adenoviruses, 216
Adept Technologies, 285
Adleman, Leonard, 529n–530n
Adrian, E. D., 154, 539n
Afghanistan, 280, 332, 334
Africa:
AIDS in, 95, 470
GMO food in, 406, 414, 415
natural nuclear reactor in, 139–140, 503n
Web access in, 469
Age of Intelligent Machines, The (Kurzweil), 3, 24, 94, 275, 277, 279, 393, 497n, 518n, 519n
Age of Spiritual Machines, The (ASM) (Kurzweil), 3, 24, 113, 315–316, 361
catching a fly ball examined in, 178–179
molecular computing in, 121
only-a-human cartoon in, 290–291, 291
promise vs. perils of technology in, 393–394, 427
AGEs (advanced glycation end-products), 220
aging, 100, 233
of cells, 209
slowing and reversal of, 28, 141, 206, 210–221, 253, 256–257, 259, 323, 371, 373, 377, 397
agriculture, 17, 18, 20, 536n
GMOs and, 414–415, 471
reduction in farm workforce and, 302, 340, 583n
AI, see artificial intelligence; narrow AI; strong AI
AIDS drugs, 95, 470
Air Force, U.S., 280, 335
Air Force Strategic Missiles Evaluation Committee, 401
airplanes, aviation, 138, 146, 246, 266, 397, 409, 420
Bernoulli’s principle and, 265
guidance for, 8, 255, 276, 413, 435–436, 456
air pollution, 243
airports, 284
air pressure, 265
Akers, Nick, 247–248, 595n
alanine, 210
alcohol, 247–248
algebra, 283
algorithmic information content (AIC), 37, 38
algorithms, 5, 444, 445, 461, 522n
brain-modeling, 148–149
brain reverse engineering and, 147
Church-Turing thesis and, 454, 455
data compression, 516n–517n
decision or halting problem and, 601n
DNA computing and, 118
equivalence principle and, 136–137, 536n
learning, 156
minimax, 275–277
neural net, 269, 570n–574n
parallelizing of, 439
reversible computing and, 130–31, 132
self-organizing, 146, 439–40, 481, 538n; see also evolutionary (genetic) algorithms
software, 428, 438–442
Allan, Alasdair, 281
Allen, Paul, 343
Allen Telescope Array, 343, 343
Allis, G., 561n
Allison, Graham, 596n
Allsop, A., 552n
alpha (fine-structure constant), 140, 356, 503n
ALT-711 (phenacyldimenthylthiazolium chloride), 220
aluminum, 245, 246
Alzheimer’s disease, 549n
biotechnology and, 209, 220, 555n
brain reverse engineering and, 144, 188
Ameisen, J. C., 557n
amino acids, 483
nanotechnology and, 233, 233, 234, 242
in proteins, 27, 47, 85, 148, 208–210, 309, 517n, 550n
amygdala, 541n
amyloid plaque, 220, 550n
analog, analog operations:
in brain, 71, 126, 147–151, 428, 442, 483
criticism from, 428, 442
digital vs., 14, 126, 147, 149–150, 308, 428, 442, 461, 519n
image sensors, 533n
Mead’s use of, 89, 188
transistors’ use of, 126, 149–150, 151, 188, 189, 442, 443
ANALOGY, 569n
Ananthaswamy, Anil, 553n
Andberg, Anders, 591n
Anderson, Mark K., 527n
Anderson, M. C., 544n
Anderson, W. French, 196, 548n
anger, 193, 379, 389, 477–478
Anger, Natalie, 551n
angiogenesis, blocking of, 218, 222
animal rights, 378
animals:
antiaging experiments in, 220–221
blood-brain barrier in, 163
brain of, 4, 129, 145, 169
cloning of, 221, 222, 555n–556n
consciousness of, 378, 466–468
defensive technologies tested on, 416
elimination of suffering of, 224, 379
gene therapy in, 215, 216
medical nanobots in, 254–255
memory in, 48
moratorium on transplantation of vascularized organs of, 418
motion detection in, 188
observation by, 47, 48
pattern recognition in, 16
pigmentation of, 90
SARS virus in, 402
transgenic, 215, 222
xenografts and, 418, 598n
see also specific animals
