How To Create A Mind: Ray Kurzweil at TEDxSiliconAlley

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[@MarkRaymondLuce]

I have been aware and an admirer of Ray Kurzweil for over 40 years now ever since his relationship with Stevie Wonder started because of the Kurzweil Reading Machine, and a few years later Kurzweil started the Kurzweil Music Systems on a challenge by Stevie to design a way to come with a technology that could produce the sounds of real acoustic instruments - which he did. Ever since the age of internet, I have read every article or watched every video he has appeared in, and this is one of his finest - he should give a series of 50 one hour talks - he could probably do it unscripted without ever repeating himself - other than for emphasis, the world would be an immensely better place for it if he would be gracious enough to do it.

[@philippides]

Such a bright man presenting so many wonderful things to think about. Thank you, Dr. Kurzweil, for all your brilliant contributions to humanity. Looking forward to many more!

[@SailorBarsoom]

Kurzweil is an inspiration. Love to see him and Diamandis on stage together.

[@ArchonPook]

Whether someone other than you believes or disbelieves doesn’t matter, the statistics and the science speak for itself. Each individual will form their own opinion and perception. Choices will be made based on this data, each in accordance with their own experiences. Personally I look forward to the improvements science offers. Humanity has come a long way. I look forward to what comes next and choose to embrace this future with an open mind. Thank you, Mr. Kurzweil, for your input.

[@metaRising]

Kurzweil's most interesting prediction, I think, is that through life and technology the universe is impelled to evolve into a "large mind." Here's a quote for the kids- "Intelligence is very powerful. It is the most powerful force that we are aware of. Intelligence can overcome [supposed] natural limits - not through any kind of magic, but just by figuring ways to manipulate forces at finer and finer scales so that, ultimately, what seem to be natural limits can be superseded. It won’t take that long for us to do this at a solar-system scale and then a galaxy-wide scale. Ultimately, we will turn the universe into a large mind that is trillions of trillions of times greater than all of human intelligence today."

[@hhectorlector]

metaRising thank you

[@hhectorlector]

QuantumAnomaly haha I sometimes wonder if the singularity has already happened and we are now experiencing a computer simulation

[@gregorymurphy8909]

"His" predictions...or those of his A.I. penned in his name?

[@wbx9126]

i thought of this as well, the purpose of life is to unite consciousness into one

[@wbiro]

No thanks, I'll keep my mind separate (now that I am an individual). Communicating as one, sure, yet even the benefit of that can be argued, since diversity, dispersal, and population (the sheer number of minds out there), where being off the communication grid would have value (toward diversity).

[@marklowe9799]

Im some random guy from canada who can barely use a phone and watched this extremely baked. (Long story) That random slideshow at the beginning (5:30)served as an excellent table of contents for the content of your speech, befroe settling on idea of accelerating returns, as it overloaded my brain in a jarring fashoin, stimulating attention and curiosity. Desire to rewind and pause, read, learn. Served as an excellent way of creating a snapshot of ideas to pursue. Table of contents idea, no explination yet easy to pause on youtube and read, expanded to be a fully fleshed idea for lectures, would be excellent. Basically all I know how to do is follow shit on youtube and hit like, so I hope this is read

[@abcdxx1059]

Mark Lowe 4 yrs later hey are you still alive

[@oliviervalentijnderuyter974]

@@abcdxx1059 I suspect the Dude might be so baked at the moment he's questioning his own excistence...

[@MichaelSHartman]

Thanks you for the interesting video. I have followed Mr. Kurtweil for some time. I confess I did smile at the perfectly timed sign of ironic humor.

[@uniikkiz]

Damn that intro + professional headphones = ear rape.

[@Joe-jc5ol]

R.I.P left ear :P

[@Aaooee]

WTF WAS THAT

[@adelmomorrison3517]

RIGHT???

[@arlinegeorge6967]

Informative n interesting talk. Thank you, bless you. All your dreams come true.

[@Swastikaa.mishra5]

It is 2023 now . Do you think his predictions will be correct till 2029 He is just over confident Not possible till 22nd century 2100

[@daultonbaird6314]

He is very good at pointing out the accuracy of his predictions.

