Kurzweil’s vision of the future is more similar to what I expect is correct than most people’s pictures of the future are, and he should be applauded for finding a way to bring transhumanist ideas to the mainstream culture.
I’m not sure if his effect is a net positive, though. In fact, his writings and his public persona were among the main reasons why I didn’t take Singularity-related ideas seriously for a long time, until I saw them presented in a far more sensible way on Overcoming Bias. I don’t believe my case is unique in this regard.
It isn’t. I first heard of the Singularity by reading Wikipedia’s list of pseudosciences or something similar. I had decided to read it because there was a chance that something was miscategorized and I reasoned that if there was an idea that people thought was pseudoscientific but was actually correct, it could be important to know that. The Wikipedia article was filled with quotes from Kurzweil and pictures of exponential graphs, so I dismissed the Singularity group of memes, while still believing that AI was achievable and that it would have a profound effect on the world.
I’m not sure if his effect is a net positive, though. In fact, his writings and his public persona were among the main reasons why I didn’t take Singularity-related ideas seriously for a long time, until I saw them presented in a far more sensible way on Overcoming Bias. I don’t believe my case is unique in this regard.
It isn’t. I first heard of the Singularity by reading Wikipedia’s list of pseudosciences or something similar. I had decided to read it because there was a chance that something was miscategorized and I reasoned that if there was an idea that people thought was pseudoscientific but was actually correct, it could be important to know that. The Wikipedia article was filled with quotes from Kurzweil and pictures of exponential graphs, so I dismissed the Singularity group of memes, while still believing that AI was achievable and that it would have a profound effect on the world.