by Ray Kurzweil
nanotechnology in upgrading of, 232–236, 412
posterior ventromedial (VMpo), 193, 314
nurture (experience), 225
nutrients, 301, 303, 304
nutritional supplements, 211, 303, 371
Nuttin, B., 585n
obesity, 221, 302
objectivity, 378, 380, 385, 388, 467, 468
O’Brien, R. J., 542n
observation, 47–48, 358
obsolescence stage, 52, 53
Och, Franz Josef, 288
O’Craven, K.M., 539n
octopus, arms of, 181, 544n
Odlyzko, Andrew M., 511n, 516n
Oellette, Jennifer, 581n
Oeppen, Jim, 597n
Oertel, D., 545n
Office of Naval Research, U.S., Autonomous Intelligent Network and Systems (AINS) program of, 333
Ó hAnluain, Daithí, 540n
Ohio State University Health System, 283
Ohm’s Law, 118
oil, oil industry, 102, 243, 244, 252, 420
Oklahoma, University of, 119, 131, 134
Oklo nuclear reactor, 139–140, 503n
oligodendrocytes, 177
oligonucleotides, 552n
olive cells, 184
olivocerebellar region, artificial, 189
Omnidirectional Search System, 343, 344
oncogenesis, 552n
oncology, 581n
O’Neal, D. Patrick, 564n
“One Half a Manifesto” (Lanier), 380
ontology, criticism from, 430, 458–469
Open Courseware (OCW), 336
optical character recognition (OCR), 97
optical coherence imaging (OCI), 163
optical computers, 119–120
optical fibers, 53
optical imaging, 161
optical switching, 76
optic nerve, 154, 166, 170, 186–187, 188
optimism, 374
order, 38–41, 198, 389
class 4 automata and, 88–91
complexity compared with, 38–40, 90, 372
defined, 90
evolution and, 14, 15, 20, 36–45, 47, 509n
exponential growth of, 20, 45
information as, 38–42
nature of, 36–43
organ transplants, 418, 598n
Osborne, Lawrence, 540n
oscillator circuit, 271
ovarian cancer, 282
Overbye, Dennis, 503n
overpopulation, 13
oxidants, 252
oxygen, 161, 163, 209, 305, 399
in fuel cells, 230, 238, 247, 248
respirocytes and, 305, 306
Oyabu, Noriaki, 561n
Pacino, Al, 315
Page, David C., 510
Page, Michael, 563n
Paine, R. W., 545n
Pakistan, 336
Palmer, Brett, 587n
Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), 240, 286
pancreas:
artificial, 124, 243, 307, 530n
modeling of, 168
pancreas cells, 223, 557n
islet, 124, 168, 213, 223, 255, 557n
Panov, A. G., 567n
Papageorgiou, Constantine, 547n
paper documents, 327, 328, 588n
Papert, Seymour, 156, 177, 497n, 539n, 544n
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, 511n–512n
complexity and, 38
defined, 36
doubling rate for, 50, 56, 338, 469, 512n
economic cycles and, 106
exponential growth of RAM capacity over, 75, 75
for fifteen lists of key events, 18, 19, 501n–502n
lock-in vs., 429–430
mistakes during, 13
punctuated equilibrium vs., 44–45, 510n–511n
technology hype cycle for, 263–264
paralysis, 173, 195, 308–309
parietal lobes, 202
parity, 190, 208
Parker, Pat, 598n
Parkinson’s disease, 303, 549n
biotechnology and, 216
brain reverse engineering and, 144, 195
neural implants for, 195, 255, 308, 384, 585n
Parmentola, John A., 331, 588n
particle accelerators, high-energy, 403–404
particles, 120, 134, 168, 355, 520n, 521n
in event horizon, 363, 486–487, 503n
Lloyd’s estimates on, 364–365
quantum-entangled, 353–354, 363, 487
Pascual-Leone, Alvaro, 175, 543n
passivity, 373
past, 7, 11, 408, 409–410, 436
Pasteur, Louis, 226
patents, 106, 525n, 533n
brain reverse engineering and, 146, 537n
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, 501n
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, 522n
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, 560n
Peng, Jinping, 562n
Penn, Anna, 523n, 539n
