spindle cells and, 191–194, 192
emotions, 300, 310, 315–316, 319, 341, 475
encryption codes, 121, 354, 412, 419
encryption trapdoor, 413, 422
encyclopedias, 54, 363
endangered species, preservation of, 222
endocrine (hormonal) system, 163, 257, 325, 475
artificial, 243, 306–307
bandwidth of, 200, 443
circulatory system and, 442, 443
endostatin, 218
endothelial cells, 163, 165, 210, 216
energy, 32, 33, 243–250, 339, 407
black holes and, 7, 363, 503n
cell aging and, 209, 552n
cellular, 219–220, 583n
centralized, 420, 421
computational limits and, 72, 113, 128–134, 129, 136, 300, 349–351, 427–428, 432, 434–435, 533n
cost of, 96, 243, 246, 249–250
as digital vs. analog, 14
distributed, 421
Dyson Sphere and, 350
efficiencies in the use of, 243, 244, 248–249, 566n
fossil fuels as source of, see coal; oil, oil industry
information’s relationship with, 86, 87, 243, 457, 522n
lock-in and, 429, 430, 457
for nanotechnology, 230, 238, 244, 245, 352
nanotechnology-based, 133, 243–250, 340, 395, 397, 430, 434, 457
nonbiological intelligence’s saturating of, 15, 21, 29, 45, 364, 375, 389, 511n
patterns of, 325, 383, 385, 431, 474
potential, 133
recycling of, 249
renewable, 243, 244, 251, 372, 395, 421, 434, 457
for smart-dust systems, 334
solar, see solar energy
spintronics and, 118
storage of, 246, 247, 248, 421, 434, 457
total metabolic output of, 249
transmission of, 246–247
transportation of, 246, 247, 340
utilization of, 244–246
wind, 243, 244, 334
worldwide requirements for, 243–244
wormholes and, 355, 356
Energy Department, U.S., 247, 567n
Enger, John, 524n
engineered negligible senescence, 213
Engines of Creation (Drexler), 111, 139, 228
enhancers, 551n
ENIAC, 56
Enough (McKibben), 410
entertainment, 259, 288, 339–340
entropy, 39–40, 130, 134, 510n, 520n
entropy rate, 508n
“Entscheidungsproblem,” see decision (halting) problem
environment:
cleaning up of, 241, 249, 251, 372, 397, 410
complexity of, 449, 475
computing distributed in, 105, 136, 312
diversity and, 45–46
energy and, 243, 246, 249
entropy and, 130
exponential growth and, 44, 128, 433
factory farming and, 224
gene expression and, 551n
nanotechnology and, 229, 230, 250–253, 259
survival and, 39
virtual-reality, 105, 312, 314, 337, 340, 341
voxel (three-dimensional pixel) maps of, 285
environmentalists, 391, 395, 414–415
enzymes, 147, 207, 208, 217, 218, 238, 301, 306, 482, 550n
digestive, 168
DNA computing and, 117, 530n
as molecular machines, 231–232
nanotechnology and, 238–239, 247
see also specific enzymes
epigenetic information, 16, 147
epilepsy, 188, 216
epithelium, 165
Epoch One, 14–15, 15
Epoch Two, 15, 16, 47
Epoch Three, 15, 16, 47
Epoch Four, 15, 16–20, 17–20, 47
Epoch Five, 14, 15, 20–21, 40, 47, 205, 367
Epoch Six, 14, 15, 21, 32, 367, 390
equity markets, see stock, stock market
equivalence principle, 136–138, 536n
esophagus, upper, 307
ethanol, 247
ethical issues:
biotechnology and, 221–22, 223, 224, 553n
consciousness and, 379
defensive technologies and, 416
genetic engineering and, 402
nanotechnology and, 229, 418, 423
SETI and, 348
xenografts and, 418, 598n
“Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence” (Bostrom), 260
“Ethics for Intelligent Machines” (Bostrom), 369
ETI, see extraterrestrial intelligence; SETI eukaryotic evolution, 17, 18, 450, 583n
Eumenes II, 54
Europe:
bubonic plague in, 398, 402
GMOs in, 471
European Commission, 414
