Kurzweil on the Computers That Will Live in our Brains

“I think we’re going to ultimately move beyond these little devices that are like looking at the world through a keyhole,” Futurist Ray Kurzweil, the director of engineering at Google, says. “You’ll be online all the time. Google Glass is a solid first step.”

[…]

“Ultimately these devices will be the size of blood cells, we’ll be able to send them inside our brain through the capillaries, and basically connect up brain to the cloud,” Kurzweil says. “But that’s a mid-2030’s scenario.”

In Kurzweil’s vision, these advances don’t simply bring computers closer to our biological systems. Machines become more like us. “Your personality, your skills are contained in information in your neocortex, and it is information,” Kurzweil says. “These technologies will be a million times more powerful in 20 years and we will be able to manipulate the information inside your brain.”

He has a particular message for those who fear increasing sophisicated artificial intelligence.

“When computers can achieve these things it’s not for the purpose of displacing us it’s really to make ourselves smarter,” Kurzweil says. “And smarter in the sense of being more loving… Really enhancing the things that we value about humans.”

Today, he [Ray Kurzweil] envisions a “cybernetic friend” that listens in on your phone conversations, reads your e-mail, and tracks your every move—if you let it, of course—so it can tell you things you want to know even before you ask. This isn’t his immediate goal at Google, but it matches that of Google cofounder Sergey Brin, who said in the company’s early days that he wanted to build the equivalent of the sentient computer HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey—except one that wouldn’t kill people.

For now, Kurzweil aims to help computers understand and even speak in natural language. “My mandate is to give computers enough understanding of natural language to do useful things—do a better job of search, do a better job of answering questions,” he says. Essentially, he hopes to create a more flexible version of IBM’s Watson, which he admires for its ability to understand Jeopardy!queries as quirky as “a long, tiresome speech delivered by a frothy pie topping.” (Watson’s correct answer: “What is a meringue harangue?”)

 

Ref: Google’s Ray Kurzweil on the computers that will live in our brains – MarketPlace
Ref: Deep Learning – MIT Technology Review

The Turing Oath

In light of some recent unethical behaviour in software development, and after a user on Hacker News suggested that software developers have their own “version” of a Hippocratic Oath, I figured I’d try my hand at drafting an initial attempt.

The oath deals with user privacy and ethical handling of their personal information. This primarily caters to web applications which hold the personal information of users. It’s named after Alan Turing because he was a remarkable person who advanced computer science by great leaps.

The Promise to Develop Ethical Software / The Turing Oath

1. Privacy

I swear to respect the privacy of the user and secure all personal information in accordance with current standards.

I swear to not invade the private space of the user by sending spam or exploiting their trust.

I swear to be transparent in the information I keep on the user and to allow them to access it at any time.

I swear to release and remove personal user information at their request.

2. Security

I swear to responsibly disclose any and all software vulnerabilities that come to my attention so that they may be fixed.

I swear to not design software for the purpose of exploiting a vulnerability, damaging another computer system or exploiting a user with the intent to cause harm.

3. Patents

I swear to not become a patent troll and stifle innovation of software by applying for or enforcing patents on algorithms and software features that clearly should not be patented.
4. Criminal Activity

I swear to take no action to aid or abet the perpetration of crimes against humanity or other war crimes.

 

Ref: The Turing Oath – Github