| Unresolvable |
Jeff Bezos | Factual |
2 Apr 2001 |
The capital markets' behaviour in 1999 had never been seen before.
Jeff Bezos · Factual · 2 Apr 2001 |
Economics and markets |
| Not checkable |
Jeff Bezos | Not checkable |
2 Apr 2001 |
although I was surprised by the rapidity of consolidation, 2000 was so much healthier, a return to normalcy.
Jeff Bezos · Not checkable · 2 Apr 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Jeff Bezos | Not checkable |
2 Apr 2001 |
We’ve worked together like hand and glove.
Jeff Bezos · Not checkable · 2 Apr 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Jeff Bezos | Not checkable |
2 Apr 2001 |
We are in this for the long haul.
Jeff Bezos · Not checkable · 2 Apr 2001 |
|
| Unresolvable |
Jeff Bezos | Prediction |
2 Apr 2001 |
Amazon's early stage businesses will become profitable over time, and Amazon has already announced a target date for companywide profitability.
Jeff Bezos · Prediction · 2 Apr 2001 |
Economics and markets |
| Not checkable |
Jeff Bezos | Not checkable |
2 Apr 2001 |
In retrospect, all of that experimentation that’s been done will produce winning experiments that will be so valuable for society.
Jeff Bezos · Not checkable · 2 Apr 2001 |
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| Mostly false |
Jeff Bezos | Factual |
2 Apr 2001 |
Amazon's U.S. books, music and video segment showed a $125 million operating profit in Q3 2000, its second profitable quarter.
Jeff Bezos · Factual · 2 Apr 2001 |
Economics and markets |
| Unresolvable |
Jeff Bezos | Factual |
2 Apr 2001 |
Amazon has greatly improved its inventory turns.
Jeff Bezos · Factual · 2 Apr 2001 |
Economics and markets |
| Not checkable |
Jeff Bezos | Not checkable |
2 Apr 2001 |
We’re open to anything that makes sense and benefits the three parties involved-us, them and the customers.
Jeff Bezos · Not checkable · 2 Apr 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Jeff Bezos | Not checkable |
2 Apr 2001 |
Money was incredibly easy to raise.
Jeff Bezos · Not checkable · 2 Apr 2001 |
|
| Unresolvable |
Jeff Bezos | Factual |
2 Apr 2001 |
The consumer electronics market is much bigger than the book market, which is a $28 billion industry.
Jeff Bezos · Factual · 2 Apr 2001 |
Economics and markets |
| Resolved true |
Jeff Bezos | Prediction |
2 Apr 2001 |
Some e-commerce businesses will fail in 2001.
Jeff Bezos · Prediction · 2 Apr 2001 |
Economics and markets |
| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
If we develop downloading technology to the point where the “copies” are as close to the original as the original person changes anyway in…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Relinquishing technological advancement would be economic suicide for individuals, companies, and nations.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
We assume that other humans are conscious, but that is still an assumption,
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Thus the freeing of our thinking from the severe limitations of its biological form may be regarded as an essential spiritual quest.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
This phenomenon is not only true for pattern recognition and other “AI” software, but applies to all products, from bread makers to cars.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
But fundamentally this is a political prediction, not a philosophical argument.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
The future is not like the present.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
When the scientists evolve to be a million times more intelligent and operate a million times faster, then an hour would result in a…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Just because quantum technology may be feasible does not suggest that the brain is capable of it.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
So what appears to be the continuing existence of just one Ray is really the creation of new Ray and the termination of old Ray.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
This “law of accelerating returns” applies to all of technology, indeed to any true evolutionary process, and can be measured with…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
The requisite hardware capacity is a necessary but not sufficient condition.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Restricting the growth rate of the economy to an arbitrary limit makes as much sense as restricting the rate at which a company can grow…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
It is remarkable therefore that these chaotic processes result in such smooth and predictable exponential trends.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Technology goes beyond mere tool making; it is a process of creating ever more powerful technology using the tools from the previous round…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
So it would at least appear that intelligence is more powerful than physics.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
In my view, it is one manifestation (among many) of the exponential growth of the evolutionary process that is technology.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
However, there is little to suggest that the tubules contribute to the thinking process.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
I have always considered the science fiction notion of large space ships with large squishy creatures similar to us to be very unlikely.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
And if the product itself doesn’t exhibit some level of intelligence, then intelligence in the manufacturing and marketing methods have a…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
People often go through three stages in examining the impact of future technology
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
A disembodied mind will quickly get depressed.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Evolution, in my view, represents the purpose of life.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
I think the most appropriate measure to track is computational speed per unit cost.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Ultimately, we will need to port our mental processes to a more suitable computational substrate.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
You will get $40 trillion just by reading this essay and understanding what it says.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Incidentally, this is not an argument against the SETI project, which in my view should have the highest possible priority because the…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
There is no reason to believe that biological mechanisms (including quantum computing) are inherently impossible to replicate using…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
