书名：The Singularity Is Near奇点临近

作者：Ray Kurzweil雷·库兹韦尔 

出版社名称：Penguin Books 

出版时间：2006 

语种：英文 

ISBN：9780143037880 

商品尺寸：15.3 x 3.6 x 23.2 cm 

包装：平装 

页数：672★2005年CBS News评选的畅销书

★2005年美国畅销非小说类图书 ★比尔·盖茨、比尔·乔伊等鼎力推荐 ★一部预测人工智能和科技未来的奇书 在The Singularity Is Near《奇点临近》中，库兹韦尔通过将进化划分为六大纪元，探讨和分析了科学发展趋势。演绎并预测了科技发展的未来。他大胆预测： 21世纪30年代：人类大脑信息上传成为可能 21世纪40年代：人体3.0升级版出现——通过基因、纳米、机器人技术使人体进化成非肉体的、可以随意变形的形态。人们大多数时间沉浸在虚拟现实里（像电影《黑客帝国》所描述的那样） 2045年：奇点来临，人工智能完全超越人类智能，人类历史将彻底改变 2045年之后：宇宙觉醒，为了超越计算机的局限性，人机智能将物质转化为超级计算机，整个宇宙变成一个超级智能，这种智能可以改变目前已知的物理定律，实现不同维度空间的穿越，并实现人类真正的永生。 让我们捧读这《奇点临近》，领略作者的大胆推测和严谨论证，共同期待奇点临近吧！ For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classicThe Age of Spiritual Machines, he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary process: the union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations. Review “A pleasure to read.”  —The Wall Street Journal “Artfully envisions a breathtakingly better world.”  —Los Angeles Times “Startling in scope and bravado.”  —Janet Maslin,The New York Times “The best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence.”  —Bill Gates The Singularity Is Near《奇点临近》是一本有思维方法论启示的书；是一本站在历史的高度，INN，考科技力量的书；是一本充满想象与预言，但又不失科学论证的书。本书提供了一个崭新的视角：21世纪既是数百年以来科技、创意的顶点，又是对人类命运真挚的愿景。

《奇点临近》特点：奇特与警示的结论，书中六个纪元的划分奇特又富于哲理；严谨与独特的论述方法，通过分析科学发展趋势，演绎并预测未来；警世之语与探讨性对话，通过智者的眼睛去审视自然、科学以及世界；章尾与未来的对话，是一种思想的博弈：通过设想中的未来去理解当今的技术发展和讲化中的人类。 本书论述严谨，案例丰富，深入阐释了“奇点”作为一种思潮，其在世界范围内所产生的广泛影响，并介绍了其在哲学、科学、技术、艺术等各个方面所展示的独特魅力。 雷·库兹韦尔，发明家、思想家、预言学家，他用20余年的时间记录和追溯历史的发展轨迹，以预测未来。他被《华尔街日报》誉为“永不满足的天才”，被《福布斯》杂志誉为“zui终的思考机器”，被《Inc．》杂志称为“托马斯·爱迪生的法定继承人”。他还入选了美国国家发明名人堂，是美国国家科技奖章获得者，Lemelson—MIT大奖（世界上重要的发明奖）获奖者。拥有13项荣誉博士头衔，曾经获得3位总统嘉奖。

Ray Kurzweilis one of the world’s leading inventors, thinkers, and futurists. The recipient of many awards and honored with accolades such as “the ultimate thinking machine” (Forbes) and the “rightful heir to Thomas Jefferson” (Inc.), he is the author of four previous books.

At the age of five, I had the idea that I would become an inventor. I had the notion that inventions could change the world. When other kids were wondering aloud what they wanted to be, I already had the conceit that I knew what I was going to be. The rocket ship to the moon that I was then building (almost a decade before President Kennedy’s challenge to the nation) did not work out. But at around the time I turned eight, my inventions became a little more realistic, such as a robotic theater with mechanical linkages that could move scenery and characters in and out of view, and virtual baseball games.

Having fled the Holocaust, my parents, both artists, wanted a more worldly, less provincial, religious upbringing for me.1 My spiritual education, as a result, took place in a Unitarian church. We would spend six months studying one religion—going to its services, reading its books, having dialogues with its leaders—and then move on to the next. The theme was “many paths to the truth.” I noticed, of course, many parallels among the world’s religious traditions, but even the inconsistencies were illuminating. It became clear to me that the basic truths were profound enough to transcend apparent contradictions. At the age of eight, I discovered the Tom Swift Jr. series of books. The plots of all of the thirty-three books (only nine of which had been published when I started to read them in 1956) were always the same: Tom would get himself into a terrible predicament, in which his fate and that of his friends, and often the rest of the human race, hung in the balance. Tom would retreat to his basement lab and think about how to solve the problem. This, then, was the dramatic tension in each book in the series: what ingenious idea would Tom and his friends come up with to save the day? The moral of these tales was simple: the right idea had the power to overcome a seemingly overwhelming challenge. To this day, I remain convinced of this basic philosophy: no matter what quandaries we face—business problems, health issues, relationship difficulties, as well as the great scientific, social, and cultural challenges of our time—there is an idea that can enable us to prevail. Furthermore, we can find that idea. And when we find it, we need to implement it. My life has been shaped by this imperative. The power of an idea—this is itself an idea. Around the same time that I was reading the Tom Swift Jr. series, I recall my grandfather, who had also fled Europe with my mother, coming back from his first return visit to Europe with two key memories. One was the gracious treatment he received from the Austrians and Germans, the same people who had forced him to flee in 1938. The other was a rare opportunity he had been given to touch with his own hands some original manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci. Both recollections influenced me, but the latter is one I’ve returned to many times. He described the experience with reverence, as if he had touched the work of God himself. This, then, was the religion that I was raised with: veneration for human creativity and the power of ideas.