Ray Kurzweil made a rare appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast on Tuesday. For those who don’t know Kurzweil, he is an author and futurist employed by Google, best known for promoting the idea that: singularity. In Kurzweil’s dystopian future, humans can live forever by uploading their consciousness to computers. I certainly would. he also transhumanism movement.
Kurzweil rarely gives interviews and has cultivated the mystique of a genius monk who occasionally comes down from the server to preach the divine truths of AI. Avoiding public scrutiny appears to have been a wise move, as he appears to be someone who never took the time to examine his rants.
Joe Rogan might be the perfect complement to a futurist and seeker like Kurzweil.
When one reads about these people who preach life extension and immortality, one cannot help but think of Ponce de Leon and his quest for the Fountain of Youth. Perhaps Kurzweil would avoid the need to traverse the Florida swamps in pursuit of eternal life, but his cause is just as ridiculous.
Mr. Kurzweil showed up to the interview wearing a dirty shirt and comically oversized suspenders, Logan noted. No mention was made of the hideous wig he wore. Some may wonder what kind of mind it is that is worrying about its thinning hairline and preparing to merge with machines.
Joe Rogan might be the perfect complement to a futurist and seeker like Kurzweil. He knows full well that these subjects are dangerous, but he asks questions with Everyman logic, the perfect antidote to the vague science this guy spews.
The interview begins with Kurzweil speculating how great it would be if his cell phone spoke to him whenever he had a question. Logan replies that having to be yelled at for answers 24/7 can be quite annoying.
The conversation goes like this for most of the next two hours. Kurzweil makes fanciful statements, and when Logan asks for a very brief follow-up, his interlocutor never answers accurately. Instead, we’re left with vague quotes about a silicon bailout on the horizon.
The myth surrounding this secular prophet began with his 1989 book, The Age of Intelligent Machines. In it, Kurzweil predicted the emergence of superintelligent AI that would surpass human intelligence and usher in a new era for humanity. He was right about the rise of many aspects of digital culture, including the Internet. However, he credits many predictions that are quite vague and debatable. The man doesn’t get upset. Throughout his interview, Kurzweil presents his prediction that the singularity will occur by 2045 as inevitable.
Kurzweil goes on a rant about how people only live to be 34, which proves why technology is great. This is a shockingly ignorant statement for someone with an intellectual reputation. Yes, lifespans used to be short due to infant mortality. But that doesn’t mean, as he thinks, that those who survive childhood die in their 30s.
Kurzweil and Logan get to the heart of this transhumanist techno-religion: what happens when you die?
Many religions have theories, but transhumanists have great contradictions. you never have to die. With medical advances, aging can be reversed, and when the inevitable happens, our consciousness will already be uploaded to the cloud. It’s worth noting that even though Kurzweil has been obsessed with his health for 40 years and takes 100 life-prolonging vitamins a day, his father seems to have more energy at the same age. His habit is to walk around the neighborhood and smoke cigars.
Logan is neither a neurologist nor a philosopher, but he continues to try to pinpoint Kurzweil on central issues. If we have no clue about the nature of human consciousness, how do we upload it? Even if we could, wouldn’t the resulting robots be zombies rather than humans?
Unfortunately, Kurzweil doesn’t have an answer.
It’s also telling that he has no idea that our data and cell phones are not secure and can be hacked or monitored by governments or companies trying to buy them. Pegasus. He admits that he built an extensive language model to converse with his late father, but scoffs at questions about the spiritual nature of his ideas. It’s no wonder Kurzweil’s new book is called The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI, a sequel to his 2005 book The Singularity Is Near. These people’s predictions are always right around the corner. Trust me, brother.
From him Wikipedia page: “Mr. Kurzweil joined the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a refrigeration technology company. If he was declared dead, Mr. Kurzweil would be injected with cryoprotectant, vitrified with liquid nitrogen, and future medical technology would allow his tissues to be It will be kept at Alcor’s facility in the hope that it can be repaired and resuscitated.”
He is also ushered into the Corridors of Horus, where he meets Osiris and will be judged for how he lived his life…oh wait, that’s another death cult. What is certain is that throughout human history we have longed to escape our fate.
Percy Bysshe Shelley probably do your best:
My name is Ozymandias, the king of kings.
Look at my works, O mighty one, and despair!
Nothing else remains.round of decline
Of that gigantic shipwreck, endlessly exposed.
A flat, sandy beach stretches far into the distance.