Evans, Thomas, 569n, 570n
event horizon, 7, 29, 486–487
gravity in, 23, 363, 486, 503n
Everett, Hugh, 500n–501n
evolution:
complexity increases and, 36–39, 44, 45, 47, 389, 476, 507n
farsighted, 47–50
indirection and, 14, 15, 16, 30, 40–41, 92, 94
of language, 190
law of accelerating returns and, see accelerating returns, law of
as learning paradigm, 152
as open system, 40, 41, 42
order and, 14, 15, 20, 36–45, 47, 509n
patterns and, 14–21, 389
positive feedback in, 40, 41
as runaway phenomenon, 32
self-replicating nanotechnology and, 418
six epochs of, 14–21, 15, 17–20
of universes, 360, 361
see also biological evolution; technology evolution
evolutionary (genetic) algorithms, 38–39, 42, 91–93, 270–272, 405, 455, 480–481
in AI applications, 280, 281, 284, 288
basic schema for, 575n–576n
defined, 539n
evaluation function for, 272
neural nets combined with, 271, 278–279
order in, 38–39
pattern recognition and, 92, 152, 271, 461
Evolution of Complexity by Means of Natural Selection (Bonner), 509n
existential risks, 400–408, 422, 495n–496n
exomuscle, 332
experience beamers, 316, 379
expert systems, 266–267, 280, 282–283
exponential growth, 425, 486
of brain reverse engineering, 73, 144, 196–198
of brain scanning, 25, 161, 197, 407
of communications, 35, 76–77, 77, 102, 112, 245–246, 470
of complexity, 20, 358
of computing, 25, 56–73, 57–65, 67, 69–71, 75, 75, 102, 112, 127, 128, 135, 276, 292, 432, 434, 436, 470, 498n, 514n
criticism from Malthus and, 427–428, 433–434
in DNA sequencing, 74, 74, 470, 514n
double, 12, 25, 27, 28, 41–42, 56, 506n
of education, 108, 108, 525n
GNR and, 73, 227, 245–246
of information technologies, 3, 9, 25, 35, 72, 84, 85, 109, 245–246, 265, 377, 385, 429, 433–435, 457, 469, 470, 491–496, 504n
“knee of the curve” and, 9, 10, 97, 154
of knowledge, 9, 73, 105, 302, 396
limits of, 128, 433–434
linear growth vs., 8, 10–14, 10, 97–98, 108, 109, 137
Moore’s Law and, see Moore’s Law nearly vertical phase of, 24
of nonbiological intelligence, 257, 300, 316, 377, 407
of order, 20, 45
paradigms and, 42–46, 43, 44, 263–264
in productivity, 98–101, 98, 99, 101
of quantum computing, 121
rabbits in Australia and, 128, 433
see also accelerating returns, law of “Exponential Growth of Computing” chart, 70, 70, 125, 135
extinction, 222, 409, 511n, 588n
extracellular aggregates, 220
extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI), 372, 406
search for, see SETI
eyeglasses, 105, 312, 472
eyes, 130, 186–187, 187, 482
facial animation, 294–295
factoring large numbers, 121, 354, 530n
factory farming, 224, 379
famine, 406
Fandel, D., 512n
Fantastic Voyage (Kurzweil and Grossman), 210, 217, 323
Fantastic-Voyage.net, 490
Faraday, Michael, 326
Fast ForWord, 175
fat cells, 12, 219, 303
fat insulin receptor (FIR) gene, 12, 303
FATKAT (Financial Accelerating Transactions by Kurzweil Adaptive Technologies), 569n
fats, dietary, 301
Fay, R., 545n
FBI, 392, 413, 421
FDA, see Food and Drug Administration fear, 241, 541n
Feder, Barnaby J., 564n
Federal Reserve Board, 97
feedforward sequence, 154, 170, 186, 574n
Feigenbaum, Edward A., 295–296, 582n
Feigenbaum test (FT), 295–296
Feinstein Amendment, 594n
Feldham, Jim, 591n
Felsenfeld, Gary, 549n
femtotechnology, 138–139, 351
Fenniri, Hicham, 528n
Feringa, Ben, 234
Fermi, Enrico, 348
Fermi Paradox, 348, 357–359
ferromagnetic metallic alloys, 119
