The Age of Spiritual Machines: when computers exceed human intelligence
Ray Kurzweil, Allen & Unwin, 1999
Review by Charles Sherlock
Zadok Perspectives Issue No. 63
Autumn 1999

RAY KURZWEIL IS QUITE a guy. A teenage computing prodigy in the '60s, he has been the brain behind a stack of computing technology breakthroughs-reading machines for the blind, optical character recognition (OCR), music synthesisers, artificial intelligence, and so on (you can read the amazing and true story in pages 174-178 of this interesting and well-constructed book). One feature which makes it particularly easy to read is the "dialogues" at the end of each chapter, beautifully written, and embracing an attractive sense of humour and irony.

This book is not Ray's first step into print. In 1988 he wrote The Age of Intelligent Machines, which "predicted" a raft of technological innovations likely in the next decade-with a strike-rate of over 80 per cent (most notably, the Web). So when he writes a second book of "predictions", we should sit up and take notice. His basic argument is that by 2019 the average home computer will have equalled the intelligent power of the human brain, and that by 2099 "we" will live in and through neural networks in which machine and person will be indistinguishable. Quite a picture, and very thought-provoking!

The Age of Intelligent Machines falls into three parts: "probing the past", "preparing the present" and "to face the future". If you just want the predictions, some quite sensational (let the reader understand . . . ), go straight to Part Three. If you want to find out what he thinks "spiritual machines" are, try Part Two. But if you are interested in exploring the underlying issues of the rapid developments in technology for human life, Part One is where to begin. (Ray's own preference is for readers to read from the beginning, but to be offered alternatives by a book's author is very postmodern.)

Now, spiritual machines? Unfortunately, beyond the title, hardly anything at all is written about the 'spiritual'! One gets the feeling that the title was thought up after the book was finished. Only in one three-page section is 'spirituality' discussed, where we find that "spiritual machines" are simply ones which can think-or which other humans accept as thinking (the famous Turing Test). The idea that being spiritual has to do with prayer, worship and especially obedience, finds no echo at all.

I found it distinctly odd to read a book about things 'spiritual' whose author holds to a strictly materialist view of reality-he makes one or two kind asides about Buddhism, and refers once to his Unitarian high school education. 'God' seems to be wholly absent from Kurzweil's imagination, and only appears as the name given to a laboratory-induced experience of some epileptic people! This is a salutary warning for Christians, who (like me) perhaps take it too much for granted that intellectual leaders 'reason' in the light of the long-term religious heritage of both West and East, with a sense of history. It is also a sign that 'spirituality' for many today has solely a 'horizontal' reference, having nothing to do with godliness (the closest biblical term to 'spirituality').

Now Kurzweil has a first-rate knowledge of the history of technology, especially in its electronic forms. The book is of great value in this respect, and at points fascinating. But he fails to ground this in a wider view of history (the far more satisfying approaches of Alberto Manguel's The History of Reading, or Michael Heim's The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality come to mind). This, together with the occasional references to philosophy in Parts One and Two (swelling to a confident flood in Part Three) did not give me great confidence in his wilder predictions about the future.

Indeed, The Age of Intelligent Machines reads at many points as if human history only began in 1861 with Darwin's theory of evolution, and 'evolution' is sprinkled liberally all over Part One, in a bewildering range of meanings. If a theological student used 'God' so loosely in an essay, I would be putting red marks all over their work! Further, I understand how organic life may 'evolve', but have always been puzzled as to how a rock does-and very suspicious of speaking about society as 'evolving'.

Likewise, 'law' is used in a kaleidoscopic variety of ways. In particular, Kurzweil asserts a "Law of Time and Chaos" as fundamental to his outlook. This seeks to blend the ideas behind evolution with (the contrasting) ones of thermodynamics (with 'chaos' ideas thrown in rather loosely). The effect is to argue that everything is going to get bigger and better without limit, and underlies a vast number of 'will' assertions about the future, which start to take on the force of 'must' after a while.

Occasionally The Age of Intelligent Machines does engage with theological ideas. Kurzweil clearly enjoys the notion that reality is only 'there' when it is perceived-the illustration of a photon only having its path determined when it is received in the eye forms the opening note of the book, for example. Yet he seems unaware that this was precisely how Bishop Berkeley argued against Hume: reality endures beyond my observation of it because God is the Great Perceiver!

The largest theological questions, however, concern what it means to be human. Part Two moves towards a highly 'disembodied' understanding of human life: the chapter on "Bodies" is intended to clarify this, but only serves to reinforce it: the goal of technology is to extend human consciousness indefinitely by loosening the links with our bodies. Not surprisingly, a considerable emphasis on individualism emerges (with throwaway lines supporting competitive capitalism). This is not to say that Kurzweil lacks a social conscience (his own considerable work on disabilities negates this) but his philosophy of human life is highly 'autonomous'.

And such a perspective cloaks some assumptions that human life is basically male, middle class and Western. The consistent use of 'she' for the reader grates rather than assures after a while, and one gets rather tired of repeated references to sexual experience (portrayed in male terms) as the highpoint of human existence. Despite large amounts of material about machines becoming embedded in us, and then taking on their own life, not a single word is said about human reproduction, the complementarity of the sexes (however regarded) and so on.

Finally, to live in Kurzweil's future world assumes that one has access to cheap electricity, technology and education, without sin, suffering, pollution and evil (the tragic face of real chaos). Better technology may be of benefit to many, but it also heightens our capacity for pride, sloth, greed and laziness, and any machine which 'evolves' from our species will be little different.

The Age of Intelligent Machines nevertheless can engage Christians positively in several ways. Most obviously, it puts everyone on notice about likely changes in societies such as Australia. Kurzweil's predictions for the next decade make far more sense than the longer term ones. (If he is right, by the way, Telstra and tertiary education should most definitely remain under government control.) The sheer speed of likely change in a wider range of life-situations calls for ethical and theological engagement as a matter of urgency.

The larger lesson, however, concerns the way in which we theologise. Most Christian thinking has worked from the past-whether understood in terms of the scriptures, tradition or particular theological emphases-forwards'. Yet Jesus continually spoke of and lived out the Kingdom of God, an approach which begins the future and works 'backwards' into the present. Such a method is gradually emerging in ecumenical theology as a way of getting not only 'behind', but also 'in front of' divisive issues.

From a Christian theological perspective, Kurzweil's book is challenging. But it is perhaps best viewed as a fascinating example of working from the 'future backwards'. Such a methodology is one which could be considerable assistance in living out the way of Christ in a 'culture of change'.

Charles Sherlock, an Anglican priest and deacon, is Senior Lecturer in Theology at Trinity College Theological School, Melbourne. Having soldered together his first computer two decades back, he occasionally finds there is more to life than playing with its descendants.