HURTLING TOWARD THE FIFTH EPOCH

We’re currently in what Kurzweil calls the Fourth Epoch, the period in which human-created tools and innovations become the primary drivers of progress. Alan Turing was the great mathematician demonstrated that machines could perform any calculable function given the right algorithm, the pivotal idea in developing computers. In 1950, he proposed the “Turing Test” that for 70 years has been regarded as the standard for determining a machine’s ability to pass as a human.

in the Fourth Epoch, we humans are leveraging our cognitive abilities to create digital technologies that surpass the limitations of biological evolution. We see the rapid expansion of the Internet and advances in machinery and software that have significantly enhanced productivity and efficiency across various industries.

In the Fifth Epoch, human intelligence will merge with artificial intelligence​​​​. Elon Musk’s development of Telepathy suggests we’re right at the cusp.

Exponential growth in computing power, our increasing ability to reverse engineer the brain with advanced scanners, and breakthroughs in genetics, nanotechnology and robotics are the main forces Kurzweil says are driving us into the Fifth Epoch.

Moreover, advances in pattern recognition and machine learning are enabling us to accurately emulate and augment complex human functions. See, for example, the promising work that a research team is doing at the University of Texas at Austin in developing a “semantic decoder.”

The key breakthrough we need to merge our brains with AI and achieve super-intelligence is the development of AI with enough programming abilities to give itself even more programming abilities, thereby creating a positive feedback loop. When this happens, we can expect an “intelligence explosion,” as Alan Turing’s colleague J.J. Good predicted as early as 1965.

“Ultimately, brain-computer interfaces will be essentially noninvasive — which will likely entail harmless nanoscale electrodes through the bloodstream,” Kurzweil says. “Tiny electronics will connect the top layers of the neocortex to the cloud, allowing us to communicate with simulated neurons hosted for us online.”

Once we have the first layer of virtual neocortex added added, more layers can be stacked on top for ever more sophisticated cognition.

”As this century progresses and the price-performance of computing continues to improve exponentially, the computing power available our brains will, too.”

“At last we will have access to our own source code, using AI capable of redesigning itself. Freed from the enclosure of our skulls, and processing on a substrate millions of times faster than biological tissue, our minds will be empowered to grow exponentially, ultimately expanding our intelligence millions-fold.”

New York Senator Henry Van Buren is driving the development of the National Brain/Computer Interface