Pennisi, Elizabeth, 510n
Pennsylvania, University of, Neuroengineering Research Laboratory of, 162, 530n
Penrose, Roger, 201, 450–452, 600n
Pentium processors, 276
Peploski, James, 561n, 562n
peptides, 217, 233, 308
gene expression and, 213, 223, 232
perception, 190, 191, 194
feedforward sequence and, 154, 186, 574n
see also visual systems
Perceptron, 156
Perceptrons (Minsky and Papert), 156
Perry, Jason K., 563n
Perry, Martin, 561n, 562n
personal computers, 17, 18, 406, 473
changing of, 324–325
human
intelligence emulated by, 25, 70, 125–126, 441–442, 533n
IBM 7094 compared with, 64–65
laptops, see laptop computers
mass use of, 50, 512n
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, 587n
personal services, 340
pesticides, 224, 253, 415
Peters, James A., 549n
Peterson, Christine, 229, 395, 558n, 598n
Petricoin, Emanuel F., III, 282, 581n
pharmaceutical companies, 303
Philipkoski, Kristen, 514n, 570n, 581n
Phoenix, Chris, 400, 595n
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, 547n
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, 499n, 592n
digital theory of, 86–87, 518n–522n
in Epoch One, 14–15, 15
intelligence compared with, 364
Newtonian, 520n
singularity in, 23n, 486, 487, 503n
virtual reality and, 319
phytochemicals, 301, 304
pianos, 53, 55
Picasso, Pablo, 202
Pick Best Next Step program, 272–273, 577n–580n
picotechnology, 138–139, 141, 351, 536n
piercing, body, 310
pigs, HIV-type xenoviruses in, 418
piracy, intellectual, 339
Pirsig, Robert M., 392
Pitts, W., 155, 539n
plague, 398, 402, 409
Planck constant, 133–134, 359, 360, 365, 592n
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, 498n
plutonium, 393
pocket computers, 444
Poe, Edgar Allan, 312
poetry, 202
recursive search and, 273, 577n–580n
Poggio, Tomaso, 166, 179, 532n, 541n, 544n, 546n, 547n
on neuron as chip, 530n, 538n
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, 513n
polyethylene glycol, 332
polymerase chain reaction (PCR), 117, 530n
polymer (or hydrogel) particles, 583n
polymers:
biodegradable, 243
electrically actuated, 583n
polynucleotides, 207
Pons, Stanley, 567n
Pontil, M., 547n
pool, software for, 288
Popper, A., 545n
population growth, 99, 321, 433
Port, Otis, 580n, 581n
portable electronics, 56, 113, 247
positron-emission tomography (PET), 160–161
Posner, M. I., 540n
posterior inferior-temporal cortex cells, 175
posterior parietal-cortex cells, 175
posterior ventromedial nucleus (VMpo), 193, 314
Postma, Henk W. Ch., 527n
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, 507n
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, 519n, 521n–522n
computational processes and, 93
of future, 432
of materialism, 431, 473–475
of properties of gas, 168, 432
as test of theory of physics, 519n
prefrontal cortex, 170
Preskill, John, 363
Preston, Richard, 595n
price-performance, 432
of brain scanning, 144, 197, 265, 292
of computing, 12, 41–42, 45, 56–71, 57–65, 67, 69–71, 100, 102, 125–128, 135–136, 142, 243, 261, 292, 432, 437, 506n, 514n
of electronics, 111–112, 526n
exponential growth of, 430, 469, 470
of Internet, 263
of software, 103, 436, 438
of wireless communications, 77, 77
primates, 17, 18, 190, 433
brain in, 27, 152
duration of observation in, 48
nervous system evolution in, 506n
suffering of, 379
visual system of, 574n
see also specific primates
Primo Posthuman, 302
Principia Mathematica (Whitehead and Russell), 453
“Principles of Extropy” (More), 369
printing, printing press, 17, 18, 20, 42, 44, 54
