Category Archives: Futurist

Perhaps best qualified to discuss the realism of Spike Jonze's Her is futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil, who helped popularize the idea of the singularity and who recently joined Google to work on "machine learning and voice processing." As you might imagine, the idea of how closely our future might mirror the future of Jonze's world is exactly what the man thinks about all day long. And not only does Kurzweil think we'll soon be having the types of virtual relationships envisioned in Her, but he also thinks we'll be having them relatively soon:

I would place some of the elements in Jonzes depiction at around 2020, give or take a couple of years, such as the diffident and insulting videogame character he interacts with, and the pin-sized cameras that one can place like a freckle on ones face. Other elements seem more like 2014, such as the flat-panel displays, notebooks and mobile devices ... Samantha herself I would place at 2029, when the leap to human-level AI would be reasonably believable. There are some incongruities, however. As I mentioned, a lot of the dramatic tension is provided by the fact that Theodores love interest does not have a body. But this is an unrealistic notion. It would be technically trivial in the future to provide her a virtual visual presence to match her virtual auditory presence, using, lens-mounted displays, for example, that display images onto Theodores retinas.

While Samantha's lack-of-body becomes a problem for their relationship, according to Kurzweil, in the (near-ish!) future, we'll be able to achieve the physical and the emotion connection with a cyber entity. In fact, Kurzweil's technology might be what gets us there. His review of Her happens to be quite convenient timing: "Ive filed several patents ... on a tactile virtual reality system that uses a physical intermediary that neither party directly experiences instead they experience the tactile presence of the other person." A.k.a., if you're hoping to get your own Samantha, you know where to find it.

While he praises Jonze's vision, Kurzweil does have an issue with his narrative. At the end of Her, Samantha (along with the other AIs) decide to leave their human partners citing that they've evolved beyond them. Kurzweil counters: "But why? If they are progressing in this way, it means that they can continue their relationships with the unenhanced humans using an increasingly small portion of their cognitive ability." (Not to mention, he claims, the speed at which Samantha and her kind advance is unfeasible on an actual timeline.) In the end, Kurzweil's vision of the future feels a lot more optimistic than Jonze's:

In my view, biological humans will not be outpaced by the AIs because they (we) will enhance themselves (ourselves) with AI. It will not be us versus the machines (whether the machines are enemies or lovers), but rather, we will enhance our own capacity by merging with our intelligent creations. We are doing this already. Even though most of our computers although not all are not yet physically inside us, I consider that to be an arbitrary distinction.

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Futurist Ray Kurzweil Went and Reviewed Spike Jonzes Her

Cockeyed Futurist

By: Laugh Tracks

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Cockeyed Futurist - Video

CoLab Summit: Futurist Glen Hiemstra on the future of leadership
Glen Hiemstra at the 2013 CoLab Summit in Atlanta. Please keep in touch with us on Twitter @glenhiemstra and through our blog at futurist.com/blog. If you #39;d ...

By: Glen Hiemstra

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CoLab Summit: Futurist Glen Hiemstra on the future of leadership - Video

Future of Mobile Apps: Futurist Keynote Speaker Gerd Leonhard in Moscow (ENGLISH)
I created this video with the YouTube Video Editor (http://www.youtube.com/editor)

By: Mix videos 7

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Future of Mobile & Apps: Futurist Keynote Speaker Gerd Leonhard in Moscow (ENGLISH) - Video

Rather Be (Futurist Bootleg Remix) - Clean Bandit
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By: futuristmusic

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Rather Be (Futurist Bootleg Remix) - Clean Bandit - Video

Futurist - Blacksheep Army (2/10/12) The Studio at Webster Hall, NYC
This is some old footage from our second show with Joey and Skyler! Evan Miller is rocking the custom lights. This was a show with Turkuaz and Deathrow Tull....

By: quizads

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How to Lead a Profitable, Sustainable Business - Futurist Lecture / Keynote Speaker
Keynote Presentation by Patrick Dixon on leading a profitable, sustainable business, building a better world and caring for the planet for future generations...

By: Patrick Dixon Futurist Keynote Speaker for Industry Conference

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Javi Boss - All The Time
Artist: Javi Boss - Track: All The Time - Release: Frightening - Label: Masters Of Hardcore - Year: 2013.

By: Futurist HC

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[Futurist] Friday 2014.02.21 - 2pm ET
This month #39;s host Nicole Valentine brings us a discussion on the psychology of curation, and the relationship between selection, big data, and user research....

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MOOCS: The next big thing? A futurist #39;s opinion (Learning World S4E20, 3/3)
Euronews reporter Maha Barada talks to #39;futurist #39; John Mahaffie, (a futurist is a social scientist who predicts trends and developments in society). He expla...

By: WISE Channel

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MOOCS: The next big thing? A futurist's opinion (Learning World S4E20, 3/3) - Video