Sunday’s Big Idea

Human-Technology Co-Evolution

Consider the "quantitative improvement" from primates to humans with a larger neocortex. This is what enabled the development of language, the arts and science -- higher level thinking. In today's lesson, Ray Kurzweil asks us to consider what it will mean when "we put gateways to the cloud in our brains."

In other words, "what kind of qualitative leap can we make with another quantitative increase?" Kurzweil asks.

This Is Your Brain in the Cloud

by Jonathan Fowler and Elizabeth Rodd

We are going to create synthetic neocortexes in order to extend our own neocortexes.

Will We Disappear Into Our Machines?

by David Gelernter

The major question of the 21st century "is whether human beings can summon the integrity ... to resist the many ways in which computers will encroach on human dignity."

Creativity in the Cloud: The Internet As Global Brain

by Tiffany Shlain

The future of film is collaborative storytelling, says Tiffany Shlain, filmmaker and founder of the Webby Awards.

Ray Kurzweil: The Six Epochs of Technology Evolution

by Daniel Honan

Ray Kurzweil is an expert at predicting the future. In tracking our progress in the technological-evolutionary journey, Kurzweil has identified six epochs, each of which is characterized by a major paradigm shift.

Going Mental

Sunday’s Big Idea

Human-Technology Co-Evolution