How to Create a Mind

From the world's preeminent AI futurist: a fascinating account of how mapping the human mind leads to ever more intelligent machines

Ray Kurzweil, described by Bill Gates as 'the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence', offers a provocative exploration of the most important project in human-machine civilisation: reverse-engineering the brain to understand precisely how it works and using that knowledge to create even more intelligent machines.

Kurzweil sets out how the brain functions, how the mind emerges from the brain, and the implications of vastly increased and evolving intelligence in addressing the world's problems. He thoughtfully examines emotional and moral intelligence and the origins of consciousness and envisions the radical - arguably inevitable - future of our merging with the intelligent technology we are creating, aka 'the singularity'.

Review:

'Kurzweil's vision of our super-enhanced future is completely sane and calmly reasoned, and his book should nicely smooth the path for the earth's robot overlords, who, it turns out, will be us' New York Times

'Kurzweil foresees a disease-free world where no one ages and artificial brains make machines human-like - and he is not one to get things wrong' Daily Telegraph

'Ray Kurzweil is the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence' Bill Gates

'Kurzweil knows a lot about new technology and he knows how to make it sound fun. He is dazzling in his enthusiasm for things to come, and has a grasp of the exciting developments pulsing through the intersection of science and technology' Financial Times