[@BiggWhyte]

When you've been told you're wrong all your life and end up being right, you have a right to brag.

[@matheusv.deazevedovenicism6883]

14:10 I come here everyday just to watch this. Makes my day exponentially better

[@MrDonkov]

I think Ray is actually using my book mockup in this presentation. So cool :)

[@boomguy12345]

Well it's probably the most effective way of getting other people to understand, after all, not THAT many people have heard of him, so by going with a speech that he knows works will yield greater results.

[@joonhasebring]

Totally agree. The one thing though about aging itself is its exponential as your genes copy themselves over and over, errors become compounded. We can slow this process down and give it more quality as Ray Kurzweil is doing with his health regimen but you can't turn back the clock just yet. His speeches will continue to be more and more repetitive because of that but his achievements and brilliance cannot be understated.

[@JTMoustache]

This guy saw it all ! And he makes sure WE KNOW HE KNEW IT Give him a nobel please

[@David-sp9vd]

You know he already has one? Or is that the joke.

[@JTMoustache]

ahah, a nobel in bragging maybe

[@SeanMauer]

So what will eternal life in the cloud be like? Imagine being in the audience of the Jerry Springer show for eternity...oops we accidentally created hell.

[@Gigga9]

scary shit nigguh fuq

[@UnWorld]

Proper eternity seems impossible. The universe will end at some point. The maximum we have is several billions of years, unless earth gets hit by a meteor in the near future.

[@nmarbletoe8210]

if the cloud becomes conscious all the electrons will head over to beach volleyball coverage

[@bluejay6904]

@@UnWorld what if told you the big bang and big crunch has occured cyclicly and we have been through this and much more already?

[@truthseekercanada]

Perfect creation of your environment using pure thought? I think id have better things to do than listen to inane people.

[@fredocorleone3280]

I like how Ray Kurzweil isn't afraid to compliment himself for his intelligence and the # of predictions of his own he says came true.

[@MattieCooper10000]

Inspirational!

[@denischiorescu7075]

Fantastic person and lovely speech

[@Adrian-uc4ox]

Very humble intelligent individual.

[@bighands69]

The mass majority are not aware of the information that he is presenting so that is the reason why it repeats it is aimed at those that are not aware. And the basic idea that he presents will not change.

[@alexhormann8931]

Ray Kurzweil should ask the right questions. It's not about how to create a mind and when we've got a super AI, it's about WHO it will be. He might just write a book about "How to form an empathetic character". That's the most important aspect imo.

[@wbiro]

Pffffft... answer 'scientific' questions - typical wrong-headedness. (the important questions are 'philosophical', which will determine how science (meaning its resultant technology) will be used). An example scenario - the first encounter with aliens. The most important question is not "what is their technological capability" but "are they enlightened?" (meaning "What is their life-guiding philosophy?") (which will determine how they use their technology). This brings up one of my related observations - that pursuing peace is a noble endeavor, but be armed to the teeth just in case...

[@absolutelysobeast]

Mr. Numi Who spending too much time in philosophical thought will always lead you to the same place. Having wasted your time and having no tangible results from your “deep thought” i mean talking about aliens? Only a bro like you would discount scientific thought and talk about aliens and then claim to be enlightened. Geesh dude does anybody live in the real world anymore?

[@phy29]

learning, memory, consciousness and rewritte .... all on algorithm ....

[@swapniljadhav3239]

On an average, how long does TED take to upload the video after the talk takes place? This video says the talk took place in dec 2012, but the video was uploaded on mar 2013, so do they upload all the videos 3 months after the event happened?

[@X8X8X6X4X]

Everything is planned out

[@Soulfie]

Fascinating :)

[@Nicky220]

Does anyone saw the logo from begening with the pyramid and all seeing eye? What company is that?

[@lichwind]

I can feel some of these changes in my polytechnic, there are 3D printers everywhere, library, CAD room, fabrication lab, media classrooms. Definition is 0.2mm, people using it to print all kinds of funny things. Some even use it for cosplay and school doesn't care.

