, 402, 418

  Ask MSR (Ask MicroSoft Research), 286–287

  Association of American Publishers, 497n

  asteroids, 20, 40, 281, 398, 405–406

  astrocytes, 177

  astrophysics, singularity in, 23, 486, 487, 503n

  Atanassov, P., 595n

&nb
sp; atherosclerosis, 212, 217, 257

  At Home in the Universe (Kauffman), 509n

  atomic bomb, 392–393, 404, 408, 594n

  atomic-force microscope (AFM), 138, 237, 536n

  atomic memory drive, 115

  atoms, 5, 14, 85, 168, 198, 210, 383, 404, 499n

  computational capacity and, 131, 133, 138

  information in, 14, 15, 119, 131, 134, 536n

  nanotechnology and, 226, 227, 228, 234, 240, 244, 251, 253

  ATP, see adenosine triphosphate

  atrasentan, 218

  Audience, Inc., 530n

  Audio Spotlight systems, 313

  auditory cortex, 124

  auditory nerve, 195

  auditory system, human, 153, 165, 438, 530n

  scanning of, 165

  Watts’s model of, 123–124, 147–148, 183–184, 185, 443, 452, 530n, 545n–547n

  auditory virtual reality, 105, 310, 312–313, 318, 472

  Augarten, Stan, 513n

  Augsburg, University of, 536n

  Australia, 128, 398, 433

  Australopithecines, 509n

  Austria, Austrians, 2, 327

  autoimmune reactions:

