Futurists and science-fiction writers speculate about a time when brain activity will merge with computers. Technology now exists that uses brain signals to control a cursor or prosthetic arm. How much further development of brain-machine interfaces might progress is still an imponderable. It is at least possible to conceive of inputting text and other high-level information into an area of the brain that helps to form new memories. But the technical hurdles to achieving this task probably require fundamental advances in understanding the way the brain functions. Join discussion...

At last week’s Singularity Summit, Future of Gadgets Editor John Heylin had the opportunity to ask a swarmed Ray Kurzweil, the face of exponential change and the Singularity, one question. As I scrambled to pull out my flip cam to capture the moment, he cut straight to the heart: Do you feel the Singularity has become its own religious movement inside the science community? Join discussion...

A fascinating conversation between E.Yudkowsky and Jaron Lanier Join discussion...

The Wiki for the Trans-Future Network. Join discussion...

The Technocalypse is "the convergence of technology and the apocalyptic imagination; it is cyberspace, nanotechnology, cryonics, futurism, the eschaton encoded in the now malleable protein chains of DNA, as well as the eventual transcendence of death." [Michael Grosso, PhD (ca. 1995)] "Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended." [Vernor Vinge (1993)] Join discussion...

Toward Human-Level Intelligence in Autonomous Cars Join discussion...

Intel’s chief technology officer, Justin Rattner, had his eye firmly fixed on the future at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. In his closing keynote speech Rattner said that Ray Kurzweil’s concept of ‘the Singularity’, a point when human and artificial intelligence merges to create something bigger than itself, could be just 40 years away. Rattner described some emerging technologies that sound like they come out of science fiction movies, including shape shifting, programmable matter, neural interfaces that allow applications to be controlled by the human mind, and advanced robots that seem almost human. Rattner believes that these sort of advances could be less than half a lifetime away because of the way that technology is advancing at an exponential rate. Join discussion...

I’ve noticed that Singularity discussions seem to be splitting up into three major schools of thought: Accelerating Change, the Event Horizon, and the Intelligence Explosion. Join discussion...

It may seem like an easy prediction now but in the 1980s, when “surfing” was associated with the ocean and not computers, Ray Kurzweil correctly predicted the explosion of the Internet and the use of computerized, intelligent weapons systems. Kurzweil is an inventor, entrepreneur, a key innovator in the development of artificial intelligence and a futurist, someone who speculates about the future. He will kick off the 2008-2009 Caroline Werner Gannett Project at Rochester Institute of Technology by presenting “The Singularity is the Near: When Humans Transcend Biology,” an adaptation of his best-selling novel of the same name, at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 17 at RIT. Join discussion...

I am of the belief that we will experience a Technological Singularity around 2050 or shortly thereafter. Many top futurists all arrive at prediction dates between 2045 and 2075. The bulk of Singularity debate revolves not so much around 'if' or even 'when', but rather 'what' the Singularity will appear like, and whether it will be positive or negative for humanity. To be clear, some singularities have already happened. To non-human creatures, a technological singularity that overhauls their ecosystem already happened over the course of the 20th century. Domestic dogs and cats are immersed in a singularity where most of their surroundings surpass their comprehension. Even many humans have experienced a singularity - elderly people in poorer nations make no use of any of the major technologies of the last 20 years, except possibly the cellular phone. However, the Singularity that I am talking about has to be one that affects all humans, and the entire global economy, rather that just humans that are marginal participants in the economy. By definition, the real Technological Singularity has to be a 'disruption in the fabric of humanity'. Join discussion...