fetuses, cloning of, 221
Feynman, Richard P., 86, 226, 227, 228, 320, 558n
Feynman Gate, 534n
fiber cells:
climbing, 180, 180, 181
mossy, 179, 180, 182, 545n
fiber optics, 76, 346
field-emission displays (FEDs), 253
fimbriae, 236
finance, 413, 449
AI systems in, 283, 284, 287, 294
see also stock, stock market
fine-structure constant, see alpha
fingers, 174
see also thumbs
Finkel, Leif H., 162, 164, 530n, 541n
Finn, O. J., 554n
firewalls, 256, 257
firmware, 444
First Union Home Equity Bank, 284
Fitch, Tecumseh, 190
flash memory, 54, 113, 115, 116
Fleischman, Martin, 567n
Florence, University of, 288
flu, 398, 402
flying machines, 457–458
FocalPoint, 282–283
Focus, 309, 586n
Fodor, Jerry A., 387, 594n
Fogg, D. K., 552n
foglets, 28, 29, 33, 310, 325, 506n
Foiles, P., 555n
Foley, E. T., 562n
food, food supply, 301, 339
cloning of, 224
in digestive tract, 386
genetically modified, 406, 414–415, 471
nanotechnology and, 251
spybots and, 406
food additives, 215
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 12, 195, 217, 282, 412, 416, 585n
foreign languages, translation of, 288, 292, 313, 337
Foresight Institute, 558n, 584n
guidelines of, 229, 395, 411, 418–419, 598n
forgetting, 176–177, 543n
Forró, László, 526n
Fortran, 89
forward internal models, 179
fossil fuels, see coal; oil, oil industry
Founds, H., 555n
Fountain, Henry, 536n
four-dimensional network, 520n
Fourier transforms, 438
Foveon, 533n
Fox, Armando, 284
fractals, 89, 522n
brain and, 46–47, 68, 446–449
defined, 68, 447
Francis of Assisi, Saint, 382
Franklin, Benjamin, 382–383
Franks, Tommy, 334
Frantz, Gene, 533n
fraud, detection of, 269, 276, 283, 284
Fredkin, Edward, 86, 87, 127, 518n–519n, 533n, 534n
reversible computing and, 130, 131–132
Freeman, Walter J., 538n
free will, 382, 521n–522n
Freitas, Robert, Jr., 133, 230, 238, 403, 506n, 535n, 536n, 537n, 541n, 548n, 557n–560n, 561n, 562n, 563n, 566n, 568n, 584n, 585n, 587n, 591n, 595n, 596n, 597n, 600n
on biological age, 253
brain scanning and, 164–166
on brain-uploading system, 548n–549n
on energy, 249, 566n
on life expectancy, 323
on nanobot problems, 399, 400, 411–412, 425
nanomedicine and, 254, 255, 305–306, 584n
robotic probes advocated by, 591n
sentience quotient of, 536n
vasculoid design of, 306
Fremouw, Thane, 545n
French, Robert M., 569n
Freud, Sigmund, 176
“Freud, Sigmund,” 202, 203, 317–318, 381, 458, 475
Friedman, Scott, 547n
Frisch, Max, 341
Friston, K. J., 143, 537n, 543n
Fromherz, Peter, 586n, 587n
Frontier Medical Institute, 550n
frontoinsular cortex, 193
fructose, 248
fuel cells, 133, 230, 238, 244, 246, 247–248, 334, 340, 397
energy storage in, 247, 421, 434, 457
Fuerth, Leon, 470, 471–472
Fujishima, Akira, 567n
Fulford, Benjamin, 526n
functional magnetic-resonance imaging (fMRI), 150, 156, 158, 160–161, 175, 176, 193
fundamentalism, 498n
environmentalist, 414–415
GNR impact and, 338, 340–341
humanist, 415, 471
religious, 414
Fuster, J. M., 542n
future, 3–4, 5, 7, 299
misunderstanding of, 10–14, 240–241
prediction of, 432
Future Combat System (FCS), 331–333
FutureGen, 244
Future of Life conference (2003), 11–12, 499n
Future Route, 284
Gabriel, Richard, 569n
Gabrieli, John, 175, 176–177
Gage, Fred H., 177, 544n
galaxies, 357, 390
Hubble distance and, 354
Milky Way, 342–348, 590n
stars vs., 281
Gallant, J., 547n
Gallaway, J., 595n
gallium arsenide, 119, 138, 251
game-playing programs:
