How to Create a Mind |
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3 September 2023 - Pamplona
I finished reading Ray Kurzweil's How to Create a Mind waiting for the Refuge Orisson to open up for coffee and left it there for the next passerby to read. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read although 10 years old. It's been in my tsundoku pile a long time! Interestingly, Henry Markram, who is a cofounder of Ailly, figures prominently as well as his Blue Brain Project. Kurzweil goes through an explanation of how the higher brain functions with hierarchical pattern recognition. Then he discusses the history of computing from Babbage through 2010. It reminds me very much of what I remember of his earlier book, The Singularity is Near. Oddly, he devotes the last chapter to rebutting Paul Allen's criticism of the singularity idea, that is, that there is a point in the near future where computers will surpass our brains and we can't tell what will happen after that. There are better books on the subject to read today than this one, but it led to some interesting conversations on the Camino so I'm glad I brought it.
