Notes From the Editor

by Larry Kerschner

There are two books that I have read recently that I recommend.  The first is How to Create a Mind by Ray Kurzweil.  Kurzweil created the flat scanner and the text-to-speech and speech-to-text programs we use every day among many other inventions.  This book looks at the possibility (and likelihood) of creating a synthetic neocortex that in many ways could surpass the human mind.  He bases his predictions on the idea that the human brain is basically a pattern recognition device and its basic function is to predict the future.  Recent science shows that we perceive the bare outline of events and reconstruct memories in an ordered sequence, and our ability to fill in the blanks provides the foundation for our conscious experience. Our eyes perceive only six or seven bits of information and our mind ‘fills in the blanks.’  Kurzweil suggests that computers are becoming synthetic adjuncts to our brains.  Read this book and see the future.

A second book that has impressed me with its optimism about the future is Abundance co-written by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler. They believe that our beliefs about how dire the future seems limit our abilities to see new possibilities. They discuss many cutting edge technologies in varied areas such as education, healthcare, energy, water, personal freedom, food, technophilanthropy and population.  I don’t find all that they say convincing but this book makes you look again at what you think you know.

With the recent concentration of our minds on senseless violence in our society, I would like to point out a site for information for parents about movies that our children might see. www.kids-in-mind.com rates movies from 1-10 in the three categories of sex, violence and profanity. Their rating system seems to contain more information than the usual rating system that Hollywood uses.

Hug your children and grandchildren today.