nanotechnology in upgrading of, 232–236, 412

  posterior ventromedial (VMpo), 193, 314

  nurture (experience), 225

  nutrients, 301, 303, 304

  nutritional supplements, 211, 303, 371

  Nuttin, B., 585n

  obesity, 221, 302

  objectivity, 378, 380, 385, 388, 467, 468

  O’Brien, R. J., 542n

  observation, 47–48, 358

  obsolescence stage, 52, 53

  Och, Franz Josef, 288

  O’Craven, K.M., 539n

  octopus, arms of, 181, 544n

  Odlyzko, Andrew M., 511n, 516n

  Oellette, Jennifer, 581n

  Oeppen, Jim, 597n

  Oertel, D., 545n

  Office of Naval Research, U.S., Autonomous Intelligent Network and Systems (AINS) program of, 333

  Ó hAnluain, Daithí, 540n

  Ohio State University Health System, 283

  Ohm’s Law, 118

  oil, oil industry, 102, 243, 244, 252, 420

  Oklahoma, University of, 119, 131, 134

  Oklo nuclear reactor, 139–140, 503n

  oligodendrocytes, 177

  oligonucleotides, 552n

  olive cells, 184

  olivocerebellar region, artificial, 189

  Omnidirectional Search System, 343, 344

  oncogenesis, 552n

  oncology, 581n

  O’Neal, D. Patrick, 564n

  “One Half a Manifesto” (Lanier), 380

  ontology, criticism from, 430, 458–469

  Open Courseware (OCW), 336

  optical character recognition (OCR), 97

  optical coherence imaging (OCI), 163

  optical computers, 119–120

  optical fibers, 53

  optical imaging, 161

  optical switching, 76

  optic nerve, 154, 166, 170, 186–187, 188

  optimism, 374

  order, 38–41, 198, 389

  class 4 automata and, 88–91

  complexity compared with, 38–40, 90, 372

  defined, 90

  evolution and, 14, 15, 20, 36–45, 47, 509n

  exponential growth of, 20, 45

  information as, 38–42

  nature of, 36–43

  organ transplants, 418, 598n

  Osborne, Lawrence, 540n

  oscillator circuit, 271

  ovarian cancer, 282

  Overbye, Dennis, 503n

  overpopulation, 13

  oxidants, 252

  oxygen, 161, 163, 209, 305, 399

  in fuel cells, 230, 238, 247, 248

  respirocytes and, 305, 306

  Oyabu, Noriaki, 561n

  Pacino, Al, 315

  Page, David C., 510

  Page, Michael, 563n

  Paine, R. W., 545n

  Pakistan, 336

  Palmer, Brett, 587n

  Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), 240, 286

  pancreas:

  artificial, 124, 243, 307, 530n

  modeling of, 168

  pancreas cells, 223, 557n

  islet, 124, 168, 213, 223, 255, 557n

  Panov, A. G., 567n

  Papageorgiou, Constantine, 547n

  paper documents, 327, 328, 588n

  Papert, Seymour, 156, 177, 497n, 539n, 544n

  Pap-smear slides, 282–283

  paradigm, 42–46, 127–128

  asymptote of, 44, 45, 231, 244

  fifth, see Moore’s Law

  life cycle of, 43–46, 43, 44, 67, 72

  of self-organizing chaotic processes, 459–462

  sixth, see three-dimensional molecular computing

  paradigm shifts, 16, 30, 43, 47, 94, 323, 434

  acceleration of, 9, 11, 17–20, 17–20, 25, 28, 36, 42, 44, 48–50, 48–50, 264, 324, 334, 432, 511n–512n

