http://www.ted.com/talks/ray_kurzweil_announces_singularity_university.html
The Law of Accelerating Returns An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense “intuitive linear” view. So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century — it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate). The “returns,” such as chip speed and cost-effectiveness, also increase exponentially. Singularity Hypotheses: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment What is the Singularity? Existential risk or cultist fantasy? Rapture of the nerds? An unstoppable intelligence explosion? The rapid acquisition by humanity of god-like powers? The rise of Terminator-style killer robots?
Man Chooses to Cut Off His Hand – And Get a Bionic One (video For the second time in a calendar year, a patient has chosen to cut off his own hand so that he could be fitted with a bionic one. It is a testament to the progress of bionics that patients are beginning to favor the technological alternative over ineffective biological treatments. Milo In 2001, while on vacation in his native Serbia, the patient called “Milo” was severely injured in a motorcycle accident. He skidded into a lamppost, crushing his leg and right shoulder. His leg recovered, his shoulder did not.
Singularity Summit at Stanford An Annual Conference onScience, Technology, and the Future The Singularity Summit is an annual conference on science, technology, and the future co-produced by MIRI and Singularity University. Topics explored include artificial intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, the Singularity, robotics, regenerative medicine, and big picture issues on the trajectory of human civilization. Custom Fit Bionic Fingers Work Like The Real Thing (Video Touch Bionics is moving forward with its prosthetic fingers. They have much of the same capability as the i-Limb, but customized to each amputee's unique physiology. In the world of prosthetics, there’s really no such thing as “one size fits all.” Back when we discussed the i-Limb from Touch Bionics, we mentioned that the Scottish company’s next big development would be bionic fingers.
Alvin Toffler Alvin Toffler (born October 4, 1928) is an American writer and futurist, known for his works discussing the digital revolution, communication revolution and technological singularity. He founded Toffler Associates, a management consulting company, and was a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation, visiting professor at Cornell University, faculty member of the New School for Social Research, a White House correspondent, an editor of Fortune magazine, and a business consultant.[3] Toffler is married to Heidi Toffler, also a writer and futurist. They live in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, California, just north of Sunset Boulevard.
The Coming Technological Singularity ==================================================================== The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era Vernor Vinge Department of Mathematical Sciences San Diego State University (c) 1993 by Vernor Vinge (Verbatim copying/translation and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.) This article was for the VISION-21 Symposium sponsored by NASA Lewis Research Center and the Ohio Aerospace Institute, March 30-31, 1993. It is also retrievable from the NASA technical reports server as part of NASA CP-10129.
Three Major Singularity Schools : The Singularity Institute Blog I’ve noticed that Singularity discussions seem to be splitting up into three major schools of thought: Accelerating Change, the Event Horizon, and the Intelligence Explosion. Accelerating Change:Core claim: Our intuitions about change are linear; we expect roughly as much change as has occurred in the past over our own lifetimes. But technological change feeds on itself, and therefore accelerates.