The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (131 page)

paper documents, 327, 328, 588
n

Papert, Seymour, 156, 177, 497
n
, 539
n
, 544
n

Pap-smear slides, 282–283

paradigm, 42–46, 127–128

        asymptote of, 44, 45, 231, 244

        fifth,
see
Moore’s Law

        life cycle of, 43–46,
43, 44
, 67, 72

        of self-organizing chaotic processes, 459–462

        sixth,
see
three-dimensional molecular computing

paradigm shifts, 16, 30, 43, 47, 94, 323, 434

        acceleration of, 9, 11, 17–20,
17–20
, 25, 28, 36, 42, 44, 48–50,
48–50
, 264, 324, 334, 432, 511
n
–512
n

        complexity and, 38

        defined, 36

        doubling rate for, 50, 56, 338, 469, 512
n

        economic cycles and, 106

        exponential growth of RAM capacity over, 75,
75

        for fifteen lists of key events, 18,
19
, 501
n
–502
n

        lock-in vs., 429–430

        mistakes during, 13

        punctuated equilibrium vs., 44–45, 510
n
–511
n

        technology hype cycle for, 263–264

paralysis, 173, 195, 308–309

parietal lobes, 202

parity, 190, 208

Parker, Pat, 598
n

Parkinson’s disease, 303, 549
n

        biotechnology and, 216

        brain reverse engineering and, 144, 195

        
neural implants for, 195, 255, 308, 384, 585
n

Parmentola, John A., 331, 588
n

particle accelerators, high-energy, 403–404

particles, 120, 134, 168, 355, 520
n
, 521
n

        in event horizon, 363, 486–487, 503
n

        Lloyd’s estimates on, 364–365

        quantum-entangled, 353–354, 363, 487

Pascual-Leone, Alvaro, 175, 543
n

passivity, 373

past, 7, 11, 408, 409–410, 436

Pasteur, Louis, 226

patents, 106, 525
n
, 533
n

        brain reverse engineering and, 146, 537
n

        nanorelated, 84,
84

pathogens, 282, 371

        bioengineered, 407, 409, 417

        “enhanced intelligence” cells and, 221

        gene sequences of, 395

        microbivores and, 254, 306

        nanobots and, 300, 303, 397

        self-replicating, 423–424

        software,
see
software viruses

        
see also specific pathogens

“pathogen sentinel” program, 423

patternists, 5, 385, 388, 474

pattern recognition, 135, 260–261, 309, 316, 435, 438, 439, 480, 482

        brain and, 8, 16, 25–26, 124, 143, 149, 150, 173, 441, 456, 501
n

        chaotic computing and, 173, 441, 475

        computer chess and, 274, 277, 278, 441, 459

        evolutionary algorithms and, 92, 152, 271, 461

        “hypothesis and test” in, 186–187,
187

        irreversible computing and, 130

        Markov models and, 151, 152, 278, 461

        in medical diagnosis, 281–283

        memory and, 126

        military software and, 279–280, 335

        neural nets and, 151, 152, 156, 268–269, 271, 461

        by robots, 286

patterns:

        of body, 371, 383–384

        of brain, 325, 371, 383–384, 463–464, 475, 477–478

        copies of, 383–384

        emergent, 463–464, 467–468, 475, 477–478, 480

        of energy and matter, 325, 383–384, 385, 431, 474

        evolution and, 14–21, 388

        of information, 5, 258, 460, 522
n

        of interneuronal connections, 260, 317, 337, 445, 463

        knowledge as, 323, 386

        of neurotransmitters, 260, 317, 337, 440, 445, 463

        self as, 383, 386

        of special cells, 297

        transcendence and, 388

        uploading of, 377

PCBs, 253

PDAs (personal digital assistants), 125

Pearson, Helen, 560
n

Peng, Jinping, 562
n

Penn, Anna, 523
n
, 539
n

Pennisi, Elizabeth, 510
n

Pennsylvania, University of, Neuroengineering Research Laboratory of, 162, 530
n

Penrose, Roger, 201, 450–452, 600
n

Pentium processors, 276

Peploski, James, 561
n
, 562
n

peptides, 217, 233, 308

        gene expression and, 213, 223, 232

perception, 190, 191, 194

        feedforward sequence and, 154, 186, 574
n

        
see also
visual systems

Perceptron, 156

Perceptrons
(Minsky and Papert), 156

Perry, Jason K., 563
n

Perry, Martin, 561
n
, 562
n

personal computers,
17, 18
, 406, 473

        changing of, 324–325

        human intelligence emulated by, 25, 70, 125–126, 441–442, 533
n

        IBM 7094 compared with, 64–65

        laptops,
see
laptop computers

        mass use of,
50
, 512
n

        MIPS provided by, 64–65, 122

        notebook,
see
notebook computers

        spam messages on, 255–256

        speed of, 276

personality, 225

        backing up of, 323

        location of, 200

        uploading of, 124–125, 166, 199–201, 429, 451

        in virtual reality, 29, 314–316, 587
n

personal services, 340

pesticides, 224, 253, 415

Peters, James A., 549
n

Peterson, Christine, 229, 395, 558
n
, 598
n

Petricoin, Emanuel F., III, 282, 581
n

pharmaceutical companies, 303

Philipkoski, Kristen, 514
n
, 570
n
, 581
n

Phoenix, Chris, 400, 595
n

phonautographs, 52

phone books, information in, 90

phonemes, 268

phonetics, 268, 278

phonographs, 52–53, 55

photolithography, 45, 116, 122

photons, 119, 141, 162, 353

photoreceptor neurons, 166, 547
n

photovoltaics, 246, 249

physical reality, 9

        nanotechnology in manipulation of, 4, 28

        spirituality and, 388

physician-patient relationship, 104

physics,
20
, 168, 320, 411, 454

        constants of, 139–140, 356, 359–362, 365, 499
n
, 592
n

        digital theory of, 86–87, 518
n
–522
n

        in Epoch One, 14–15,
15

        intelligence compared with, 364

        Newtonian, 520
n

        singularity in, 23
n
, 486, 487, 503
n

        virtual reality and, 319

phytochemicals, 301, 304

pianos, 53, 55

Picasso, Pablo, 202

Pick Best Next Step program, 272–273, 577
n
–580
n

picotechnology, 138–139, 141, 351, 536
n

piercing, body, 310

pigs, HIV-type xenoviruses in, 418

piracy, intellectual, 339

Pirsig, Robert M., 392

Pitts, W., 155, 539
n

plague, 398, 402, 409

Planck constant, 133–134, 359, 360, 365, 592
n

planets, 280, 342, 349, 357

        in Drake equation, 345, 346, 347

        
see also
Earth

planning, 190, 191, 194

“Plastic Fantastic Lover” (song), 300

plastics, self-healing, 335

plastic surgery, 310

Plato, 326

play, 300, 341–342

pleasure:

        of breathing, 306

        eating and, 301, 304

        sex and, 301, 307, 315, 319

Plus, Mark, 498
n

plutonium, 393

pocket computers, 444

Poe, Edgar Allan, 312

poetry, 202

        recursive search and, 273, 577
n
–580
n

Poggio, Tomaso, 166, 179, 532
n
, 541
n
, 544
n
, 546
n
, 547
n

        on neuron as chip, 530
n
, 538
n

        visual processing and, 186, 194

polarization, 344

political issue(s):

        biotechnology and, 223, 224

        encryption trapdoor and, 422

        nanotechnology and, 423, 426

        preemptive action as, 423–424

political patron model, 472

pollution, 28, 243, 251–253

Polsson, Ken, 513
n

polyethylene glycol, 332

polymerase chain reaction (PCR), 117, 530
n

polymer (or hydrogel) particles, 583
n

polymers:

        biodegradable, 243

        electrically actuated, 583
n

polynucleotides, 207

Pons, Stanley, 567
n

Pontil, M., 547
n

pool, software for, 288

Popper, A., 545
n

population growth, 99, 321, 433

Port, Otis, 580
n
, 581
n

portable electronics, 56, 113, 247

positron-emission tomography (PET), 160–161

Posner, M. I., 540
n

posterior inferior-temporal cortex cells, 175

posterior parietal-cortex cells, 175

posterior ventromedial nucleus (VMpo), 193, 314

Postma, Henk W. Ch., 527
n

post-Singularity period, as posthumanism, 374

Pouget, Alexandre, 179

poverty, 241, 259, 372, 397, 410, 424

        in World Bank report, 99, 338, 396, 470

power loom, invention of, 507
n

power plants, 255, 409, 420

power relationships, access to knowledge and, 104

Prater, Corwyn, 320

precautionary principle, 403, 404

precursor stage, 51

Predator, 280, 332, 335

predictions:

        as brain feature, 190–191

        cellular automata and, 88–89, 90, 519
n
, 521
n
–522
n

        
computational processes and, 93

        of future, 432

        of materialism, 431, 473–475

        of properties of gas, 168, 432

        as test of theory of physics, 519
n

prefrontal cortex, 170

Preskill, John, 363

Preston, Richard, 595
n

price-performance, 432

        of brain scanning, 144, 197, 265, 292