  complexity and, 38

  defined, 36

  doubling rate for, 50, 56, 338, 469, 512n

  economic cycles and, 106

  exponential growth of RAM capacity over, 75, 75

  for fifteen lists of key events, 18, 19, 501n–502n

  lock-in vs., 429–430

  mistakes during, 13

  punctuated equilibrium vs., 44–45, 510n–511n

  technology hype cycle for, 263–264

  paralysis, 173, 195, 308–309

  parietal lobes, 202

  parity, 190, 208

  Parker, Pat, 598n

  Parkinson’s disease, 303, 549n

  biotechnology and, 216

  brain reverse engineering and, 144, 195

  neural implants for, 195, 255, 308, 384, 585n

  Parmentola, John A., 331, 588n

  particle accelerators, high-energy, 403–404

  particles, 120, 134, 168, 355, 520n, 521n

  in event horizon, 363, 486–487, 503n

  Lloyd’s estimates on, 364–365

  quantum-entangled, 353–354, 363, 487

  Pascual-Leone, Alvaro, 175, 543n

  passivity, 373

  past, 7, 11, 408, 409–410, 436

  Pasteur, Louis, 226

  patents, 106, 525n, 533n

  brain reverse engineering and, 146, 537n

  nanorelated, 84, 84

  pathogens, 282, 371

  bioengineered, 407, 409, 417

  “enhanced intelligence” cells and, 221

  gene sequences of, 395

  microbivores and, 254, 306

  nanobots and, 300, 303, 397

  self-replicating, 423–424

  software, see software viruses

  see also specific pathogens

  “pathogen sentinel” program, 423

  patternists, 5, 385, 388, 474

  pattern recognition, 135, 260–261, 309, 316, 435, 438, 439, 480, 482

  brain and, 8, 16, 25–26, 124, 143, 149, 150, 173, 441, 456, 501n

  chaotic computing and, 173, 441, 475

  computer chess and, 274, 277, 278, 441, 459

  evolutionary algorithms and, 92, 152, 271, 461

  “hypothesis and test” in, 186–187, 187

  irreversible computing and, 130

  Markov models and, 151, 152, 278, 461

  in medical diagnosis, 281–283

  memory and, 126

  military software and, 279–280, 335

  neural nets and, 151, 152, 156, 268–269, 271, 461

  by robots, 286

  patterns:

  of body, 371, 383–384

  of brain, 325, 371, 383–384, 463–464, 475, 477–478

  copies of, 383–384

  emergent, 463–464, 467–468, 475, 477–478, 480

  of energy and matter, 325, 383–384, 385, 431, 474

  evolution and, 14–21, 388

  of information, 5, 258, 460, 522n

  of interneuronal connections, 260, 317, 337, 445, 463

  knowledge as, 323, 386

  of neurotransmitters, 260, 317, 337, 440, 445, 463

  self as, 383, 386

  of special cells, 297

  transcendence and, 388

  uploading of, 377

  PCBs, 253

  PDAs (personal digital assistants), 125

  Pearson, Helen, 560n

  Peng, Jinping, 562n

  Penn, Anna, 523n, 539n

  Pennisi, Elizabeth, 510n

  Pennsylvania, University of, Neuroengineering Research Laboratory of, 162, 530n

  Penrose, Roger, 201, 450–452, 600n

  Pentium processors, 276

  Peploski, James, 561n, 562n

  peptides, 217, 233, 308

  gene expression and, 213, 223, 232

  perception, 190, 191, 194

  feedforward sequence and, 154, 186, 574n

  see also visual systems

  Perceptron, 156

  Perceptrons (Minsky and Papert), 156

  Perry, Jason K., 563n

  Perry, Martin, 561n, 562n

  personal computers, 17, 18, 406, 473

  changing of, 324–325

  human
intelligence emulated by, 25, 70, 125–126, 441–442, 533n

  IBM 7094 compared with, 64–65

  laptops, see laptop computers

  mass use of, 50, 512n

  MIPS provided by, 64–65, 122

  notebook, see notebook computers

  spam messages on, 255–256

  speed of, 276

  personality, 225

  backing up of, 323

  location of, 200

  uploading of, 124–125, 166, 199–201, 429, 451

  in virtual reality, 29, 314–316, 587n

  personal services, 340

  pesticides, 224, 253, 415

  Peters, James A., 549n

  Peterson, Christine, 229, 395, 558n, 598n

  Petricoin, Emanuel F., III, 282, 581n

  pharmaceutical companies, 303

  Philipkoski, Kristen, 514n, 570n, 581n

  Phoenix, Chris, 400, 595n

  phonautographs, 52

  phone books, information in, 90

  phonemes, 268

  phonetics, 268, 278

  phonographs, 52–53, 55

  photolithography, 45, 116, 122

  photons, 119, 141, 162, 353

  photoreceptor neurons, 166, 547n

  photovoltaics, 246, 249

  physical reality, 9

  nanotechnology in manipulation of, 4, 28

  spirituality and, 388

  physician-patient relationship, 104

  physics, 20, 168, 320, 411, 454

  constants of, 139–140, 356, 359–362, 365, 499n, 592n

  digital theory of, 86–87, 518n–522n

  in Epoch One, 14–15, 15

  intelligence compared with, 364

  Newtonian, 520n

  singularity in, 23n, 486, 487, 503n

  virtual reality and, 319

  phytochemicals, 301, 304

  pianos, 53, 55

  Picasso, Pablo, 202

  Pick Best Next Step program, 272–273, 577n–580n

  picotechnology, 138–139, 141, 351, 536n

  piercing, body, 310

  pigs, HIV-type xenoviruses in, 418

  piracy, intellectual, 339

  Pirsig, Robert M., 392

  Pitts, W., 155, 539n

  plague, 398, 402, 409

  Planck constant, 133–134, 359, 360, 365, 592n

  planets, 280, 342, 349, 357

  in Drake equation, 345, 346, 347

  see also Earth

  planning, 190, 191, 194

  “Plastic Fantastic Lover” (song), 300

  plastics, self-healing, 335

  plastic surgery, 310

  Plato, 326

  play, 300, 341–342

  pleasure:

  of breathing, 306

  eating and, 301, 304

  sex and, 301, 307, 315, 319

  Plus, Mark, 498n

  plutonium, 393

  pocket computers, 444

  Poe, Edgar Allan, 312

  poetry, 202

  recursive search and, 273, 577n–580n

  Poggio, Tomaso, 166, 179, 532n, 541n, 544n, 546n, 547n

  on neuron as chip, 530n, 538n

  visual processing and, 186, 194

  polarization, 344

  political issue(s):

  biotechnology and, 223, 224

  encryption trapdoor and, 422

  nanotechnology and, 423, 426

  preemptive action as, 423–424

  political patron model, 472

  pollution, 28, 243, 251–253

  Polsson, Ken, 513n

  polyethylene glycol, 332

  polymerase chain reaction (PCR), 117, 530n

  polymer (or hydrogel) particles, 583n

  polymers:

  biodegradable, 243

  electrically actuated, 583n

  polynucleotides, 207

  Pons, Stanley, 567n

  Pontil, M., 547n

  pool, software for, 288

  Popper, A., 545n

  population growth, 99, 321, 433

  Port, Otis, 580n, 581n

  portable electronics, 56, 113, 247

  positron-emission tomography (PET), 160–161

  Posner, M. I., 540n

  posterior inferior-temporal cortex cells, 175

  posterior parietal-cortex cells, 175

  posterior ventromedial nucleus (VMpo), 193, 314

  Postma, Henk W. Ch., 527n

  post-Singularity period, as posthumanism, 374

  Pouget, Alexandre, 179

  poverty, 241, 259, 372, 397, 410, 424

  in World Bank report, 99, 338, 396, 470

  power loom, invention of, 507n

  power plants, 255, 409, 420

  power relationships, access to knowledge and, 104

  Prater, Corwyn, 320

  precautionary principle, 403, 404

  precursor stage, 51

  Predator, 280, 332, 335

  predictions:

  as brain feature, 190–191

  cellular automata and, 88–89, 90, 519n, 521n–522n

  computational processes and, 93

  of future, 432

  of materialism, 431, 473–475

  of properties of gas, 168, 432

  as test of theory of physics, 519n

  prefrontal cortex, 170

  Preskill, John, 363

  Preston, Richard, 595n

  price-performance, 432

  of brain scanning, 144, 197, 265, 292

  of computing, 12, 41–42, 45, 56–71, 57–65, 67, 69–71, 100, 102, 125–128, 135–136, 142, 243, 261, 292, 432, 437, 506n, 514n

  of electronics, 111–112, 526n

  exponential growth of, 430, 469, 470

  of Internet, 263

  of software, 103, 436, 438

  of wireless communications, 77, 77

  primates, 17, 18, 190, 433

  brain in, 27, 152

  duration of observation in, 48

  nervous system evolution in, 506n

  suffering of, 379

  visual system of, 574n

  see also specific primates

  Primo Posthuman, 302

  Principia Mathematica (Whitehead and Russell), 453

  “Principles of Extropy” (More), 369

  printing, printing press, 17, 18, 20, 42, 44, 54

  prions, 116–117, 176, 224, 232, 254, 543n

  privacy, 407, 413, 422

  proactionary principle, 403, 495n–496n

  probabilistic fractals, 46–47, 449

  probes, nanobots as, 352, 591n

  problem solving, 8, 42, 296, 372–373, 499n

  Church-Turing thesis and, 429, 453–456, 601n

  evolutionary algorithms in, 38–39, 92

  Perceptron and, 156

  speed of, 21–22

  swarms and, 333

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116

  productivity:

