My view is that consciousness, the seat of "personalness," is the ultimate reality, and is also scientifically impenetrable. In other words, there is no scientific test one can postulate that would definitively prove its existence in another entity. We assume that other biological human persons, at least those who are at least acting conscious, are indeed conscious. But this too is an assumption, and this shared human consensus breaks down when we go beyond human experience (e.g., the debate on animal consciousness, and by extension animal rights).
Ray KurzweilScience fiction is the great opportunity to speculate on what could happen. It does give me, as a futurist, scenarios.
Ray KurzweilLaunching a breakthrough idea is like shooting skeet. People's needs change, so you must aim well ahead of the target to hit it.
Ray KurzweilThose with engineering skills will build tomorrow's genius computers. But those with the ability to create knowledge of any kind will be the ones who are best able to extract great value from them. The way to create value in the age of genius machines will be to compile and disseminate knowledge that other people will find useful.
Ray Kurzweil