prions, 116–117, 176, 224, 232, 254, 543n
privacy, 407, 413, 422
proactionary principle, 403, 495n–496n
probabilistic fractals, 46–47, 449
probes, nanobots as, 352, 591n
problem solving, 8, 42, 296, 372–373, 499n
Church-Turing thesis and, 429, 453–456, 601n
evolutionary algorithms in, 38–39, 92
Perceptron and, 156
speed of, 21–22
swarms and, 333
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116
productivity:
exponential growth in, 98–101, 98, 99, 101
manufacturing, 100–101, 101
of software, 428, 437
progress, 96, 321, 370, 391, 408
break in the continuity of, 24
defined, 41
intertwined sciences and, 411
in nanotechnology, 227
rate of, 10–13, 16, 41, 50, 102, 108, 510n, 512n
relinquishment of idea of, 407
risks of, 417
Project Alpha, 333
promoters, 551n
property, destruction of, 375
prostate cancer, 282
prostate-specific antigen (PSA), 282
prostitution, virtual, 318
proteins, 234, 239, 383, 423
AGEs and, 220
amino acids in, 27, 47, 85, 148, 208–210, 309, 517n, 550n
beta-catenin, 505n
blood-brain barrier and, 163–164, 165
CPEB, 176, 199–200, 543n
DNA self-assembly and, 117
epigenetic data in, 147
folding of, 27, 209, 234, 482–483, 550n
as food,
224, 301
gene expression and, 16, 147, 213, 214, 223, 552n
genome and, 42, 225, 510n, 517n
misformed, 209, 220, 254, 397, 550n
mitochondrial function and, 220
nanotechnology and, 235–236, 412, 425
pattern recognition and, 282
prions, 116–117, 176, 224, 232, 254, 543n
recognition, 583n
RNA interference and, 214
synthesis of, 47, 208–210, 213, 378, 550n, 551n, 552n
wheel-like, 440
proteome, 225
proteomics, 323
proteosome, 209
protofibrils, 209, 254, 397, 550n
protons, 14, 85, 119, 131
Ptolemies, 54
public awareness, 423
pulmonary hypertension, 216
punch cards, 327
punctuated equilibrium (PE), 44–45, 510n–511n
Purdue University, 115–116, 118, 528n
Purkinje, Johannes, 181
Purkinje cells, 180, 181, 182, 545n
Putnam, H., 596n
Putnam, Sarah, 588n
quadriplegics, 308
quanta, 14
quantum coherence, 446, 451
quantum computing, 113, 119, 120–121
consciousness and, 201, 429, 450–452
factoring large numbers and, 121, 354
quantum decoherence, 120, 121
quantum disentanglement, 353–354
quantum dots, 242, 245, 308, 313, 586n
quantum entanglement, 119, 353–354, 363, 487
quantum gravity, 14
quantum mechanics, 85, 380, 450, 486, 499n, 522n
continuous levels and, 85, 518n
Copenhagen interpretation of, 500n
“hidden variables” interpretation of, 431, 521n
“many worlds” or multiverse theory and, 500n–501n
randomness in, 353–354, 363, 474–475, 481, 521n, 522n
spintronics and, 118, 119
uncertainty, 138, 238, 353, 486
wormholes and, 355
quantum theory, 382, 503n, 519n
quantum wave function, collapse of, 450–451, 500n, 521n
quarks, 85, 486
quasars, 356
qubits, 119, 120, 121, 450
Quintana, J., 542n
rabbits:
cerebellar lesions in, 183
exponential growth of, 128, 433
Rabiner, Lawrence, 570n
radiation, 165
electromagnetic, 344–349, 590n
Hawking, 363–364, 487, 503n
radioactive isotopes, from Oklo reactor, 139–140, 503n
radio circuits, 271
radios, 17, 18, 338
mass use of, 50, 512n
portable, 45
radio-transmitting civilization, search for, see SETI
radix-2 Cooley-Tukey algorithm, 438
radix-4 method, 438–439
Radman, Morislav, 549n
Rado, Tibor, 455, 601n
Raff, Lionel M., 561n, 562n
railroads, 13, 263–264, 420
Rainer, G., 542n
RAM (random access memory), 64, 65, 75, 75, 115
dynamic, see DRAM
magnetic (MRAM), 119
Ramona project, 315, 587n
randomness, 92, 131, 132, 362, 388, 474