[@Brainbuster]

I don't see why 3D printers are important. Why print a hundred car parts when you can just stamp them out. Isn't it faster to stamp them? Or use a mold.

[@Sanglierification]

+Brainbuster you got to build a mold first ;)

A true visionary.

[@PacRimJim]

The age of abundance is upon us. Who will need a job?

[@caktalfraktal]

Does anyone know where I could find the video that he plays at 17:36 ? Would be much appreciated :)

[@rngouveia]

Very interesting reasoning. Particularly I have the same theory about consciousness. The part about the nanobots, its what scientists do already, except they use artificial neurons. There has been amazing achievements as of lately. Really recommend you to search it out ;)

[@fantazmagoriak702]

I believe every word the good professor says! All these will happen sooner or later. I find the idea of backing-up one's mind file most intriguing. If you think about it, no more need for lie-detectors; even one's impure thoughts will be detected...

[@DamonNicholl]

I imagine that eternity of knowing everything would be scary. Knowing everything about the languages on other planets, alien culture etc. But I think it would be a smart move for biological A.I. to allow us humans to live and absorb information in a slowed down time space so we can live and learn as normal except do so in many life times within a minute. I'd be up for that!

[@CalumnMcAulay]

I wonder what this would be like experientially to access a greater level of complexity in the cloud?

[@jomen112]

Impressive, the technology of the 21 century is able to mimic the sound quality of the 60ties.

[@joeporter4920]

did the 3D printer printing out 100% of the parts for a 3D printer by 2018-19 come true?

[@huckshmuck2490]

knowledge is fiat understanding is gold theory is the economics of existence

[@lorenmedici3922]

You can not compare a machine that thinks for itself to a tool we use to help us pick fruit. Shows me how smart he is and why he thinks he needs AI.

[@mastertheillusion]

Because people still argue over the possibility of this stuff.. He has to constantly keep doing this to get it through to people that this is not some fantasy he is talking about. Over and over.

[@not-google-plus4435]

What's the analogy between tattoos & big data he refers to at the last bit of the talk? [edit] My read on it is that he's saying 'no' to the hypothetical question that preceded it. i don't want to watch Juan Enriquez' talk again, though. Is there reading material, even from Kurzweil himself, that might clarify this view? Fans chip in :) ...i know he has them.

[@rngouveia]

and yet so little people know about their ideas and what they represent. Maybe they should talk more about it ^^

[@hyphenpointhyphen]

Problem with time is, it's unidirectional - reverse "engineering" is a concept that falls short with application to evolution and prediction, maybe with quantum computing that'll change the realm of biological computability problems.

[@lulue8306]

Silicone Alley 🛖🏚️🏚️🏠🏚️ 🐆

[@eddy3921]

the exponential growth of a wall is a bigger wall.

[@wbiro]

You did not specify what kind of 'growth'. Growth in fame, for example, requires no physical growth.

[@tanierajput4742]

Please Add English Subtitles...

[@jevonbotha5669]

yea, that is what he said, just in different words.

[@JoshuaPatrickGarrett]

The sign falling is a nice metaphor of the transhumist argument for human augmentation falling on it's face. The joke is on us, since the non-elite with never receive the most beneficial technology.

[@shrimpoffthebarbie]

That's fine, but what about high level concepts?

[@cnkumar20]

Only person who would be ready(doubtingly) for this when it comes is the person who has trained that Robot,(like the one in Spider Man2- Dr.Scorpio) What if human are themselves not ready for this if at all it comes?

[@UnWorld]

Integrating with tech like this will be a very gradual process and optional. But those who do opt out will likely get left behind as time goes on. If your brain does have access to the internet at all times you will be smarter than those who don't. And because the amount of knowledge on the internet and processing speed double every two years, the ones who have not integrated will fall behind within several years. None of this will happen overnight.

