The Singularity Is Nearer

"[1][2][3][4] In an interview with societyforscience and sciencenews, Kurzweil said that the book will contain a chapter "[...] that shows [...] how dramatically every aspect of human life has improved over the decades and over the centuries".

But [The Singularity] is going to be beautiful and will expand our consciousness in ways we can barely imagine, like a person who is deaf hearing the most exquisite symphony for the first time.

When asked in a 2024 interview with The Guardian why Kurzweil wrote the book, he answered: "The Singularity Is Near talked about the future, but 20 years ago, when people didn’t know what AI was" and that "It is time to take a look again both at the progress we’ve made [...] and the coming breakthroughs.

"[9] Becca Rothfeld from The Washington Post wrote that The Singularity Is Nearer is "daunting to summarize [...] because it is so careless and careening", arguing that "[f]ar from the sort of disciplined treatise we might expect from a veteran programmer, this book is a welter of free associations and shameless simplifications.

"[10] She claims that "At times, Kurzweil’s prophecies read like passages from messianic religious texts.