One Singular Sensation: Will We Upload Our Brains, and Other Questions Related to "The Coming Singularity"

Science Talk

Scientific American

Science

4.2 • 644 Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2008

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Glenn Zorpette, executive editor of IEEE Spectrum magazine, and journalist John Horgan discuss various ideas related to what some call "the coming singularity," a point where computers will allegedly attain consciousness and superintelligence. Or not. Plus, we'll test your knowledge of some recent science in the news. Web sites mentioned on this episode include www.spectrum.ieee.org/singularity Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:27.8	slash UK slash AI for people. Welcome to Science Talk, the weekly podcast of Scientific American
0:34.6	for the seven days starting June 18th, 2008.
0:37.8	I'm Steve Murski.
0:39.1	This week on the podcast, why Ray Kurzweil's days are numbered.
0:43.3	We'll get to that in the course of a conversation about what a lot of people refer to as the coming singularity.
0:49.9	Our buddies at the magazine I-Triple-E Spectrum devoted their June issue to this subject.
0:54.9	The issue is called The Rapture of the Geeks, separating science from fiction in the technological singularity.
1:02.0	Last week, I went over to Spectrum's offices here in New York City and spoke to two former
1:07.0	scientific American staffers, Glenn Zorpet, and writer John Horgan, who contributed
1:12.0	the lead article to the issue.
1:15.9	Glenn, you're the executive editor here.
1:17.8	Why don't you give us an overview?
1:19.3	Tell us what the singularity is supposed to be for anybody who's coming into this story
1:25.1	without background, and then tell us what the whole overall kind of theme of your special issue is.
1:32.4	This whole issue originated with a very talented journalist here named Harry Goldstein, who
1:38.4	actually runs our website.
1:39.7	And he noticed a year or two ago that 2008 would be the 15th anniversary of a famous essay that was
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