刚听了一个报告:奇点临近
来自: 北星 2009-10-24 14:33:09
2008-09-18 14:11:19 来自: 北星
报告人是美国当今最重要的的发明家之一,OCR技术的先驱,企业家、未来学家、作家、奇点理论的鼓吹家,Raymond Kurzweil。他的一本有名的书叫作《奇点临近》(The Singularity is Near)。在这部大部头的著作中,Raymond Kurzweil大力鼓吹Vernor Vinge的奇点理论,认为科技正在呈指数增长,我们即将看到奇点的来临了。
今天的报告是在我们这里的一个理工学院。我以为大概只会有二三十人去听呢。谁知道报告是在一个大礼堂,有一千多人听!老美关心科技和未来的人看来真不少,也许是科幻的功劳?
报告大概跟他的书的内容差不多。报告的一个很酷的地方是,Kurzweil对着话筒随讲,后面屏幕上就随时出现他讲的话的字幕。这套语音转化成文字的系统大概是他的发明。
报告完后的提问很有意思。提问的人不少,大家排队到话筒前提问。提问者的话也随即出现在屏幕上。提的问题水平都挺高挺科幻的。比如有人问,在奇点来临时,人机一体联网,如果有黑客或病毒破坏了整个互联网将如何?Kurzweil认为,随着黑客和病毒什么的越来越厉害,互联网的安全措施也越来越严了。迄今还没有什么东西能够破坏掉整个互联网,所以未来应该问题不大。另有人问:奥巴马许诺上台后会设CTO一职,Chief Technology Officer,你会出任这个职位吗?Kurzweil说奥巴马还没找我呢。
有个络腮胡子的家伙说:“你的报告鼓吹什么奇点就要来临,科技是我们的救世主,这是不对的。我主耶稣才是我们的救世主。”这话一出,底下不少人发出一种叹息声,表示“这种话题又出来了”。Kurzweil显然对这问题准备不足,说什么教皇现在都支持科技发展。所以科技和宗教不该有冲突。问话的家伙显然对这回答很不满意,夹着本圣经一边摇头一边走了出去。
后面的提问者说:“我问问题前先跟你握个手,你的报告很精彩。”大家鼓起掌来。显然是表示对科技的支持。
下面是Wiki百科对Raymond Kurzweil的介绍
http://en.wikipedia.
Raymond Kurzweil正在制作一部电影《奇点临近--一个关于未来的真实故事》,大概2009年上映:
http://www.imdb.com/
下面是Wiki百科上摘的Raymond Kurzweil对未来三十年科技发展的预测,大家等着看他预测得准不准吧:
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Future Predictions
2010
Supercomputers will have the same raw power as human brains (although not yet the equivalently flexible software).
Computers will disappear as distinct physical objects, meaning many will have nontraditional shapes and/or will be embedded in clothing and everyday objects.
Full-immersion audio-visual virtual reality will exist.
2010s
Computers become smaller and increasingly integrated into everyday life.
More and more computer devices will be used as miniature web servers, and more will have their resources pooled for computation.
High-quality broadband Internet access will become available almost everywhere.
Glasses that beam images onto the users' retinas to produce virtual reality will be developed. They will also come with speakers or headphone attachments that will complete the experience with sounds.
The VR glasses will also have built-in computers featuring "virtual assistant" programs that can help the user with various daily tasks. (see Augmented Reality)
Virtual assistants would be capable of multiple functions. One useful function would be real-time language translation in which words spoken in a foreign language would be translated into text that would appear as subtitles to a user wearing the glasses.
Cell phones will be built into clothing and will be able to project sounds directly into the ears of their users.
Advertisements will utilize a new technology whereby two ultrasonic beams can be targeted to intersect at a specific point, delivering a localized sound message that only a single person can hear. This was demonstrated in the films Minority Report and Back to the Future 2.
2014
Automatic house cleaning robots will have become common.
2018
1013 bits of computer memory--roughly the equivalent of the memory space in a single human brain--will cost $1000.
2020
Personal computers will have the same processing power as human brains.
2020s
Computers less than 100 nm in size will be possible.
As one of their first practical applications, nanomachines will be used for medical purposes.
Highly advanced medical nanobots will perform detailed brainscans on live patients.
Accurate computer simulations of the entire human brain will exist due to these hyperaccurate brainscans, and the workings of the brain will be understood.
Nanobots capable of entering the bloodstream to "feed" cells and extract waste will exist (though not necessarily be in wide use) by the end of this decade. They will make the normal mode of human food consumption obsolete.
