Singularity Institute |  Talks with Ray Kurzweil at The Singularity Summit 2011:

“The Ubiquity and Predictability of the Exponential Growth of Information Technology” — The exponential growth of the price-performance and capacity of information technology in many realms including biology, communication, and even resources such as energy continues unabated. New and updated graphs showing the remarkable predictability of this progression will be presented. Three-dimensional molecular computing will provide the hardware for human-level “strong” AI well before 2030.

Within one to two decades, we will be in a position to stop and reverse the progression of disease and aging resulting in dramatic gains in health and longevity. The portion of the economy comprised of information technology is itself growing exponentially and within a couple of decades, the bulk of the economy will be dominated by information and software. Exponential growth also applies to the reverse-engineering of the human brain. Once nonbiological intelligence matches the range and subtlety of human intelligence, it will necessarily soar past it. The implication will be an intimate merger between the technology-creating species and the evolutionary process it spawned.

“Critics of the Singularity” — The most common criticisms of the exponential growth of information technology and its implications will be examined. These include criticisms from hardware (“Moore’s Law will not go on forever”), software (“software is stuck in the mud”), the brain (“the brain is too complicated to understand or replicate”), ontology (“software is not capable of thinking or of consciousness”), and promise versus peril (“biotechnology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence are too dangerous”).

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