The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (135 page)

        dangers of, 206, 403, 409

        defined, 92, 260

        friendly, 409, 420, 424, 598
n
–599
n

        at human levels, 260, 262

        nanotechnology and, 261–262, 412, 426

        runaway, 24, 262–263, 569
n

        skepticism about, 292

        wealth creation from, 13, 396–397

Strout, Joseph, 326

student matching program, 2–3, 497
n

subatomic particles, 85, 133, 198, 355

        computing with, 138–139, 141, 351

        transformed energy states in, 403–404

subconscious, 318

subjective experience, 378–380, 386, 388, 467

subneural models, 169–172, 541
n

subtraction paradigm, 161

sucrose, 248

suffering, 321, 373, 374–375, 423

        alleviation of, 224, 311, 379, 406, 409–410

        of animals, 224, 379

sugar, 220, 248

        
see also
glucose

sun, 349–351, 591
n

Sung, J. C., 552
n

Sung, Kah-Kay, 546
n

Sun Tzu, 105

supercomputers, 231, 261, 312, 535
n

        Blue Gene/L,
71
, 125, 482, 533
n

        Blue Gene/P, 71,
71

        human intelligence emulated by, 25, 70,
70
, 71,
71
, 125, 150, 196, 533
n

        protein folding and, 209

superconducting, superconductors, 119, 451

superconducting wires, 246

superintelligence, 259–260

        runaway AI and, 262, 569
n

supernova explosion, 23

supply chains, optimizing of, 271

surgery, 307, 317

        brain, 315–316, 386

        intracellular, 162–163

        optical imaging and, 161

        plastic, 310

        transplant, 418, 598
n

surveillance:

        by law enforcement organizations, 413, 421, 424

        military, 281, 334

        spybots and, 406–407

survival, 90, 152, 325, 396

        digestive system and, 301–302

        economic imperative as, 96

        as evolutionary purpose, 38, 39, 41, 96

        family size and, 433

        grandmother hypothesis and, 218–219

        terrorism and, 421

        of virus outbreaks, 402

        in warfare, 330–331,
331
, 334

Susskind, Leonard, 360, 361, 362, 364

Svoboda, Karel, 171–172, 541
n
, 542
n

swarm intelligence, 333

swarm weapons, 335

Sweden, life expectancy in, 408

Sylla, M. L., 600
n

symbolic computing, 460–461, 463–464, 468

synapses, 155, 166, 169–174, 269, 383, 430

        backpropagation and, 156

        blood flow and, 161

        brain scanning and, 161, 162, 166, 171–175, 197

        in cerebellum, 180,
180
, 181, 182

        in cerebral cortex, 190

        CPEB protein in, 176, 199–200, 544
n

        criticism from the complexity of neural processing and, 428, 445–446

        defined, 124

        formation of, 170, 171, 173–174,
174
, 176, 202, 446

        Hebb’s neural learning theory and, 156, 157, 170–171

        in hippocampus, 175

        
hormones and, 443

        learning and, 179

        memory and, 169, 170–171, 175–176, 200, 541
n
, 543
n
, 544
n

        models of, 144, 169–171

        neurotransmitters in, 145, 147, 153, 170

        nonlinearities in, 137, 148

        plasticity of, 151, 156, 169, 171, 173, 541
n

        resetting of, 124, 150

synaptic scaling, 171

system-on-a-chip concept, 533
n

tactical autonomous combatants (TACs), 333

tags and labels, nanoparticles as, 242

Talbot, David, 569
n

Tale of Two Cities, A
(Dickens), 396

Taleyarkhan, R. P., 567
n

Tallal, Paula, 175, 543
n

Tammany Hall, 472

Tanaka, K., 547
n

tanks, Abrams, 332, 335

tape recordings, 53, 327

tapes, digital, 327–328, 588
n

Tasmanian tiger, DNA of, 222

tattoos, 310

Taub, Edward, 174

Taylor, J. G., 143, 537
n

T cells, 217–218 417, 557
n

“Technological Singularity, The” (Vinge), 22

technology, 372, 375, 498
n

        author’s interest in trends in, 3, 370

        brevity and, 5

        centralized, 340, 409, 420, 421

        Clarke’s third law and, 4

        communications,
see
communications, communications technologies; telecommunications; telephones

        decentralized,
see
decentralization

        decline in cost of, 64–65, 95, 338, 469, 472

        failure rates of, 429, 456

        in GNR age,
see
biotechnology; GNR (Genetics, Nanotechnology, Robotics) age; nanotechnology; robots, robotics; strong AI

