We have 300 million of neo-cortical modules in our neo-cortex, the region of the brain responsible for thinking. Each of these modules can learn, recognize, and remember a pattern. These modules connect themselves into elaborate hierarchies. Our neo-cortex creates these hierarchies itself based on our own thinking.
In the decade of the 2030s, I believe we’ll expand its capacity by connecting our neo-cortex to the web’s cloud of information — using nano-bots (microscopic robots) in the brain sent non-invasively through the body’s capillaries.
Remember what happened the last time we added more neo-cortex, when we developed into thinking humans — and evolved the frontal cortex of our brain? We invented language, art, and science. When we again add additional neo-cortex in the cloud, we’ll be virtually adding more levels of cognition, memory, critical thinking ability. The result will be: new forms of expression even more profound than our art + tech of today.
This expansion won’t be limited by an enclosure (our head). We’ll be using an information processing mechanism that’s millions of times faster than our brain by itself. We’ll be free to grow our thinking exponentially, ultimately expanding our intelligence billions-fold. That’s my definition of the “singularity."
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Ray Kurzweil (B.1948)
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Graphic - Igor Goryunov (B.1973)
