The web within us: when minds and machines become one

Conference Chair, Donald Taylor, stated, "Each year we bring together people with tremendous insight into how learning is evolving to and must continue to evolve. I'm particularly pleased that Ray Kurzweil will be giving a keynote speech at this January's conference. His work on how technology will impact humankind is a window on a very different-looking world to the one we recognise today, presenting a challenge for all L&D professionals."

Ray Kurzweil's session, 'The web within us: when minds and machines become one', closes day one of the conference on 25 January.

The onset of the 21st century is an era in which the very nature of what it means to be human is both enriched and challenged, as our species breaks the shackles of its genetic legacy and achieves inconceivable heights of intelligence, material progress, and longevity.
 
By 2020, we will have the means to programme our biology away from disease and aging. Information technology will be the majority of the economy in the 2020s and by the end of that decade virtual environments will be indistinguishable from reality. Virtually all technology will be nanotechnology within two decades, solving the energy problem and providing every kind of material resource that we need from mere information and inexpensive raw materials.
 
While the social and philosophical ramifications of these changes will be profound, and the threats they pose considerable, we will ultimately merge with our machines, vastly extend our lives, and become a billion times more intelligent - all within the next three to four decades.

Ray Kurzweil's keynote at Learning Technologies looks at a very different emerging world from the one we know: posing profound social and philisophical questions.

Ray Kurzweil has written six books, four of which have been national best sellers. The Age of Spiritual Machines has been translated into 9 languages and was the #1 best selling book on Amazon in science.  Ray's latest book, The Singularity is Near, was a New York Times best seller, and has been the #1 book on Amazon in both science and philosophy.

To keep up to date with all the latest news and January 2012 event developments, visit www.learningtechnologies.co.uk and www.learningandskillsevents.com

About Learning Technologies 2012, 25 and 26 January 2012, Olympia 2, London
The Learning Technologies Exhibition and Conference is Europe's leading showcase of the technology used for learning at work and provides a wealth of content from the leading exhibitors in the field and a free seminar programme running in five theatres in the exhibition hall. The conference, running alongside the exhibition has expert sessions on learning technology, strategy and the issues facing L&D from some of the leading learning thinkers and visionaries in the industry.

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About Learning and Skills 2012, 25 and 26 January 2012, Olympia 2, London
Learning and Skills 2012 is co-located with the Learning Technologies Exhibition and Conference. The Learning and Skills exhibition showcases the entire spectrum of methods, products and services for workplace learning with a focus on people development, learning and performance, learning resources and HR systems and services and is built around a multi-streamed programme of free seminars in four theatres on the exhibition floor.

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Event hash tag: #LAS11UK

The combination of Learning Technologies and Learning and Skills provides access to more than 200 exhibitors and over 120 free-of-charge seminars and is the must attend event for all learning and development professionals.