Anissimov, Michael, 10, 299, 320, 321
ant colonies, 151
Anthes, Gary H., 570n
Anthropic Cosmological Principle, The (Barrow and Tipler), 500n
anthropic principle, 15, 357, 359–364, 499n–501n
antibiotics, 306, 409
antibodies, 242, 255, 425
antigens, 218
antiparticles, 363, 486–487, 503n, 521n
antiviral medications, 511n
apes, 72, 191, 193, 387, 509n
see also specific apes
apical dendrites, 191–192, 192
Apo-A-I Milano (AAIM), 217
application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), 125, 135, 276, 445
Arai, K. I., 584n
Arbib, Michael A., 190, 548n
arginine, 210
Argonne National Laboratory, 283
Aristotle, 154, 337, 539n
Aristov, V. V., 516n
arm:
of kinematic constructor, 228, 229
of nanobot, 229–230, 233
of octopus, 181, 544n
Army, U.S., 280, 312, 331–332, 336
Army Science Advisory Group (ASAG), 331
Arndt, Michael, 580n, 581n
Arnold, Michael S., 527n
ARPANET, 78
art, 17, 18, 20, 145, 191, 340, 498n
as knowledge, 372, 375
pattern and, 388
Artificial General Intelligence Research Institute, 599n
artificial intelligence (AI), 8, 111, 144, 240, 438
Bayesian nets and, 267–268, 280
combining methods in, 278–279, 293
defined, 265
development of, 497n
divergence of human intelligence and, 146
education of, 202–203, 294
expert systems and, 266–267, 280, 282–283
genetic algorithms and, see evolutionary (genetic) algorithms
Lanier’s views on, 441
Markov models and, see Markov models
narrow, see narrow AI
neural nets and, see neural nets
recursive search and, 272–273, 279, 576n–580n
from simple rules, 91–94
in software, 428
strong, see strong AI
toolkit of, 265–273, 278–279, 293, 435, 439, 456, 570n–580n
winter of, 263–266, 289, 569n
see also computers, computation; nonbiological intelligence; robots, robotics
art programs, recursive search and, 273, 577n–580n
Asaad, W. F., 542n
Ascent Technology, 284
Asia, 95, 469
GMOs in, 471
poverty in, 99, 470
vitamin A deficiency in, 414
ASICs, see application-specific integrated circuits
Asilomar conference, 402, 418
Ask MSR (Ask MicroSoft Research), 286–287
Association of American Publishers, 497n
asteroids, 20, 40, 281, 398, 405–406
astrocytes, 177
astrophysics, singularity in, 23, 486, 487, 503n
Atanassov, P., 595n
&nb
sp; atherosclerosis, 212, 217, 257
At Home in the Universe (Kauffman), 509n
atomic bomb, 392–393, 404, 408, 594n
atomic-force microscope (AFM), 138, 237, 536n
atomic memory drive, 115
atoms, 5, 14, 85, 168, 198, 210, 383, 404, 499n
computational capacity and, 131, 133, 138
information in, 14, 15, 119, 131, 134, 536n
nanotechnology and, 226, 227, 228, 234, 240, 244, 251, 253
ATP, see adenosine triphosphate
atrasentan, 218
Audience, Inc., 530n
Audio Spotlight systems, 313
auditory cortex, 124
auditory nerve, 195
auditory system, human, 153, 165, 438, 530n
scanning of, 165
Watts’s model of, 123–124, 147–148, 183–184, 185, 443, 452, 530n, 545n–547n
auditory virtual reality, 105, 310, 312–313, 318, 472
Augarten, Stan, 513n
Augsburg, University of, 536n
Australia, 128, 398, 433
Australopithecines, 509n
Austria, Austrians, 2, 327
autoimmune reactions:
biological, 223, 233, 255, 417, 426
nanobot, 417
automation, 31, 65, 108, 340, 507n
in investing, 265, 435
with robots, 285
autonomic computing, 284, 437
autonomous, semi-intelligent observatories, 281
Autonomous Intelligent Network and Systems (AINS) program, 333