  exponential growth in, 98–101, 98, 99, 101

  manufacturing, 100–101, 101

  of software, 428, 437

  progress, 96, 321, 370, 391, 408

  break in the continuity of, 24

  defined, 41

  intertwined sciences and, 411

  in nanotechnology, 227

  rate of, 10–13, 16, 41, 50, 102, 108, 510n, 512n

  relinquishment of idea of, 407

  risks of, 417

  Project Alpha, 333

  promoters, 551n

  property, destruction of, 375

  prostate cancer, 282

  prostate-specific antigen (PSA), 282

  prostitution, virtual, 318

  proteins, 234, 239, 383, 423

  AGEs and, 220

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

  beta-catenin, 505n

  blood-brain barrier and, 163–164, 165

  CPEB, 176, 199–200, 543n

  DNA self-assembly and, 117

  epigenetic data in, 147

  folding of, 27, 209, 234, 482–483, 550n

  as food,
224, 301

  gene expression and, 16, 147, 213, 214, 223, 552n

  genome and, 42, 225, 510n, 517n

  misformed, 209, 220, 254, 397, 550n

  mitochondrial function and, 220

  nanotechnology and, 235–236, 412, 425

  pattern recognition and, 282

  prions, 116–117, 176, 224, 232, 254, 543n

  recognition, 583n

  RNA interference and, 214

  synthesis of, 47, 208–210, 213, 378, 550n, 551n, 552n

  wheel-like, 440

  proteome, 225

  proteomics, 323

  proteosome, 209

  protofibrils, 209, 254, 397, 550n

  protons, 14, 85, 119, 131

  Ptolemies, 54

  public awareness, 423

  pulmonary hypertension, 216

  punch cards, 327

  punctuated equilibrium (PE), 44–45, 510n–511n

  Purdue University, 115–116, 118, 528n

  Purkinje, Johannes, 181

  Purkinje cells, 180, 181, 182, 545n

  Putnam, H., 596n

  Putnam, Sarah, 588n

  quadriplegics, 308

  quanta, 14

  quantum coherence, 446, 451

  quantum computing, 113, 119, 120–121

  consciousness and, 201, 429, 450–452

  factoring large numbers and, 121, 354

  quantum decoherence, 120, 121

  quantum disentanglement, 353–354

  quantum dots, 242, 245, 308, 313, 586n

  quantum entanglement, 119, 353–354, 363, 487

  quantum gravity, 14

  quantum mechanics, 85, 380, 450, 486, 499n, 522n

  continuous levels and, 85, 518n

  Copenhagen interpretation of, 500n

  “hidden variables” interpretation of, 431, 521n

  “many worlds” or multiverse theory and, 500n–501n

  randomness in, 353–354, 363, 474–475, 481, 521n, 522n

  spintronics and, 118, 119

  uncertainty, 138, 238, 353, 486

  wormholes and, 355

  quantum theory, 382, 503n, 519n

  quantum wave function, collapse of, 450–451, 500n, 521n

  quarks, 85, 486

  quasars, 356

  qubits, 119, 120, 121, 450

  Quintana, J., 542n

  rabbits:

  cerebellar lesions in, 183

  exponential growth of, 128, 433

  Rabiner, Lawrence, 570n

  radiation, 165

  electromagnetic, 344–349, 590n

  Hawking, 363–364, 487, 503n

  radioactive isotopes, from Oklo reactor, 139–140, 503n

  radio circuits, 271

  radios, 17, 18, 338

  mass use of, 50, 512n

  portable, 45

  radio-transmitting civilization, search for, see SETI

  radix-2 Cooley-Tukey algorithm, 438

  radix-4 method, 438–439

  Radman, Morislav, 549n

  Rado, Tibor, 455, 601n

  Raff, Lionel M., 561n, 562n

  railroads, 13, 263–264, 420

  Rainer, G., 542n

  RAM (random access memory), 64, 65, 75, 75, 115

  dynamic, see DRAM

  magnetic (MRAM), 119

  Ramona project, 315, 587n

  randomness, 92, 131, 132, 362, 388, 474