[Nfbmo] {Disarmed} Fwd: Ray Kurzweil and how advances in technology will change everything

[DanFlasar at aol.com]

Hi all,
    I am passing this on only because it is an extended  article about 
someone who has had  and continues to have - a very close  relationship with the 
NFB - Ray Kurzweil.  In association with the NFB at  various times, 
Kurzweil has created such important technological prostheses  as the scanner, the 
first text-to-speech engines and combining the  aforementioned, the KNFB 
Reader, now packaged into a cellphone.   He's  worked in other domains as well, 
such as music synthesizers - his curiosity and  creativity seems to be 
boundless.
    Some of us have heard about his ideas on "The  Singularity" - which has 
been portrayed in lurid terms in the press and the  media as evidence that 
Dr. Kurzweil is essentially 'losing it'.
     This article, from Time magazine, takes a more  in-depth look at 
Kurzweil's career and how it has led him to his seemingly  bizarre predictions 
such as installing our consciousness into immortal robot  bodies.  What he is 
really about is asking what happens when technology can  correct or 
compensate for deficits in the human body - or just as importantly,  using 
technology to enhance our bodies beyond what they are capable of in the  first place. 
  
     I had a long discussion with a  friend about the NFB's blind-driveable 
car.    My  friend didn't understand that this was not a robotic car  that 
chauffeured the blind passenger - it was a car that included  sensor 
technology that mapped the visual world into a form that a blind driver  can use to 
make the decisions necessary to successfully navigate and control -  to 
drive - the vehicle.  The army, it is true, has been trying to develop a  robot 
car that drives itself through all kinds of terrain, including,  
eventually, populated areas, highways and Walmart parking lots.   The  NFB car's 
driver is essential - the driver is in control, but plenty of  safety devices are 
also at work to make the job a bit easier. These same devices  could also 
make it easier for the sighted to drive as well.   
    It is here that Kurzweil is *really* taking the  blind into a more 
equitable realm - his text-to-speech technology made it  easier for us to 
'drive' through the universe of information via print.   The KNFB reader allows us 
to more easily 'drive' through the wider world by  making verbal 
information in the environment available.   Kurzweil had  no part in the 
blind-driveable car but it is in line with what he has done all  along. I don't believe 
in the inevetability of Kurzweil's  predictions but  it is well worth the 
time to understand what it is that makes Raymond Kurzweil  'tick' - and what in 
part drove him to develop accessible  technologies.  He has been at work 
for a long time to redefine what  independence means.
     The article is in 5 parts, well worth the  effort.
 

 (http://www.time.com/)  (http://www.time.com/)     



2045: The Year Man Becomes  Immortal
_http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2048138,00.html?artId=204813
8?contType=article?chn=sciHealth_ 
(http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2048138,00.html?artId=2048138?contType=article?chn=sciHealth) 

Dan