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I've heard him give the same talk at several different conferences, several of them unrelated (Entrepreneurship conferences, Blackberry conferences, etc.) Talk

by tiles 16y ago

I've heard him give the same talk at several different conferences, several of them unrelated (Entrepreneurship conferences, Blackberry conferences, etc.) Talk about exponential progress, Singularity U, mind uploading, and his belief he'll survive to be 700 years old. He's a bag of fantastic claims and an excellent speaker, and it embodies a lot of the best hopes of technology of the present age, as well as our collective insecurity that we've come so far and yet seem to have improved on the world so little. But it's grating to see that he's getting so much media attention for such blatant disregard of the human condition. No consideration what a post-sentient-AI world would accomplish. No regard for what happens when people live to be 700 years old and population growth doesn't slow. His ideas are like genetically engineering society with no regard to the collateral damage it'd cause to the societal environment. I don't dislike Kurzweil for being an optimist, I dislike him for being arrogant.

cryptoz 16y ago
> and population growth doesn't slow. Population growth is slowing. Dramatically. There's tons of evidence that as women are educated, they will have fewer children. And women are starting to get better educations all around the world. There's absolutely no doubt that population growth will slow (slash, is already slowing down) a bunch in the coming decades. Second, I'm confused about the 700 number. Where does that come from? Does he think that in the next 30 years, we will be able to extend life so much that he can keep on living? Why does that stop at 700?! Doesn't he think that some time in the next 700 years we'd be able to find a way to live longer than 700? Frankly, I doubt there's much difference between finding a way to live to 700 and finding a way to live until the end of time.
- pavlov 16y ago
  Maybe he's planning to start bull fighting at the age of 690 and base jumping at the age of 695.
- pjscott 16y ago
  As you decrease your chances of dying from old age, disease, etc., then injury will become the limiting factor on longevity. Even someone who never ages and never becomes sick will have trouble surviving a fall off a cliff, or being shot in the head.

by tiles 16y ago

cryptoz 16y ago

> and population growth doesn't slow. Population growth is slowing. Dramatically. There's tons of evidence that as women are educated, they will have fewer children. And women are starting to get better educations all around the world. There's absolutely no doubt that population growth will slow (slash, is already slowing down) a bunch in the coming decades. Second, I'm confused about the 700 number. Where does that come from? Does he think that in the next 30 years, we will be able to extend life so much that he can keep on living? Why does that stop at 700?! Doesn't he think that some time in the next 700 years we'd be able to find a way to live longer than 700? Frankly, I doubt there's much difference between finding a way to live to 700 and finding a way to live until the end of time.

pavlov 16y ago
Maybe he's planning to start bull fighting at the age of 690 and base jumping at the age of 695.
pjscott 16y ago
As you decrease your chances of dying from old age, disease, etc., then injury will become the limiting factor on longevity. Even someone who never ages and never becomes sick will have trouble surviving a fall off a cliff, or being shot in the head.