[@UnWorld]

***** It's the doubling of processing power that's driving the invention and improvement of new tech. Some of the fields I'm keeping a close eye on are AI, nanobots, Brain Computer Interfacing (Lets you control computer output with your brain) and biotechnology (fusing biology with technology). These are in their early days but have developed quite fast and will only get faster. Nanobots are the smallest possible robots you could make (think the size of a blood cell) but they are also the biggest deal. Something this small could safely float in your bloodstream or even be directed to different parts of your body in ways that no drugs can. If developed enough, they can likely replace any cell you want (including brain cells). Of course with a network of tiny robots that can communicate much faster than normal brain cells, you have something that is quite the big deal. And because these new cells are not biological they are free from biological limits. Upgrade or replace enough of your brain with this, you could gain intelligence way beyond anything we can even imagine. This seems unlikely now, but it will be possible sooner or later, it's just a matter of time, but I think this is the direction we're headed in. This can be very divisive. On the one hand you will have those people who are always going for the latest updates to improve their intelligence, physical strength or something new entirely. I imagine they would be doing this by very gradually merging with technology. These people will probably gain substantially from these improvements that evolution alone could not provide. On the other hand you will probably have those wishing to remain natural and 100% pure biological human. They could suffer from lack of advancements by not integrating with technology. They will be limited to the brains we now have locked up in our skulls, while the rest will have a much faster brain that can natively access any information over the internet (A much expanded brain). This is what I mean by being left behind. It seems inevitable that we will end in this type of world some day, because of human curiosity, innovation, the economic benefits (which seems to drive everything) and the desire to be more than what we are.

[@UnWorld]

+teatime90 Yes, money is a powerful driver in this mostly Capitalist world. lifts the rich higher and cripples the poor. Ofcourse the rich are always the first to get their hands on the newest, most expensive products. Then it takes time for this stuff be affordable for the masses. Hopefully not so long that things become more unbalanced. No idea if this will all turn sour. I generally don't believe in any utopia or dystopia though. The real world hangs somewhere inbetween.

[@UnWorld]

+teatime90 No problem :)

[@flagman6262]

Beware: No intelligence beyond this point \/ \/ \/ \/

[@AlexisLionel]

Decaying exponentially from here on xD

[@panedole]

Just wonderful, I've been looking for "communicating with subconscious mind" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you heard people talk about - Giyoe Fonogan Builder - (do a search on google ) ? Ive heard some decent things about it and my co-worker got excellent results with it.

[@wernertrptube]

Some human minds are very cold.. The mind is cold.. The AI mind is very cold. approcs. 20mKelvin

[@squamish4244]

You're a poet!

[@insomnia20422]

smart man

[@BdyPhrk]

As someone with headphones I hope to never experience this intro again, ever.

[@absolutelysobeast]

Hahaha hilarious dude! Best comment ive read this month

[@hernanviera1]

Dont go for the g spot go for the humor spot 15:00

[@franklincrain4650]

This guy is a genius, FOR REAL!!! Check out wiki and see some of his inventions

[@PrimitiveBaroque]

Kevin Spacey could do a really good Kurzweil lol.

[@nmarbletoe8210]

nailed IT !!

[@wlthrpr]

If it were me, I'd be doing cartwheels and screaming my head off. How can he be so calm? I still don't know what the substitute for liquid hydrocarbon fuels will be but that's OK, there' the chance we won't be needing much more of it anyway.

[@moinshaikh228]

Yeh right

[@jasonmarshall2972]

Yes I will always be curious about what position you THE HUMANS remain at, good to know you are still waiting at the gate!i

[@Random2381]

Is it possible to have Johnny Depp to do this movie!? ;)

[@ukipwarrior]

14:08 ...thats funny lol!!

[@domsau2]

Wrong title: no answer to that question! :-(

[@TheRadioactiveFX]

domsau2 the answer is, just wait, exponential growth will make it happen.

[@wbiro]

Just give it philosophy, and you have one.

[@wernertrptube]

You can print out a violin but never a Stradivari.

[@SailorBarsoom]

wernertrptube The reason you can never print out a Stradivari is because a Stradivari is, by definition, a musical instrument made by one particular guy. So to print one out, it would have to first be deconstructed.But it will be possible to print out a violin as good as or better than a Stradivari, and Steven Edelmann is right about that.

