Description

Futurist Ray Kurzweil discusses the current differences between computers and humans, and our futures.  He argues that we will eventually create “artificial neocortexes” equivalent to ours, and even extend our own cortex.  He then argues we will all eventually be able to connect to a collective online cloud.

Discussion Questions

• What two kinds of intelligence, or human capacities, does Kurzweil say we have?  Who is currently better at which, computers or humans?
• Do you think that computers will ever be able to create art?  be creative?  What about other human traits?
• What is the cloud?  What might happen if we could automatically communicate and share knowledge in a collective online platform?
• What do you think would happen if we could extend our own intelligence and consciousness?  What might it be like?  What might we do?

Keywords: artificial intelligence, communication, society, humanity, human nature, computers, intelligence,