  biological, 223, 233, 255, 417, 426

  nanobot, 417

  automation, 31, 65, 108, 340, 507n

  in investing, 265, 435

  with robots, 285

  autonomic computing, 284, 437

  autonomous, semi-intelligent observatories, 281

  Autonomous Intelligent Network and Systems (AINS) program, 333

  avastin, 218

  Aviram, Avi, 115, 528n

  Avouris, Phaedon, 527n

  axons, 124, 145, 150, 154–155, 176, 192, 428, 452

  Babbage, Charles, 93–94

  Babcock, Alpheus, 53

  babies, 190

  “designer,” 215, 225–226, 553n

  baboons, HIV-type xenoviruses in, 418

  Bachand, George, 560n, 561n, 585n

  backpropagation, 156

  bacteria, 220, 282, 317, 367, 397

  blood-brain barrier and, 163

  cultivation of, 594n

  in digestive system, 386

  eukaryotic, 17, 18, 450, 583n

  flagellum of, 440

  future of, 297–298

  genetic engineering and, 393

  nanotechnology and, 226, 233, 236, 248, 254, 255

  protein synthesis and, 551n

  Baguisi, A., 556n

  Bai, Q., 584n

  Bailey, Patrick, 562n

  Baker, Andrew H., 216

  Baker, Sue, 589n

  balance, 179, 189

  Balkenius, Christian, 538n

  Ballard, D., 547n

  balls, catching of, 178–179

  bandwidth, 9, 96, 107, 337, 346, 432

  of brain scanning, 25, 144, 161, 197, 292

  of endocrine system, 200, 443

  Internet, 81, 81, 263, 312, 472, 516n

  banking, 102, 289

  Barel, Helit, 597n

  Barlow, Horace, 154

  Barrow, J. D., 502n

  Barrow, John, 356, 500n

  Bartol, Thomas M., Jr., 190

  Barton, S. C., 595n

  basal dendrites, 192

  Basel, University of, 115

  Bashir, Rashid, 583n

  basis functions, 179, 544n

  batteries, 133, 246, 248

  Bayes, Thomas, 267, 570n

  Bayesian nets (belief networks), 267–268, 280

  Bayles, Fred, 588n

  “Be a Scientist, Save the World” (Smalley), 241

  beauty, 310, 389, 476

  Beethoven, Ludwig van, 378

  Begley, Sharon, 542n, 543n

  behavior, 378, 380, 385

  Bekenstein, Jacob D., 593n

  belief networks, see Bayesian nets

  Bell, Anthony J., 169–170, 444–446, 448–451, 542n, 600n

  Bell, Gordon, 328

  Bellis, Mary, 515n

  Bender, Eric, 589n

  Benenson, Y., 530n

  Bennett, Charles H., 130, 534n

  Bennett, James, 598n

  Benson, E., 542n

  Bentley, Jon, 438, 600n

  Berg, Paul, 418

  Berger, Ted, 188, 195

  Bergeron, Bryan, 328–329, 588n

  Berndt, E. R., 512n

  Bernoulli’s principle, 265

  Bernstein, Michael, 526

  Bernstein, N., 544n

  Berra, Yogi, 14

  beta-carotene, 414

  beta-catenin, 505n

  Beveridge, W. I., 427

  Bezos, Jeff, 96

  Biever, Celeste, 516n, 530n

  Big Bang(s), 14, 356, 361, 500n

  Bilesch, Stanley, 547n

  Bils, Mark, 100, 525n

  Bingham, R., 539n

  biochemists, skepticism of, 13

  Biocosm vision, 361–362

  biological age, 253, 257

  test for, 210, 550n

  biological assembler, nanotechnology and, 232–233

  biological evolution, 522n

  anthropic principle and, 15, 357, 359

  asteroid and meteor collisions and, 398

  complexity increases and, 36–38, 508n–509n

  computational limits and, 137

  continuance of, 47, 94, 511n

  death and, 320, 321

  digestive processes and, 301–302

  disease and, 511n

  diversity in, 45–46

  in Epoch One, 14–15, 15

  in Epoch Two, 15, 16, 47

  in Epoch Three, 15, 16, 47

  incredulity about, 433

  “inventions” of, 5

  key events of, see key events, of biological and technological evolution

  limitations of, 21, 26, 27, 148, 271, 309–310, 311, 321

  local optimization and, 309

  measurement of, 357

  mutations and, 42, 92, 506n

  as open system, 42

  order increased by, 40

  punctuated equilibrium theory of, 44–45, 510n–511n

  survival purposes of, 38, 39, 41, 96

  technological evolution as continuation of, 7, 42, 137

  technological evolution compared with, 16–19, 17–19, 94, 347, 441, 487

  upending of, 374

  water-based chemistry of, 239

  wheels and roads and, 440

  biological intelligence, 124, 128, 428

  concerns about end of, 30

  limits of, 8–9, 32, 316, 337, 340, 377

  merger of nonbiological intelligence with, 4, 9, 24, 25, 47, 123, 128, 197, 296, 300, 316–317, 337, 340, 372, 375–376, 377, 424

  technology merged with, 9, 28, 298

  transcendence of, 375–376

  Biological Micro Electronic Mechanical Systems, see BioMEMS

  biology, 411, 412

  emulating, three-dimensional molecular computing and, 112–113, 116–117, 519n

  limits of, 206, 227, 234, 320, 321, 323, 325, 376, 381

  models of, 168

  nanotechnology compared with, 227, 232, 234

  biomass, 243, 399–400, 425–426, 595n

  BioMEMS (Biological Micro Electronic Mechanical Systems), 254, 303, 570n, 583n

  biosphere, 33, 397

  biotechnology, 27, 84, 95, 102, 210–227, 301, 323, 398, 549n–557n, 595n

  availability of knowledge about, 398, 595n

  dangers of, 206, 232, 395, 407, 408, 412

  defensive technologies and, 408, 416–418

  designer baby boomers and, 210–214, 551n

  environmentalist campaign against, 391, 395, 414–415

  ethical issues and, 221–222, 223, 224, 553n

  gene chips and, 214–215, 552n

  gene therapy and, 215–216, 219, 220, 256, 323, 416–417, 553n

  guidelines for, 402, 418

  nanotechnology compared with, 227, 232, 251, 256, 257, 412

  regulation of, 416–417, 423

  in reversal of aging
, 28, 141, 206, 212–215, 218–221, 256, 257, 323, 371, 373, 396

  in reversal of degenerative disease, 210, 217–221, 396, 553n–555n

  RNA interference and, 12, 214, 256, 323, 417, 422, 551n

  see also cloning; stem cells

  bioweapons program, 393

  Bird, Jon, 271

  birth control, see contraception

  Bissi, E., 541n

  Black, Keith L., 541n

  black holes, 23, 404, 503n

  event horizon of, 7, 23, 29, 363, 486–487, 503n

  as ultimate computer, 362–364

  universe-generating, 360

  Blakeslee, Sandra, 548n

  Block, Steven, 157

  blood:

  nanobots in, 248, 253–257, 300, 303, 317, 377, 432, 472

  programmable, 305–306

  protein in, 282

  blood-brain barrier (BBB), 163–165, 242

  blood cells, 254, 276

  mechanical red, see respirocytes

  white, microbivores as replacements for, 254, 306

  blood vessels, angiogenesis and, 218

  blue goo, 416

  Boahen, Kwabena, 530n

  body, biological, 199, 257–258

  emotions and, 193, 203

  functional simulations of, 124

  human longevity and, 325

  identity and, 315, 383–387

  limits of, 9, 27, 28, 29, 203, 325

  nanotechnology problems and, 251

  pattern of, 371, 383–384

  reverse engineering of, 127

  body, GNR impact on, 299–311, 583n–586n

  brain and, 307–309, 585n

  digestive system and, 301–305

  heart and, 306–307

  organ elimination and, 304–307, 310–311

  programmable blood and, 305–306

  body, virtual, 28–29, 199, 203, 319, 325

  Boehm, T., 554n

  Boese, Christine, 338, 589n

  bombs:

  atomic, 392–393, 404, 408, 594n

  hydrogen, 391, 401, 404, 408

  Bonds, A. B., 541n

  Bone, 215

  bone metabolism markers, 215

  Bonner, John Tyler, 509n

  bonobos, 192

  Bostrom, Nick D., 259–260, 369, 401, 403, 404, 596n

  Bouissou, Brigitte, 336, 589n

  boundaries, of self, 387

  bowel functions, 304

  Boyer, Paul D., 501n

  BP Amoco, 102

  Bradbury, Robert, 350

  Brader, Mark, 515n

  brain, human, 4, 71–72, 120, 257–258

  aesthetics and, 310

  analog processes in, 71, 126, 147–151, 428, 442, 483

  architecture of regions of, 152–153

  cerebellum of, see cerebellum

  chaos of, 148, 149, 151, 152, 178, 198, 440, 446, 449, 450, 452, 460, 462, 483

  of children, 152, 177

  Church-Turing thesis and, 454–455

  complexity of, 89, 145, 147, 198, 200, 428–429, 430, 442–450, 463, 465, 475, 523n

  computational efficiency of, 137–138

  computer compared with, 149–153, 293, 444

  computer’s interfacing with, 194–195

  contradictory views held by, 152

  damage to, 173, 177