Ancient Near East

Remember the romantic, controversial relationship between Theodore and his AI operation system Samantha in Spike Jonze’s directed movie “Her”? Immersed in a climate of love and moving, we applaud as Theodore and Samantha crush into each other, shed tears when Samantha says to Theodore, “I’m not like you, and at the end, moan when Samantha leaves. Not unlike normal relationships at all, “Her” depicts a situation in which artificial intelligence is no longer artificial when they tend to love,…

In the article, Paul Alan makes a claim that contradicts the claims made by Kurzweil and Vernor Vinge regarding “singularity” stating, “While we suppose this kind of singularity might one day occur, we don’t think it is near. In fact, we think it will be a very long time coming.” Alan lays out the article by providing the claims Kurzweil mentions in his article, and provides statements and evidence that contradicts them. He begins his article by providing the main thesis statement and claims…

achieved the power to change our behavior, society, ways of life, and aspects of our physical form, thus breaking the connection with natural selection. Ray Kurzweil, a well-known futurist and author of “How to Create a Mind” and “The Singularity Is Near”, explains the significance of technological advancements and what their relationship with us will be in the future. The singularity that Kurzweil speaks of is when there’s a change…

The concepts Ray Kurzweil puts forth in the documentary The Transcendent Man are both intriguing and frightening. Kurzweil discusses Technological Singularity, also referred to as the “Accelerating Change Thesis”, and it’s meaning as “…a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed…” Many of Kurzweil’s ideas or predictions regarding the changing of our technological world, stemming from…

Violent delights have violent ends "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race” (Stephen Hawking). Hawking divulges that as we approach the singularity, our own creations will render us evolutionarily obsolete. Our great developments over time are the things that have allowed us to make our own tools, languages and commerce but someday instead of creating new technology our innovations may bring us to our own demise. Science fiction writer Vernor…

Subcultures and Social Trends: The Transhumanists – The Singularity and Modern Cyborgs http://s25.postimg.org/s6106wapr/binary_1536617_180.jpg It is estimated that somewhere around the year 2045, a technological singularity will occur- the point at which artificial intelligence outstrips human capacity; only it’s not quite the story as James Cameron portrayed it in his groundbreaking movie *The Terminator*. Rather, it would seem the singularity is closer to The Borg from the Star Trek Next…

the singularity is a good thing. The singularity will bring up a new age of superhuman intelligence. “According to Ray Kurzweil the advancements in the GNR; genomics, nanotechnology, and robotics will pave the way” (Kurzweil, Ray. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology). Imagine being able cure genetic diseases like hemophilia, color blindness, and cancer. Or being able to cure disease that were once thought to be incurable. The singularity will bring in new technologies like…

The ruins of an ancient city, called Aksum, was the centre of Ethiopia and represents the power of the kingdom at the time. Aksum is located near the northern border of Ethiopia. Another place to visit would be Lalibela, a town in Ethiopia. It is known for its distinctive rock-cut churches from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries…

For Eastern Europe, the 20th century was nothing short of tumultuous; two world wars and stints with totalitarianism troubled the continent. Because of all that happened, it is hard to encompass the breath of the 20th century in a single work. Therefore, it seems that the question “What work best represents the turmoil in Eastern Europe during the 20th century?” does not have an answer. How can one work encompass the mess that was the 20th century? Is it possible to represent the varying…

The first section of the reading discussed ancient African civilizations. Of these, Egypt is the most prominent topic. This country’s rich history “stands alone among ancient African civilizations as being indicative of the early development of large-scale governments” (Khaypoya, 2012, p. 69). This empire ruled for approximately 2000 years, going through three distinct phases of kingdoms. The Old Kingdom merged the lifestyle of many different regions into one central government. It was…