SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The University of Rhode Island will kick off its honors colloquium, which focuses on the technological advances expected over the next 20 to 30 years, on Sept. 13.
Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, who has predicted that mind and machine will one day merge, will give the introductory lecture. All lectures – free and open to the public – throughout the semester will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Edwards Auditorium on the URI Kingston campus.
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Kurzweil will focus on three technologies that he believes are changing our lives: genetics, robotics, and nanotechnology. He has worked in virtual reality, optical character recognition, text-to-speech synthesis, speech regonition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments.
He has authored several books on health, artificial intelligence, and futurism, among others.
“Technology is increasing our capabilities exponentially in virtually every area of human endeavor, and a linear extrapolation of past trends will grossly underestimate technological capabilities in the not too distant future,” said Peter Cornillon, URI professor of oceanography and coordinator of the colloquium along with Professors Chris Roman and Judith Swift. “We’re not prepared or preparing for the impacts that will result from these technological changes, so this colloquium is designed to begin educating the public about what to expect.”
The other speakers include:
Events will be streamed at www.uri.edu/hc. For more information contact Deborah Gardiner at debg@uri.edu or 401-874-2381.
