The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (132 page)

        of computing, 12, 41–42, 45, 56–71,
57
–
65
,
67
,
69
–
71
, 100, 102, 125–128, 135–136, 142, 243, 261, 292, 432, 437, 506
n
, 514
n

        of electronics, 111–112, 526
n

        exponential growth of, 430, 469, 470

        of Internet, 263

        of software,
103
, 436, 438

        of wireless communications, 77,
77

primates,
17
,
18
, 190, 433

        brain in, 27, 152

        duration of observation in, 48

        nervous system evolution in, 506
n

        suffering of, 379

        visual system of, 574
n

        
see also specific primates

Primo Posthuman, 302

Principia Mathematica
(Whitehead and Russell), 453

“Principles of Extropy” (More), 369

printing, printing press,
17
,
18
,
20
, 42, 44, 54

prions, 116–117, 176, 224, 232, 254, 543
n

privacy, 407, 413, 422

proactionary principle, 403, 495
n
–496
n

probabilistic fractals, 46–47, 449

probes, nanobots as, 352, 591
n

problem solving, 8, 42, 296, 372–373, 499
n

        Church-Turing thesis and, 429, 453–456, 601
n

        evolutionary algorithms in, 38–39, 92

        Perceptron and, 156

        speed of, 21–22

        swarms and, 333

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
, 116

productivity:

        exponential growth in, 98–101,
98
,
99
,
101

        manufacturing, 100–101,
101

        of software, 428, 437

progress, 96, 321, 370, 391, 408

        break in the continuity of, 24

        defined, 41

        intertwined sciences and, 411

        in nanotechnology, 227

        rate of, 10–13, 16, 41, 50, 102, 108, 510
n
, 512
n

        relinquishment of idea of, 407

        risks of, 417

Project Alpha, 333

promoters, 551
n

property, destruction of, 375

prostate cancer, 282

prostate-specific antigen (PSA), 282

prostitution, virtual, 318

proteins, 234, 239, 383, 423

        AGEs and, 220

        amino acids in, 27, 47, 85, 148, 208–210, 309, 517
n
, 550
n

        beta-catenin, 505
n

        blood-brain barrier and, 163–164, 165

        CPEB, 176, 199–200, 543
n

        DNA self-assembly and, 117

        epigenetic data in, 147

        folding of, 27, 209, 234, 482–483, 550
n

        as food, 224, 301

        gene expression and, 16, 147, 213, 214, 223, 552
n

        genome and, 42, 225, 510
n
, 517
n

        misformed, 209, 220, 254, 397, 550
n

        mitochondrial function and, 220

        nanotechnology and, 235–236, 412, 425

        pattern recognition and, 282

        prions, 116–117, 176, 224, 232, 254, 543
n

        recognition, 583
n

        RNA interference and, 214

        synthesis of, 47, 208–210, 213, 378, 550
n
, 551
n
, 552
n

        wheel-like, 440

proteome, 225

proteomics, 323

proteosome, 209

protofibrils, 209, 254, 397, 550
n

protons, 14, 85, 119, 131

Ptolemies, 54

public awareness, 423

pulmonary hypertension, 216

punch cards, 327

punctuated equilibrium (PE), 44–45, 510
n
–511
n

Purdue University, 115–116, 118, 528
n

Purkinje, Johannes, 181

Purkinje cells,
180
, 181,
182
, 545
n

Putnam, H., 596
n

Putnam, Sarah, 588
n

quadriplegics, 308

quanta, 14

quantum coherence, 446, 451

quantum computing, 113, 119, 120–121

        consciousness and, 201, 429, 450–452

        factoring large numbers and, 121, 354

quantum decoherence, 120, 121

quantum disentanglement, 353–354

quantum dots, 242, 245, 308, 313, 586
n

quantum entanglement, 119, 353–354, 363, 487

quantum gravity, 14

quantum mechanics, 85, 380, 450, 486, 499
n
, 522
n

        continuous levels and, 85, 518
n

        Copenhagen interpretation of, 500
n

        “hidden variables” interpretation of, 431, 521
n

        “many worlds” or multiverse theory and, 500
n
–501
n

        randomness in, 353–354, 363, 474–475, 481, 521
n
, 522
n

        spintronics and, 118, 119

        uncertainty, 138, 238, 353, 486

        wormholes and, 355

quantum theory, 382, 503
n
, 519
n

quantum wave function, collapse of, 450–451, 500
n
, 521
n

quarks, 85, 486

quasars, 356

qubits, 119, 120, 121, 450

Quintana, J., 542
n

rabbits:

