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network of trees storing memory

science and technology looping back to religion and spirituality

the soul, stored

the singularity

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/25939914/when_man__machine_merge/print

But the even trippier stuff happens in the 2030s, when nanobots — microscopic machines built from molecular components — start to infiltrate your everyday life. "Nanobots in our physical bodies will destroy pathogens, remove debris, repair DNA and reverse aging," Kurzweil predicts. "We will be able to redesign all the systems in our bodies and brains to be far more capable and durable." By scanning the contents of your brain, nanobots will be able to transfer everything you know, everything you have ever experienced, into a robot or a virtual-reality program. If something happens to your physical body, no problem. Your mind will live on — forever.

But as computer intelligence surpasses that of humans, machines will also make smarter and smarter versions of themselves — without any help from us. After 2045, Kurzweil predicts, nanobots will replicate and spread throughout the tiniest recesses of matter, transforming the host — say, a tree or a stone — into a computational device. He calls this intelligence-infested matter "computronium, which is matter and energy organized at optimum level for computation. Using nanotechnology, we're going to turn a rock into a computer." As the nanobots spread computer intelligence beyond our planet, the universe itself will awaken as if a giant switch is finally being turned on. "The universe is not conscious — yet," Kurzweil has written. "But it will be."

The article on Kurzweil goes on to refute the optimism of the Singularity movement by citing Terminator -- yes, James Cameron-directed movie with "terrifying scenarios in which intelligent machines come to dominate the human race." But, oh, how Cameron's terrorizing pessimistic view of machines and technology has turned into something much different.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Spiritual_Machines

And where does technology become the most religious? The Singularity, for its supporters, is a form of heaven.

Kurzweil's most ambitious plan for life after the Singularity, however, is also his most personal: Using technology, he plans to bring his dead father back to life. Kurzweil reveals this to me near the end of our conversation. It's a bright, clear afternoon, and we can see the river that runs behind the trees outside his wide office windows. The portrait of his father looks down over him. In a soft voice, he explains how the resurrection will work. "We can find some of his DNA around his grave site — that's a lot of information right there," he says. "The AI will send down some nanobots and get some bone or teeth and extract some DNA and put it all together. Then they'll get some information from my brain and anyone else who still remembers him."

In the end, Jake Sully decides to live his life as his Avatar. As his Second Life. As in... the story in which a couple lets their real-life baby die in order to take care of their virtual baby.