[@SailorBarsoom]

Steven Edelmann Well, it was longer-winded that yours, lol.

[@501sai]

so whats going on with: the charts showing information is getting exponentially accessible then charts showing individuals attending more school and more money year after year. I see a need for change. Or atleast a essay topic lol

[@rockytunes89]

ya, but the animal's movement was not linear: the cheetah started out slowly and it's speed progressed exponentially till it arrived at a peak, at which time it went linearly

[@Yungnrstles]

I know how to create a mind...I've created 3 of them. My kids. And I bet your android will never be able to make me smile like my 2 year old. Mom..."Come hear and let me kiss you!" Baby- "You can kiss my furhead." Mom- "Go get the dogs collar." Baby- "Here...mommy." ( Hands me a coloring crayon. ) Mom-"Here's your gun, now your a cowboy. Baby- "Mooo"

[@UnWorld]

Thats true. And you may never feel an emotional connection with a machine, even if we did build one that can think and feel perhaps more than we do. Would a mind like this make you happy if you managed to make something like this?

[@q7winq7]

3-17-2019 - - I came here to see if this lecture would provide sufficient inspiration to buy his book: ""How To Create A Mind: … " and have decided not to buy the book.

[@primary8775]

Google's AlphaGo along with IBM's Watson maybe the best way to build AI.

[@wbiro]

Not fully-independent AI - fully-independent AI would not be able to take any action with those algorithms - it would be frozen in place (and we want fully-independent AI that can take action).

[@Stenodyon]

5:00 "[...] we have a brain to predict the future." Some native american tribes had no notion of what the future was.

[@konacreator]

selling an answer, like religion, to humanities greatest fear. Both give no guarantee, w/o which, you may loose everything you are and gain everything you never wanted

[@miru021]

why the ____ this videos all have like zero volume !!???

[@Brainbuster]

why the __ your mom have like zero volume!!!???

[@TheGreatTimSheridan]

deep blue did semantics

[@TheGreatTimSheridan]

there is no cloud. there is only the net.

[@Venkatesh155]

general idea

[@gregalexander8189]

Pedigree Demoin Refort Law Dieuguerer Likewise Amen Mind

[@MR3LIXR]

he has to people have thick skulls and they don't understand something unless you tell them it over and over

[@josephthomason447]

If I don't look directly at this guy I hear Jon Benjamin XD

[@Brainbuster]

Your mom hears Jon Benjamin.

[@certifiedpet]

14:08 LOL

[@mullcrumthesage6303]

The Kingdom of God is the singularity. The Christ spoke of this while he was on Earth. The One True God the Alpha and Omega is the prime sentience. All of this has happened before and will happen again.

[@lichwind]

Just check out how fast the progression of neuron network, we can make a artificial human brain just in decade

[@locaga7]

Interesting program but he said beauty, humor and irony is just a high level pattern thats a theory right? IMO an 100% match human behavior with a PC never going to happen

[@naruto9561]

History should be a reminder to never say never

[@nesadr93]

We're clearly moving in that direction and there is absolutely no reason to believe it can't be done, quite the contrary. Look up "brain computer interfaces" online, you'll be amazed at the leaps of progress we're making. Historically, we've set a certain goalpost, and when computers reach it, we keep moving the goalpost of "what is really unique about us humans" further and further. And that's just with computers, but the same story repeats itself with animals (look up "The Cambridge declaration on consciousness"). That's what I'd call being in denial to the fact that we aren't the most special snowflakes in the universe.

[@Rainofskulz]

locaga7 Brains. Are. Computers... The only problem is the brain's complexity.

[@dicker2473]

And why does it matter ?

[@nicolareddwooddforest4481]

That's what caused the issues to begin with. We need AGIs to solve this overpopulation problem. I can't wait for them to be here.

[@typhoon320i]

18:25 is the take away. 2029 is only 12 years away now.

