he's kind of a "you heard it hear first" guy though, which takes away a
little bit of cred for me, just traded a copy of "goedel, escher, bach" for
this book. kurzweill also has a book called 10%solution, or something like
that, which is actually a diet book to prevent cancer and heart desease.
-steve
In a message dated 11/27/1999 4:22:07 AM Eastern Standard Time,
mattsalcido@juno.com writes:
<< hey,
i just picked up this book recently and i thought it would be cool to
mention it in case anyone is interested in checking it out. its called
"the age of spiritual machines" by ray kurzweil (on viking press).
basically he goes thru where computers have been, where they are now and
makes predictions as to where theyre headed. heres a quote from the
contents
"chapter ten: 2019 a $1000 computing device is now approximately
equal to the computational ability of the human brain. computers are now
largely invisible and are embedded everywhere. three-dimensional
virtual-reality displays, embedded in glasses and contact lenses, provide
the primary interface for communication with other persons, the web, and
virtual reality. most interaction with computing is through gestures and
two-way natural language spoken communication. realistic
all-encompassing visual, auditory, and tactile environments enable people
to do virtually anything with anybody, regardless of physical proximity.
people are beginning to have relationships with automated personalities
as companions, teachers, caretakers, and lovers."
kurzweil goes all the way up thru year 2099. imagine how music will
sound by 2099. what if people go back to using hand carved wooden
instruments as electronic music would be considered too developed.
people would probably search for something more challenging taking music
almost back in time to when drums were made out of a hollowed out tree
trunk with some animal skin stretched over it...
>>
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