IDM Mailing Archive

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... ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org

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... >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org