8.06: The Age of Spiritual Machines—Explained

Reading Ray Kurzweil’s prognostications about the future—and coming to terms with his ruthless optimism.

The Age of Spiritual Machines, Ray Kurzweil

• The Age of Intelligent Machines
• Moore’s Law
• Universal constants, and especially the speed of light
• You Are Not a Gadget, by Jaron Lanier
• The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr
• René Descartes
• Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Paul Feyerabend
• Thomas Kuhn and particularly The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
• Daniel Dennett
• Pentium III and Core i7s
• Turing test and Alan Turing
  • John Searle’s Chinese Room Argument: “Minds, Brains and Programs”
    • a helpful deep dive
    • Chris’ blog post about it in 2018
  • Lanier via Jacobs, 59th thesis
• Google’s Calico project

• May: Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton (and the movie!)
• June: Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, Simone Brown

• “King of Thumbs” by Alex Dowling
• “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho.

Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors:

• Daniel Ellcey
• Douglas Campos
• Jake Grant
• Marnix Klooster
• Spencer Smith

If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash.

We love to hear your thoughts. Hit us up via Twitter, Facebook, or email!