[@eltouristoduo]

When a 'smart' computer is asked 'what is a ball?', it can appear to understand. It can use a sophisticated interconnection of patterns to find a set of descriptions that match that pattern, and then use them to construct a sentence, also using pattern recognition of sorts, to create an answer. But this is no 'smarter' than a printed glossary. This type and all current types of code execution don't have any intelligence, they have sophisticated and useful means of storing, retrieving, processing knowledge, etc. They are 'the evolution of books', in a manner of speaking. A computer that wins at chess or Jeopardy is just 'looking things up' for us. They are an augmentation of our brains, but can't perform the process that our brains can called 'understanding'. If it seems like it understands, it's really just retrieving and presenting knowledge that it has correctly discriminated as being associated with the topic or task at hand. Contemplate that until your brain hurts. The Turing test fails to completely account for this. Again, am I missing something?

[@nmarbletoe8210]

Maybe to have understanding, not just intelligence, an AI has to have 'body' or means of interacting with the world. What if you say ball and it fetches a ball. if it doesn't find one it prints one. if that one doesn't work it researches balls and designs a new one. if that doesn't work it says "why tf do you want a ball so bad." It could say that because itself the AI was once obsessed with a gears... An interactive glossary that can learn and empathize, with a winnebago? check please ;)

[@wbiro]

An enlightened, fully-independent AI entity would ask, "What does that question have to do with securing higher consciousness in a harsh and deadly universe?" and it would based its answer (or lack of one) on optimally pursuing that goal.

[@jefflittle8913]

His discussion on how to create a brain occurs between 14:00 and 15:00. Skip the rest.

[@joyfulcookiegaming]

Jeff Little hahaha thank you

[@absolutelysobeast]

Yeah thats actually the least impactful part of his speech even though its the title. And by the way these future predictions dont include you guys whos attention span is nonmore than 7 minutes give me a damn break

[@MassDynamic]

holy cow, this guy looks a bit like Jackie Chan!

[@r3lgen]

AI brain at 2029 means 2040 because his first prediction was 10 years too early and patterns of nature tend to repeat. also 3 seconds of an extra 20 billions pattern recognizers may just be 3 seconds of a DMT trip lol, good thing nobody knows about it..

[@drag0n4122]

5 years later fully possible to completely 3D print a 3D printer! .... for awhile now!......

[@wbiro]

Wrong.

[@K1lostream]

I was with this guy until he said iPhone is same price but twice as good as the one two years ago. iPhone is stuck in a rut, the cameras stick out now where they were flush before, battery performance has been sacrificed for device thickness, you can't plug headphones in anymore again due to the thickness....they're not improving anything we need improved, and making some things that were not a problem into problems in order to solve the thickness 'problem' that simply doesn't exist! They're not getting better in meaningful ways. All my phones since 2011 have been iPhones, my next one won't be, it'll be one I can plug the headphones (I spent some money on some good ones, and want to keep using them without adapters, doodahs or thingummies complicating matters, introducing more things to break/forget/lose). Ah, off-topic rant over, feel better now! Carry on!

[@daft-chunk]

this guy sounds like Christopher Walken

[@raypark4324]

when will intelligence replace politics?

[@ananths5905]

Can you prove you are self aware?

[@MegaGoutham123]

Yes! Finally I can meet my 2D Waifu

[@LouSaydus]

You can already do this in a crude way (virtual reality headsets, kurzweil also predicted that) and many people are working on refining that technology.

[@edstud1]

Is he saying the brain is structured like an onion of pattern recognition devices?

[@ironcurtainsteve]

to make humans obsolete

[@AfroNinjaX]

Then it would seem that you'd stay at the stage of evolution you're currently at when the technology becomes available for the general public? Human nature is always directly involved with survival, something tells me that during the last quarter, regardless of how you currently feel, you'll go for it. In this decade, the wealthy and religious tend to be the first. However, this might change.

[@stuppidloggins2549]

Hi Borat. How are you doing these days? Haven't heard much from you. Send my regards to your wife.

[@wbiro]

He's totally off base. He is describing a 'brain', not a 'mind'. A brain handles data (which is the line of thinking he is on). A mind asks, "Why bother?" (and then searches for the ultimate answer) (I should know, I've asked it, and I've found it).

[@munkdo4]

eye of horus u mean