Ray Kurzweil played a role in bringing the dangers of self-replicating technologies to Bill Joy's attention.

The claim: Kurzweil helped bring the dangers of self-replicating technologies to Bill Joy's attention. True: Bill Joy's own account (e.g. his April 2000 Wired essay 'Why the Future Doesn't Need Us') or other independent accounts show that his concern was prompted at least partly by meeting Kurzweil or reading his work (e.g. their 1998 conversation, or a preprint of The Age of Spiritual Machines). Mostly true: Kurzweil's influence is documented but minor or indirect compared with other sources. Mostly false: Joy credits the influence to others and mentions Kurzweil only in passing, with no causal role. False: Joy's account or other evidence shows Kurzweil played no part in raising his awareness.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 The 21st Century: a Confluence of Accelerating Revolutions the Kurzweil Library (thekurzweillibrary.com) · 15 May 2001 Own record

   “As Rob and I were talking, he, J. Storrs Hall, and Ralph Merkle were chiding me for the conversation I had with Bill Joy in a bar in Lake Tahoe, which, I guess, started Bill on a course that he's still on.”

2. E2 The 21st Century: a Confluence of Accelerating Revolutions The Kurzweil Library (thekurzweillibrary.com) · 15 May 2001 Own record

   “As Rob and I were talking, he, J. Storrs Hall, and Ralph Merkle were chiding me for the conversation I had with Bill Joy in a bar in Lake Tahoe, which, I guess, started Bill on a course that he’s still on.”

3. E3 The 21st Century: a Confluence of Accelerating Revolutions The Kurzweil Library (thekurzweillibrary.com) · 15 May 2001 Own record

   “Now, Bill Joy and I are very often paired as the pessimistic/optimistic respectively, and I do take issue with Bill Joy’s conclusions.”

4. E4 Biotech Activists, 03/20/00: Why the Future Doesn't Need Us Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), reprinting Bill Joy's Wired essay · 20 March 2000

   “I can date the onset of my unease to the day I met Ray Kurzweil, the deservedly famous inventor of the first reading machine for the blind and many other amazing things.”

5. E5 Biotech Activists, 03/20/00: Why the Future Doesn't Need Us Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), reprinting Bill Joy's Wired essay · 20 March 2000

   “I already knew that new technologies like genetic engineering and nanotechnology were giving us the power to remake the world, but a realistic and imminent scenario for intelligent robots surprised me.”

6. E6 Ubiquity: A call for early intervention ACM Ubiquity (interview with Bill Joy)

   “some of his remarks, and the fact that Ray Kurzweil quoted them, disturbed me enough to lead me to reexamine some things I hadn't thought about enough.”

In his own essay, Bill Joy writes that he can "date the onset of my unease to the day I met Ray Kurzweil" (E4). In an interview he also says that someone's remarks, and the fact that Kurzweil quoted them, disturbed him enough to make him reexamine things (E7). Joy notes he already knew about genetic engineering and nanotechnology, but says a realistic and imminent scenario for intelligent robots surprised him (E5). That is still a causal role in raising his concern, which meets the "true" criterion. Kurzweil's own later account (E1) agrees, but the verdict rests on Joy's statements.