# Quote — Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near

> So I am a completely different set of stuff than I was a month ago, and all that persists is the pattern of organization of that stuff. The pattern changes also, but slowly and in a continuum. I am rather like the pattern that water makes in a stream as it rushes past the rocks in its path. The actual molecules of water change every millisecond, but the pattern persists for hours or even years.
>
> Perhaps, therefore, we should say I am a pattern of matter and energy that persists over time. But there is a problem with this definition, as well, since we will ultimately be able to upload this pattern to replicate my body and brain to a sufficiently high degree of accuracy that the copy is indistinguishable from the original.

- Author: [Ray Kurzweil](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil.md)
- Book: [The Singularity Is Near](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near.md)
- Page: 383
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil#The_Singularity_Is_Near:_When_Humans_Transcend_Biology_(2005)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near/so-i-am-a-completely

## More from this book

> The Singularity will allow us to transcend these limitations of our biological bodies and brains. We will gain power over our fates. Our mortality will be in our own hands. We will be able to live as long as we want (a subtly different statement from saying we will live forever). We will fully understand human thinking and will vastly extend and expand its reach. By the end of this century, the nonbiological portion of our intelligence will be trillions of trillions of times more powerful than unaided human intelligence.

p. 9 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near/the-singularity-will.md)

> The power of ideas to transform the world is itself accelerating.

p. 3 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near/the-power-of-ideas.md)

> I emphasize the exponential-versus-linear perspective because it's the most important failure that prognosticators make in considering future trends. Most technology forecasts and forecasters ignore altogether this historical exponential view of technological progress. Indeed, almost everyone I meet has a linear view of the future. That's why people tend to overestimate what can be achieved in the short term (because we tend to leave out unnecessary details) but underestimate what can be achieved in the long term (because exponential growth is ignored).

p. 13 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-is-near/i-emphasize-the.md)