By the late 2020s, nanotech-based manufacturing will be in widespread use, radically altering the economy as all sorts of products can suddenly be produced for a fraction of their traditional-manufacture costs. The true cost of any product is now the amount it takes to download the design schematics.
Also by the later part of this decade, virtual reality will be so high-quality that it will be indistinguishable from real reality.
The threat posed by genetically engineered pathogens permanently dissipates by the end of this decade as medical nanobots--infinitely more durable, intelligent and capable than any microorganism--become sufficiently advanced.
A computer will pass the Turing test by the last year of the decade (2029), meaning that it is a Strong AI and can think like a human (though the first A.I. is likely to be the equivalent of a kindergartner). This first A.I. is built around a computer simulation of a human brain, which was made possible by previous, nanotech-guided brainscanning.
2025
The most likely year for the debut of advanced nanotechnology.
Some military UAVs and land vehicles will be 100% computer-controlled.
2030s
Mind uploading becomes possible.
Nanomachines could be directly inserted into the brain and could interact with brain cells to totally control incoming and outgoing signals. As a result, truly full-immersion virtual reality could be generated without the need for any external equipment. Afferent nerve pathways could be blocked, totally canceling out the "real" world and leaving the user with only the desired virtual experience.
Brain nanobots could also elicit emotional responses from users.
Using brain nanobots, recorded or real-time brain transmissions of a person's daily life known as "experience beamers" will be available for other people to remotely experience. This is very similar to how the characters in Being John Malkovich were able to enter the mind of Malkovich and see the world through his eyes.
Recreational uses aside, nanomachines in peoples' brains will allow them to greatly expand their cognitive, memory and sensory capabilities, to directly interface with computers, and to "telepathically" communicate with other, similarly augmented humans via wireless networks.
The same nanotechnology should also allow people to alter the neural connections within their brains, changing the underlying basis for the person's intelligence, memories and personality.
2040s
Human body 3.0 (as Kurzweil calls it) comes into existence. It lacks a fixed, corporeal form and can alter its shape and external appearance at will via foglet-like nanotechnology. Organs are also replaced by superior cybernetic implants.
People spend most of their time in full-immersion virtual reality (Kurzweil has cited The Matrix as a good example of what the advanced virtual worlds will be like, without the dystopian twist).
Foglets are in use.
2045: The Singularity
$1000 buys a computer a billion times more intelligent than every human combined. This means that average and even low-end computers are hugely smarter than even highly intelligent, unenhanced humans.
The Singularity occurs as artificial intelligences surpass human beings as the smartest and most capable life forms on the Earth. Technological development is taken over by the machines, who can think, act and communicate so quickly that normal humans cannot even comprehend what is going on. The machines enter into a "runaway reaction" of self-improvement cycles, with each new generation of A.I.s appearing faster and faster. From this point onwards, technological advancement is explosive, under the control of the machines, and thus cannot be accurately predicted.
The Singularity is an extremely disruptive, world-altering event that forever changes the course of human history. The extermination of humanity by violent machines is unlikely (though not impossible) because sharp distinctions between man and machine will no longer exist thanks to the existence of cybernetically enhanced humans and uploaded humans.
Post-2045: "Waking up" the Universe
The physical bottom limit to how small computer transistors can be shrunk is reached. From this moment onwards, computers can only be made more powerful if they are made larger in size.
Because of this, A.I.s convert more and more of the Earth's matter into engineered, computational substrate capable of supporting more A.I.s. until the whole Earth is one, gigantic computer (but some areas will remain set aside as nature preserves).
At this point, the only possible way to increase the intelligence of the machines any farther is to begin converting all of the matter in the universe into similar massive computers. A.I.s radiate out into space in all directions from the Earth, breaking down whole planets, moons and meteoroids and reassembling them into giant computers. This, in effect, "wakes up" the universe as all the inanimate "dumb" matter (rocks, dust, gases, etc.) is converted into structured matter capable of supporting life (albeit synthetic life).
Kurzweil predicts that machines might have the ability to make planet-sized computers by 2099, which underscores how enormously technology will advance after the Singularity.
The process of "waking up" the universe could be complete as early as 2199, or might take billions of years depending on whether or not machines could figure out a way to circumvent the speed of light for the purposes of space travel.
With the entire universe made into a giant, highly efficient supercomputer, A.I./human hybrids (so integrated that, in truth it is a new category of "life") would have both supreme intelligence and physical control over the universe. Kurzweil suggests that this would open up all sorts of new possibilities, including abrogation of the laws of Physics, interdimensional travel, and a possible infinite extension of existence (true immortality).