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The Singularity Is Near NEAR

D avid Dalrymple has been mentored over the years by inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, author of the books "The Age of Spiritual Machines" and "The Singularity is Near" and producer of the upcoming "Singularity is Near" film. Kurzweil advocates awareness of the Law of Accelerating Returns -- the fundamental exponential growth of any information technology -- and the staggering consequences this will have for human life in the not-too-distant future.

The Singularity can be defined as the point at which there is no useful distinction to make between humans and machines.
With the technology to scan, upload and simulate neural patterns, for instance, a person will no longer need to rely on one single physical embodiment to maintain his or her existence. With the computing power to simulate the physical world to perceptual accuracy, the best of real-world interactions and the Internet can be combined into one.
Dalrymple will present his own version of this story, drawing on a set of illustrative slides produced by Kurzweil and his team of trend-following experts and presented by Kurzweil at conferences around the globe. Time permitting, he will also describe his own ideas about the underlying mathematics, physical analogies, energy, economy, and environmentalism.

Biography of David Dalrymple:
David Dalrymple is a doctoral student at MIT who received his M.S. from the Media Lab in June at age 16. He is working on radical new models of computation, in a bold attempt to replace the von Neumann model, which has been dominant since 1945. David was homeschooled from age 2, when he first declared his mission to change the world by re-inventing the computer, and was admitted to the University of Maryland Baltimore County at age 8.
He has spoken at conferences such as TED , IFPRI 2020 , and the White House/Smithsonian Millennium Celebration, as well as organizations including Microsoft, the ACM, and of course MIT. His most recent presentation was at AUTOMATA-2008 in Bristol, England this June. His interests and hobbies include musical improvisation and music production, photography, fractal art, writing, and teaching for MIT's Educational Studies.