A Charismatic Operating System?

3 April 2007

Ray Kurzweil occasionally uses imaginary conversations as a device to discuss ideas in his books The Singularity is Near and The Age of Spiritual Machines. They usually involve people from the future and the past (Ned Ludd, for example). Here is a more contemporaneous dialog between himself and a pretend Bill Gates from Singularity:

BILL: What would the principles of the new religion be?

RAY: We'd want to keep two principles: one from traditional religion and one from secular arts and sciences---from traditional religion, the respect for human consciousness.

BILL: Ah yes, the Golden Rule.

RAY: Right, our morality and legal system are based on respect for the consciousness of others. [...]

BILL: And the secular principle?

RAY: From the arts and sciences, it is the importance of knowledge. [...]

BILL: We need to get away from the ornate and strange stories in contemporary religions and concentrate on some simple messages. We need a charismatic leader for this new religion.

RAY: A charismatic leader is part of the old model. That's something we want to get away from.

BILL: Okay, a charismatic computer, then.

RAY: How about a charismatic operating system?

BILL: Ha, we've already got that. So is there a God in this new religion?

RAY: Not yet, but there will be. Once we saturate the matter and energy in the universe with intelligence, it will "wake up," be conscious, and sublimely intelligent. That's about as close to God as I can imagine.

-- Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity is Near, p374