The primary force driving technology is economic imperative.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Although these estimates are conservatively high, one can find higher and lower estimates.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
once again there is nothing to suggest that the brain does quantum computing.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
The Singularity results not from the exponential explosion of computation alone, but rather from the interplay and myriad synergies that…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
For one thing, old biological Ray (that’s me) still exists.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
And the primary reason for this failure is that they are based on the intuitive but short sighted linear view of history.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
My view is that despite our profound limitations of thought, constrained as we are today to a mere hundred trillion interneuronal…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
However, in my view, this nonbiological intelligence should still be considered human as it is fully derivative of the human-machine…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
No one would suggest we do away with computers, local area networks, and the Internet because of software viruses.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Fundamentally, we cannot penetrate the subjective experience of another entity with direct objective measurement.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
This, in my view, is neither desirable nor feasible, and the futility of such a position is only underscored by the senselessness of…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Thus the (double) exponential growth of computing is broader than Moore’s Law, which refers to only one of its paradigms.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
With this approach, we don’t have to copy every single connection.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Scaling up technical processes at an exponential pace is what technology is good at.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
The Singularity then is not a grave danger to be avoided.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
We would have to repeal capitalism and every visage of economic competition to stop this progression.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Any civilization sophisticated enough to make the trip here would have long since passed the point of merging with their technology and…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
In a competitive environment, it is an economic imperative to go down these roads.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
There exists no objective test that can conclusively determine its presence.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Achieving the computational capacity of the human brain, or even villages and nations of human brains will not automatically produce human…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
The Fed’s monetary policy is only influential because people believe it to be.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
I emphasize this point because it is the most important failure that would-be prognosticators make in considering future trends.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Now having thought about its implications for the past 20 years, I feel that we are indeed capable of understanding the many facets of this…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
This argues that we should not associate our fundamental identity with a specific set of particles, but rather the pattern of matter and…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
From my perspective, the Singularity has many faces.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
The current high interest rates fostered by the Federal Reserve Bank are destructive, are causing trillions of dollars of lost wealth, are…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
the essence of consciousness is subjective experience, not objective correlates of that experience.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
I do feel that relinquishment at the right level is part of a responsible and constructive response to these genuine perils.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Most forecasts of the future seem to ignore the revolutionary impact of the Singularity in our human destiny
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
One year would be like a millennium.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Intelligent machines have enormous value.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
In accordance with the law of accelerating returns, paradigm shift, also called innovation, turns the S curve of any specific paradigm into…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Virtually all of the economic models taught in economics classes, used by the Federal Reserve Board to set monetary policy, by Government…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
Biological quantum computing mechanisms, if they exist, could be replicated.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
I would nonetheless conclude that he’s not me, because I’m still here.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
There is no reason why we cannot reverse engineer the human brain, and essentially copy its design.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
I believe he is correct on the deeply entangled nature of the benefits and risks.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
|
| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
There is no need for high interest rates to counter an inflation that doesn’t exist.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
On the other hand, how many people in the year 2000 would really want to go back to the short, brutish, disease-filled, poverty-stricken…
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
This is why we are not seeing inflation.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
the very nature of objectivity is that you cannot measure subjective experience-you can only measure correlates of it, such as behavior
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
The exponential growth of computing is a marvelous quantitative example of the exponentially growing returns from an evolutionary process.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
However, even much higher (or lower) estimates by orders of magnitude only shift the prediction by a relatively small number of years.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
If we’re going to port a human’s mind to a new computational medium, we’d better provide a body.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Ray Kurzweil | Not checkable |
7 Mar 2001 |
There is a vital economic imperative to create more intelligent technology.
