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Linear thinking

The obstacles in the way of reaching an accommodation with the Taliban are manifold. There is the oft-repeated cliché that “the Americans have the watches, but the Taliban have the time.” Setting a timetable for withdrawal gives the Taliban reason to think that they can wait out the latest foreign power to try to bend Afghanistan to its will. And of course at the same time as pursuing “outreach”, America is doing its high-tech damnedest to kill as many Taliban leaders as it can. In what one Western diplomat calls the Taliban’s “madrassa, linear-thinking sort of way” this does not infuse talks with mutual trust.

- Banyan: Neither a picnic nor a Switzerland, The Economist, June 23, 2011.

3. Ray Kurzweil has plenty of titles already: inventor, author, futurist, techno-optimist, artificial intelligence expert. Now he’s adding a Hollywood gloss to that list by writing, directing, producing and acting in his first feature film. He’s adapting his latest book to make a movie titled The Singularity Is Near: A True Story About The Future.

The “technological singularity” is a concept that’s enchanting to some, like Kurzweil, and terrifying to others. As a result of the exponential progress of technology, Kurzweil believes, we’re racing towards a day when the power of the artificially intelligent machines we create will exceed human brainpower. Our computers will then carry on fashioning a new world -- with luck, they’ll keep our best interests in mind.