for chess, 274–278, 441, 459
recursive search and, 272–273, 577n–580n
Gan, Wen-Biao, 172
Ganer, Alan G., 599n
ganglion cells, 187
Grdner, James, 359, 361–362, 366, 592n, 602n
Gardner, Timothy, 221
Garfinkel, S. L., 555n
Gargini, Paolo, 112, 526n
Gartner, John, 567n, 582n
gas:
curved surfaces and, 265
energy from, 243, 244, 247, 250, 252, 420
prediction of properties of, 168, 432
gates, 111
logic, see logic gates
“Gates, Bill,” 374–376
Gell-Mann, Murray, 37, 38, 508n
gender, change in, 318–319
gene chips (microarrays), 214–215, 552n
gene expression, 16, 147, 213–216, 283, 551n–553n, 556n, 557n
nanobots and, 232–233
peptides and, 213, 223, 232
RNA interference and, 12, 214, 256, 323, 417, 422, 551n
suppression of, 219, 323, 422
General Dynamics, 235
General Electric, 271
General Problem Solver (GPS) program, 264, 273, 569n
general relativity theory, 341, 355, 378, 500n, 503n, 520n
genes, genetics, 16, 27, 107, 168, 282, 482–483
of chimpanzees vs. humans, 5, 505n
defective, 214, 553n
as disposition, 225
fat insulin receptor (FIR), 12, 303
mutations and, see mutations
protection of, 42
regulatory sequences of, 551n
revolution in, 73, 84, 205–227, 299–300, 549n–557n; see also biotechnology
in sexual reproduction, 46
“suicide,” 219
gene splicing, 418, 423, 482
gene therapy, 215–217, 219, 220, 256, 323, 553n
genetic algorithms (GAs), see evolutionary (genetic) algorithms
genetically modified organisms (GMOs), 406, 414–415, 471
genetic disorders, 553n
genetic engineering, 28, 301
environmentalist campaign against, 391
viruses and, 206, 393, 398, 402–403
genetic errors, cloning and, 221, 556n
genetic modification, 116–117, 171
genetic profiling, uses of, 214–215
genome, human, 13, 145, 225, 600n
aging and, 221
brain and, 89, 147, 180, 428–429, 440, 443–444, 523n
compression of, 89, 147, 206–207, 443, 448, 449, 482, 508n, 516n–517n, 523n, 538n
DNA sequencing and, 73–74, 73, 74, 85, 514n
fractal designs and, 46, 47
information content of, 46, 47, 206–207, 516n–517n, 522n
proteins and, 42, 225, 510n, 517n
reverse engineering of, 517n
genome, virus, 553n
genomics, 323
geothermal technologies, 243, 244, 246
Gerberding, Julie, 514n
Gerla, Mario, 589n
Germany, Germans, 2, 138, 188, 195, 308, 536n
Gianaro, Catherine, 506n
Gilbert, S.F., 551n
Gilder, George, 370, 394, 497n
Giorelli, Giulio, 369
giraffe, brain of, 4, 169
Gisin, Nicolas, 353–354
Glenn, Jerome C., 565n
glial cells, 195
Glickstein, M., 544n, 545n
glucose, 124, 230, 232, 399, 530n
blood-brain barrier and, 163, 165
in fuel cells, 230, 238, 248, 306
nanomedicine and, 238, 243, 307
as nutrient, 301
glycogen, 305
GMOs, see genetically modified organisms
GNR (Genetics, Nanotechnology, Robotics) age, 205–298, 407, 549n–583n
defensive technologies for, see defensive technologies for GNR age
economic growth from, 98, 230–231, 396–397, 406, 410
existential risks of, 406–407, 422
exponential growth and, 73, 227, 245–246
impact of, see impacts, GNR
information and, 84, 206–207, 210, 231, 245–246, 261
intertwined benefits and dangers of, of, 396–400
Joy’s concerns about, 391, 394–395
peril vs. promise of, 391–426, 427, 594n–599n
relinquishment of, 12, 395, 406, 407–408, 410–416, 423
synergy and, 73
wealth creation from, 13, 107, 338, 396–397, 410
see also biotechnology; nanotechnology; robots, robotics; strong AI
goats, transgenic, 222
God, 15, 360, 375, 389–390, 474, 476, 477