Ray Kurzweil · Not checkable · 7 Mar 2001 |
|
| Mostly true |
Warren Buffett | Factual |
28 Feb 2001 |
Berkshire's practice of keeping most shoe production in domestic factories has cost its shoe businesses heavily.
Warren Buffett · Factual · 28 Feb 2001 |
Their own work or organisation |
| Not checkable |
Warren Buffett | Not checkable |
28 Feb 2001 |
That does not take away from the fact that State Farm is one of America�s greatest business stories.
Warren Buffett · Not checkable · 28 Feb 2001 |
|
| Not checkable |
Warren Buffett | Not checkable |
28 Feb 2001 |
What actually occurs in these cases is wealth transfer, often on a massive scale.
Warren Buffett · Not checkable · 28 Feb 2001 |
|
| Not checkable |
Warren Buffett | Not checkable |
28 Feb 2001 |
Our acquisition technique at Berkshire is simplicity itself: We answer the phone.
Warren Buffett · Not checkable · 28 Feb 2001 |
|
| Not researched |
Warren Buffett | Factual |
28 Feb 2001 |
Buffett said the annual meeting was moved to the Civic Auditorium the previous year (2000) and that it worked very well.
Warren Buffett · Factual · 28 Feb 2001 |
Their own work or organisation |
| Unresolvable |
Warren Buffett | Prediction |
28 Feb 2001 |
Over time GEICO will inevitably increase its market share significantly while achieving excellent profits, thanks to its low-cost advantage.
Warren Buffett · Prediction · 28 Feb 2001 |
Their own work or organisation |
| Not checkable |
Warren Buffett | Not checkable |
28 Feb 2001 |
At bottom, the "business model" for these companies has been the old-fashioned chain letter, for which many fee-hungry investment bankers…
Warren Buffett · Not checkable · 28 Feb 2001 |
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| Not checkable |
Warren Buffett | Not checkable |
28 Feb 2001 |
We try, therefore, to keep our estimates conservative and to focus on industries where business surprises are unlikely to wreak havoc on…
Warren Buffett · Not checkable · 28 Feb 2001 |
|
| Resolved true |
Warren Buffett | Factual |
28 Feb 2001 |
GEICO's policyholder growth slowed to a halt as 2000 progressed.
Warren Buffett · Factual · 28 Feb 2001 |
Their own work or organisation |
| Unresolvable |
Warren Buffett | Factual |
28 Feb 2001 |
At the 2000 Berkshire meeting weekend baseball game, it took Buffett five pitches to throw anything resembling a strike.
Warren Buffett · Factual · 28 Feb 2001 |
Their own work or organisation |
| Not researched |
Warren Buffett | Factual |
28 Feb 2001 |
Warren Buffett entered Ben Graham's class at Columbia in 1951, 50 years before the letter.
Warren Buffett · Factual · 28 Feb 2001 |
Their own work or organisation |
| Not checkable |
Warren Buffett | Not checkable |
28 Feb 2001 |
An insurance business has value if its cost of float over time is less than the cost the company would otherwise incur to obtain funds.
Warren Buffett · Not checkable · 28 Feb 2001 |
|
| Not checkable |
Warren Buffett | Not checkable |
28 Feb 2001 |
Using precise numbers is, in fact, foolish; working with a range of possibilities is the better approach.
Warren Buffett · Not checkable · 28 Feb 2001 |
|
| Not researched |
Warren Buffett | Factual |
28 Feb 2001 |
It has become much more expensive for GEICO to obtain new business.
Warren Buffett · Factual · 28 Feb 2001 |
Their own work or organisation |
| Not researched |
Warren Buffett | Factual |
28 Feb 2001 |
In its look-through earnings table, Berkshire's operating earnings exclude purchase-accounting adjustments, capital gains and other major non-recurring items.
Warren Buffett · Factual · 28 Feb 2001 |
Economics and markets |