Russ Pearlman, our newest partner at Thought
Ensemble, begged to differ with part of a blog I wrote last week about Ray
Kurzweil's new book. In part, this is what Russ said:
"I think you are right about the
"download" part, but I'm not entirely sure about the
"merging" part.
For example, I've become dependent on my iPhone to
take care of my schedule - so I just "forget" anything that is on my
calendar. I just let my brain not have to worry about it. Yes, you can call
that dependence, but even more so, I'm actively choosing not to remember things
because I know my iPhone does it for me.
But, I think this is just a very small example of
what can happen in the future, potentially - especially because I think
technology may be able to interact with my thoughts – so I don't have to push a
button and tell Siri to remember something for me, I can just think about a
reminder, and the future Siri will just know what to do. Farfetched? Maybe -
but 20 years of technology advancement may lead to some incredible things."
I think Russ makes a good point about how tech is changing
our minds--and what they can be freed up to do now that our computers are
taking over more of the mundane tasks that used to occupy our brains. And,
I wouldn't challenge the idea that we'll be able to "think" to our
computers in the future . . . in fact, that already exists in some limited
fashion. My real objection to Kurzweil's theory is that he uses
aggressive language like "merge" to give the reader a certain
feeling, a certain vision: that we'll combine with our technology into some
kind of single entity. Half human half tech. That is, of course, a
potential future. There have been tons of science fiction novels with a
similar premise (including my own half baked novel), but it isn't the only
potential future. Probably not even the most likely.
I think Kurzweil would do well to take a bit more care with
his language. It might help him with his predictions too.