        human intelligence merged with,
15
, 20–21

        information,
see
information technologies

        life cycle of, 51–56

        magic compared with, 4–5

        opposable thumb and, 16, 39, 41

        relinquishment of,
see
GNR, relinquishment of

        shrinking of,
see
miniaturization; nanotechnology

        three stages of impact of, 408

        transcendence of, 389

        as unified system, 411

        
see also specific topics

technology evolution:

        biological evolution compared with, 16–19,
17–19
, 94, 347, 441, 487

        complexity increases and, 38

        as continuation of biological evolution, 7, 42, 137

        in Epoch Four,
15
, 16–20,
17–20
, 47

        in Epoch Five,
15
, 20–21, 40, 47

        in Epoch Six,
15
, 21

        farsighted, 47–50,
48–50

        key events of,
see
key events, of biological and technological evolution

        order increased by, 40

        theory of,
see
accelerating returns, law of

TED (technology, entertainment, design) conference (2001), 314–315, 587
n

Tegmark, Max, 500
n

telecommunications:

        adoption of, 97, 264

        bubble in (1997–2000), 13, 97, 264

        technology hype cycle for, 263–264

teleconferencing, 123

telephones,
17, 18
, 317–318, 438

        as auditory virtual reality, 318

        mass use of, 48,
48, 50
, 512
n

        speech recognition over, 287

        surveillance and, 413

telephones, cellular,
see
cell phones

telepresence, 123

Telescom conference (1998), 394

telescopes, 47

        Hubble Space Telescope, 590
n

        robotic, 281

television, 330, 338

        mass use of,
50
, 512
n

Telford, Ric, 528
n

telomerase, 218

telomeres, 218, 219, 221, 223–224, 323

Temple, Blake, 504
n

10% Solution for a Healthy Life, The
(Kurzweil), 211

termites, 151, 466

terrorism, 247, 280

        civil liberties and, 421–422

        GNR age and, 395, 397, 400, 401–402, 414, 421, 423–424

        nuclear, 401–402

        
preemptive action and, 423–424

        suicide, 402, 421

Tesla, Nikola, 1

Texas, University of, 124, 248

        cerebellum model and simulation of, 182–183,
182
, 544
n

Texas A&M University, Brain Networks Laboratory at, 162

Theis, Thomas, 114

theism, criticism from, 431, 473–478

Theory of Games and Economic Behavior
(von Neumann and Morgenstern), 499
n

therapeutic cloning, 214, 220, 221, 222, 224, 256, 323

“There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” (Feynman), 227, 228

thermodynamics:

        laws of, 130, 168, 432

        second law of, 39–40, 509
n
–510
n
, 520
n

thermonuclear explosion, 134

Thier, P., 539
n

thinking, thought, 86, 144, 167, 316, 386–387 390, 445

        about body, 193, 203

        Church-Turing thesis and, 454

        cortex and, 190, 191

        expansion of, 316–317, 325

        incredulity and, 432–433

        at its best, 379

        pattern recognition and, 149, 309

        physical action vs., 175

        robots controlled by, 194–195

        slowness of, 8–9, 309

        understanding, 154–157, 198

        
see also
consciousness; intelligence; mind

Thomas, Dylan, 326

Thompson, Donald L., 561
n
, 562
n

Thompson, J. N., Jr., 555
n

Thompson, Larry, 598
n

Thompson, R. F., 545
n

Thorne, Kip S., 355–356 363, 592
n

Thorpe, S. J., 574
n

threatening stimuli, 541
n

three-dimensional molecular computing, 27, 45, 67, 111–122, 128, 133, 292, 434, 526
n
–533
n

        bridge to, 112–122, 526
n
–533
n

        computing with light and, 113, 119–120

        DNA computing and, 113, 117–118, 119, 529
n
–530
n

        emulating biology and, 112–113, 116–117, 519
n

        fractal dimensions and the brain and, 68

        nanotubes and nanotube circuitry and, 112–115, 526
n
–528
n

        quantum computing and, 113, 119, 120–121

        self-assembly in nanotube circuits and, 112–113, 115–116, 528
n

        spintronics and, 112–113, 116–117, 529
n

three-dimensional shapes:

        carbon and, 15, 85

        of proteins, 209, 234, 482–483, 550
n

Through the Looking Glass
(Carroll), 326

thumbs:

        of humans vs. chimpanzees, 39, 509
n

        opposable, 4, 16, 39, 41, 47, 152, 433, 487, 509
n

time, 23

        digital basis for, 86

        general relativity and, 500
n

        problem solving and, 296

        quantum gravity and, 14