avastin, 218
Aviram, Avi, 115, 528n
Avouris, Phaedon, 527n
axons, 124, 145, 150, 154–155, 176, 192, 428, 452
Babbage, Charles, 93–94
Babcock, Alpheus, 53
babies, 190
“designer,” 215, 225–226, 553n
baboons, HIV-type xenoviruses in, 418
Bachand, George, 560n, 561n, 585n
backpropagation, 156
bacteria, 220, 282, 317, 367, 397
blood-brain barrier and, 163
cultivation of, 594n
in digestive system, 386
eukaryotic, 17, 18, 450, 583n
flagellum of, 440
future of, 297–298
genetic engineering and, 393
nanotechnology and, 226, 233, 236, 248, 254, 255
protein synthesis and, 551n
Baguisi, A., 556n
Bai, Q., 584n
Bailey, Patrick, 562n
Baker, Andrew H., 216
Baker, Sue, 589n
balance, 179, 189
Balkenius, Christian, 538n
Ballard, D., 547n
balls, catching of, 178–179
bandwidth, 9, 96, 107, 337, 346, 432
of brain scanning, 25, 144, 161, 197, 292
of endocrine system, 200, 443
Internet, 81, 81, 263, 312, 472, 516n
banking, 102, 289
Barel, Helit, 597n
Barlow, Horace, 154
Barrow, J. D., 502n
Barrow, John, 356, 500n
Bartol, Thomas M., Jr., 190
Barton, S. C., 595n
basal dendrites, 192
Basel, University of, 115
Bashir, Rashid, 583n
basis functions, 179, 544n
batteries, 133, 246, 248
Bayes, Thomas, 267, 570n
Bayesian nets (belief networks), 267–268, 280
Bayles, Fred, 588n
“Be a Scientist, Save the World” (Smalley), 241
beauty, 310, 389, 476
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 378
Begley, Sharon, 542n, 543n
behavior, 378, 380, 385
Bekenstein, Jacob D., 593n
belief networks, see Bayesian nets
Bell, Anthony J., 169–170, 444–446, 448–451, 542n, 600n
Bell, Gordon, 328
Bellis, Mary, 515n
Bender, Eric, 589n
Benenson, Y., 530n
Bennett, Charles H., 130, 534n
Bennett, James, 598n
Benson, E., 542n
Bentley, Jon, 438, 600n
Berg, Paul, 418
Berger, Ted, 188, 195
Bergeron, Bryan, 328–329, 588n
Berndt, E. R., 512n
Bernoulli’s principle, 265
Bernstein, Michael, 526
Bernstein, N., 544n
Berra, Yogi, 14
beta-carotene, 414
beta-catenin, 505n
Beveridge, W. I., 427
Bezos, Jeff, 96
Biever, Celeste, 516n, 530n
Big Bang(s), 14, 356, 361, 500n
Bilesch, Stanley, 547n
Bils, Mark, 100, 525n
Bingham, R., 539n
biochemists, skepticism of, 13
Biocosm vision, 361–362
biological age, 253, 257
test for, 210, 550n
biological assembler, nanotechnology and, 232–233
biological evolution, 522n
anthropic principle and, 15, 357, 359
asteroid and meteor collisions and, 398
complexity increases and, 36–38, 508n–509n
computational limits and, 137
continuance of, 47, 94, 511n
death and, 320, 321
digestive processes and, 301–302
disease and, 511n
diversity in, 45–46
in Epoch One, 14–15, 15
in Epoch Two, 15, 16, 47
in Epoch Three, 15, 16, 47
incredulity about, 433
“inventions” of, 5
key events of, see key events, of biological and technological evolution
limitations of, 21, 26, 27, 148, 271, 309–310, 311, 321
local optimization and, 309
measurement of, 357
mutations and, 42, 92, 506n
as open system, 42
order increased by, 40
punctuated equilibrium theory of, 44–45, 510n–511n
survival purposes of, 38, 39, 41, 96
technological evolution as continuation of, 7, 42, 137
upending of, 374
water-based chemistry of, 239
wheels and roads and, 440
biological intelligence, 124, 128, 428
concerns about end of, 30
limits of, 8–9, 32, 316, 337, 340, 377
merger of nonbiological intelligence with, 4, 9, 24, 25, 47, 123, 128, 197, 296, 300, 316–317, 337, 340, 372, 375–376, 377, 424
