The Singularity Is Nearer

When We Merge with AI

By: Ray Kurzweil

Narrated by: Adam Barr

The noted inventor and futurist’s successor to his landmark book The Singularity Is Near explores how technology will transform the human race in the decades to come

Since it was first published in 2005, Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near and its vision of an exponential future have spawned a worldwide movement. Kurzweil's predictions about technological advancements have largely come true, with concepts like AI, intelligent machines, and biotechnology now widely familiar to the public.

In this entirely new book Ray Kurzweil brings a fresh perspective to advances toward the Singularity—assessing his 1999 prediction that AI will reach human level intelligence by 2029 and examining the exponential growth of technology—that, in the near future, will expand human intelligence a millionfold and change human life forever. Among the topics he discusses are rebuilding the world, atom by atom with devices like nanobots; radical life extension beyond the current age limit of 120; reinventing intelligence by connecting our brains to the cloud; how exponential technologies are propelling innovation forward in all industries and improving all aspects of our well-being such as declining poverty and violence; and the growth of renewable energy and 3-D printing. He also considers the potential perils of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, including such topics of current controversy as how AI will impact employment and the safety of autonomous cars, and "After Life" technology, which aims to virtually revive deceased individuals through a combination of their data and DNA.

The culmination of six decades of research on artificial intelligence, The Singularity Is Nearer is Ray Kurzweil’s crowning contribution to the story of this science and the revolution that is to come.

* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF with illustrations and graphs from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Ray Kurzweil (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A fascinating exploration of our future, which raises the most profound philosophical questions.”—Yuval Noah Harari, New York Times bestselling author of Sapiens

“Few people have shaped how the world thinks about AI like Ray Kurzweil. Now, with The Singularity Is Nearer, he has written an updated, expansive and hopeful guide to a fast-approaching future that will once again set the terms of debate. Grounded in decades of meticulous research, and written with impressive clarity across an immense canvas, it's essential reading for anyone wanting to understand our exponential times.”—Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI

“The acclaimed futurist demonstrates how a revolutionary future is closer than you might think. . . . Kurzweil’s capacity for predictive thinking should not be underestimated. . . . This book brims with ideas about what lies ahead, and Kurzweil presents his vision with clarity and passion.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

An Excellent Follow-up to The 2006 Original

This is an excellent guidebook reinforcing our path forward while making clear what changes have occured. It's great to see a summary of our progress and tie it to how our relatively optimistic future will take hold.

Great book and excellent narration.

Makes me eager for the 2045 book. Hopefully written by Ray.

Largely a rehash of its predecessor, but that in itself is a remarkable reminder that the 2005 book proved accurate.

The peril of unregulated international AI is horrifying

Excellent audio book. Highly recommend the author’s honest detailed writing of AI. Very respectful of author’s viewpoints.

A reason to be hopeful

With mean spirited divisions seemingly on the rise, Ray's book is a source of hope and inspiration. I've read all his books and appreciated his update to The Singularity Is Near. His predictions have been uncannily accurate, even though I often didn't believe them to be possible, at least not within his predicted timeframe. Yet year after year, decade after decade his predictions have been accurate. He addresses the dangers in a clear-headed way, but his latest book fills me with much needed optimism.

Well, organized relevant. And insightful

With as many books on this topic as this author has written I was concerned that this was going to be just be a copy paste of the previous books. It definitely was not. It was full of new and relevant insights, taking developments since his last book into consideration and expanding deeper than he had before in previous books. I found this book to be very enjoyable and helpful Not just as an informative source, but also in helping refine. An augment. My own ideas on how to stay relevant and the benefit from all the coming changes. This was an overall great book. Well written and extremely relevant.

Wow

Ray Kurzweil’s insights continue to blow my mind… but this time I’m finding myself eager for us to “just get there already.” A flame has been lit under my plebeian ass. However, I’m left wondering what people like me can even do—here and now—to facilitate the cultural shift required to integrate AI into the human experience.

Speculative and imaginative.

Redundant and wordy. The narrator was flat and machinelike, almost droning. The overall points with examples did not require this long a book, and references to previous works seemed self promoting.

A journey into the evolution of our brains

Really unbelievable body of work portraying the revolutionary changes we as a species will be going through in a very short time. Fascinating and thought provoking!

Glad I listened.

As you all know by the time you've read the reviews, AI will be several times more powerful.

Big ideas and bold optimistic vision

He backs up his insights with lots of data. Worth the listen even though I didn’t love the narration.