        cerebellar lesions in, 183

        exponential growth of, 128, 433

Rabiner, Lawrence, 570
n

radiation, 165

        electromagnetic, 344–349, 590
n

        Hawking, 363–364, 487, 503
n

radioactive isotopes, from Oklo reactor, 139–140, 503
n

radio circuits, 271

radios,
17
,
18
, 338

        mass use of,
50
, 512
n

        portable, 45

radio-transmitting civilization, search for,
see
SETI

radix-2 Cooley-Tukey algorithm, 438

radix-4 method, 438–439

Radman, Morislav, 549
n

Rado, Tibor, 455, 601
n

Raff, Lionel M., 561
n
, 562
n

railroads, 13, 263–264, 420

Rainer, G., 542
n

RAM (random access memory), 64, 65, 75,
75
, 115

        dynamic,
see
DRAM

        magnetic (MRAM), 119

Ramona project, 315, 587
n

randomness, 92, 131, 132, 362, 388, 474

        class 4 automata and, 89, 90, 520
n
, 521
n

        deterministic processes and, 89

        of neural net, 269

        of neurons and brain, 149, 151, 152, 153, 440, 443–444

        quantum, 353–354, 363, 474–475, 481, 521
n
, 522
n

Rao, R., 547
n

Rao, Tata N., 567
n

Rappaport, N. J., 512
n

Ratner, Mark A., 115, 528
n

rats, 188, 255

Rauch, Jonathan, 524
n

Ray, Thomas, 429, 442–444, 446, 456, 600
n
, 601
n

RayandTerry.com, 490

Ray Kurzweil’s Cybernetic Poet, 273, 580
n

Raymond, J. L., 545
n

reading, 175, 337, 589
n

real-estate industry, 105

reality:

        analog vs. digital nature of, 519
n

        mental models of, 198

        
see also
physical reality; virtual reality

reasoning, 120, 143, 285

recessions, 99, 106

        high-tech (2000–2003), 97, 524
n

records, recording industry, 53, 327, 339

recursion, 190

recursive search, 272–273, 279

        algorithmic description of, 273, 576
n
–580
n

red-blood cells, mechanical,
see
respirocytes

Rediscovery of Mind, The
(Searle), 459–460

reductants, 252

“Reduction in Watts per MIPS” chart, 128–129,
129

Reed-Sternberg cell, 552
n

Rees, Martin, 361, 500
n
, 597
n

Regan, Chris, 235

regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), 161

regulation, 430–431, 470–473

        medical, 373, 412–413, 416–417, 423

Reil, Torsten, 288, 582
n

Reilly, B.D., 554
n

“Relative State Formulation of Quantum Mechanics” (Everett), 500
n
–501
n

relativity theory:

        general, 341, 355, 378, 500
n
, 503
n
, 520
n

        special, 341, 354, 520
n

relays, 67,
67
, 127–128, 434

religion:

        author’s upbringing in, 1, 2

        death as viewed by, 368, 372, 374

        fundamentalism and, 414

        Singularity compared with, 370, 374

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Center for Gigascale Integration at, 113

repetition, mechanical, 26

repression, of memory, 176–177, 544
n

reproduction:

        of bacteria, 248

        of cells, 218

        in vitro fertilization and, 340

        nonsexual, 46

        sex separated from, 301, 367

        sexual,
see
sexual reproduction

research, 279, 407

        computer, budgets for, 25, 42, 259

        Internet, 392–393, 594
n

        paradigm shifts and, 45

        stem-cell, 222, 431, 471

respirocytes (mechanical red-blood cells), 28, 227, 305, 306, 506
n

        effectiveness of, 254, 558
n

retina, 166, 187, 530
n

        feedforward sequence and, 154, 170

        image processing in, 123, 187–188

        implants of, 185, 308, 585
n

        of toad, 154

        virtual reality and, 312, 472

retirement, 98

Rettig, Duane, 569
n

Reuter, A., 560
n

reverse engineering, 127, 146, 213, 323

        of blood, 305–306

        of computers, 157–158

        of human brain,
see
brain reverse engineering

        of primate visual system, 574
n

        of products, 231

reversible computing, 130–135, 244–245, 350, 428, 534
n

Reynolds, Glenn, 598
n

Rhea, John, 589
n

rhesus macaques, humans compared with, 505
n

Rhodoferax ferrireducens
bacterium, 248

ribosomes, 16, 147, 198, 207–210, 213

        design of, 483