The Age of Spiritual Machines presents a history of computers, looking
             at how past trends in computing have led to today's personal machines.
             Author Ray Kurzweil then goes beyond history to look towards the future.
             Most audiences are familiar with the notion that computers will one day
             think faster and better than humans. However, Kurzweil goes beyond such
             familiar ground, making specific predictions regarding how "spiritual
             machines" will blur the line between thinking humans and technological
             In the first part of the book, "Probing the Past," Kurweil presents an
             excellent survey of how computational knowledge evolved throughout history.
             A gifted technological historian, Kurzweil sets the stage in this chapter
             by showing how these past developments have both changed the way people
             live and how this knowledge laid the foundations for his future
             Towards this, Kurzweil draws heavily from the work of heavyweights in
             the field -- such as Carl Sagan, Sherry Turkle, Marvin Minsky, Alan Turing
             and Eric Drexler. While Kurzweil does not actually present anything new in
             this part, he presents a good synthesis of the work of these important
             technological writers and philosophers. In this sense, The Age of
             Spiritual Machines is already a good read for a person looking for a good
             introduction into the work of the aforementioned authors.
             However, Kurzweil then moves on to make predictions of his own, and
             the fact that Kurzweil is specific with his predictions is one of the
             strengths of this interesting book. The author writes, for example, that
             by providing more intense and pleasurable sensations, virtual sex will soon
             be better than conventional sex. Digital prostitutes will service humans
             in a virtual environment, eliminating the risk of disease. Humans will
             soon have the ability to download their brains and minds into robots. This
             means that humans would be akin ...