technology merged with, 9, 28, 298
transcendence of, 375–376
Biological Micro Electronic Mechanical Systems, see BioMEMS
biology, 411, 412
emulating, three-dimensional molecular computing and, 112–113, 116–117, 519n
limits of, 206, 227, 234, 320, 321, 323, 325, 376, 381
models of, 168
nanotechnology compared with, 227, 232, 234
biomass, 243, 399–400, 425–426, 595n
BioMEMS (Biological Micro Electronic Mechanical Systems), 254, 303, 570n, 583n
biosphere, 33, 397
biotechnology, 27, 84, 95, 102, 210–227, 301, 323, 398, 549n–557n, 595n
availability of knowledge about, 398, 595n
dangers of, 206, 232, 395, 407, 408, 412
defensive technologies and, 408, 416–418
designer baby boomers and, 210–214, 551n
environmentalist campaign against, 391, 395, 414–415
ethical issues and, 221–222, 223, 224, 553n
gene chips and, 214–215, 552n
gene therapy and, 215–216, 219, 220, 256, 323, 416–417, 553n
guidelines for, 402, 418
nanotechnology compared with, 227, 232, 251, 256, 257, 412
regulation of, 416–417, 423
in reversal of aging
, 28, 141, 206, 212–215, 218–221, 256, 257, 323, 371, 373, 396
in reversal of degenerative disease, 210, 217–221, 396, 553n–555n
RNA interference and, 12, 214, 256, 323, 417, 422, 551n
see also cloning; stem cells
bioweapons program, 393
Bird, Jon, 271
birth control, see contraception
Bissi, E., 541n
Black, Keith L., 541n
black holes, 23, 404, 503n
event horizon of, 7, 23, 29, 363, 486–487, 503n
as ultimate computer, 362–364
universe-generating, 360
Blakeslee, Sandra, 548n
Block, Steven, 157
blood:
nanobots in, 248, 253–257, 300, 303, 317, 377, 432, 472
programmable, 305–306
protein in, 282
blood-brain barrier (BBB), 163–165, 242
blood cells, 254, 276
mechanical red, see respirocytes
white, microbivores as replacements for, 254, 306
blood vessels, angiogenesis and, 218
blue goo, 416
Boahen, Kwabena, 530n
body, biological, 199, 257–258
emotions and, 193, 203
functional simulations of, 124
human longevity and, 325
identity and, 315, 383–387
limits of, 9, 27, 28, 29, 203, 325
nanotechnology problems and, 251
pattern of, 371, 383–384
reverse engineering of, 127
body, GNR impact on, 299–311, 583n–586n
brain and, 307–309, 585n
digestive system and, 301–305
heart and, 306–307
organ elimination and, 304–307, 310–311
programmable blood and, 305–306
body, virtual, 28–29, 199, 203, 319, 325
Boehm, T., 554n
Boese, Christine, 338, 589n
bombs:
atomic, 392–393, 404, 408, 594n
hydrogen, 391, 401, 404, 408
Bonds, A. B., 541n
Bone, 215
bone metabolism markers, 215
Bonner, John Tyler, 509n
bonobos, 192
Bostrom, Nick D., 259–260, 369, 401, 403, 404, 596n
Bouissou, Brigitte, 336, 589n
boundaries, of self, 387
bowel functions, 304
Boyer, Paul D., 501n
BP Amoco, 102
Bradbury, Robert, 350
Brader, Mark, 515n
brain, human, 4, 71–72, 120, 257–258
aesthetics and, 310
analog processes in, 71, 126, 147–151, 428, 442, 483
architecture of regions of, 152–153
cerebellum of, see cerebellum
chaos of, 148, 149, 151, 152, 178, 198, 440, 446, 449, 450, 452, 460, 462, 483
of children, 152, 177
Church-Turing thesis and, 454–455
complexity of, 89, 145, 147, 198, 200, 428–429, 430, 442–450, 463, 465, 475, 523n
computational efficiency of, 137–138
computer compared with, 149–153, 293, 444
computer’s interfacing with, 194–195
contradictory views held by, 152
damage to, 173, 177