Claim and evidence Close ×
Kurzweil's essay of 2001 states that the growth of computation is an ongoing exponential "at least until" the intelligence of human-machine civilisation saturates the universe, and that once a species creates computation, "it is only a matter of a few centuries" before its intelligence "begins to expand outward at the speed of light or greater". Copy claim link
Copy claim reference
Machine-checked Stated in source Supported
Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source
Date 2001-03-07 · publication Records dated 2001 → Wording attested 2025-01-01. The wording was read in the Kurzweil Library page dated January 1, 2025. The cross-family check found other passages of the essay in the kurzweilai.net copy captured on 7 November 2001; not every passage of this record was compared with it. Role Articulation Register (kind of text) Nonfiction Scope and limits The essay develops the proposition in its sections "Why SETI Will Fail" and "Why Intelligence is More Powerful than Physics"; in the passage on Moore's Law, saturation of the universe is a bound on the growth of computation that the essay says "will not be a limit in this coming century".
The evidence 02 primary source Supports the claim
The Law of Accelerating Returns ↗ The Kurzweil Library (writingsbyraykurzweil.com), essay page · 2001-03-07
Archived copy, captured 2001-11-07: The Law of Accelerating Returns ↗
Copy source reference
Cite the original source Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.
Copy APA
Download BibTeX Download RIS Download CSL-JSON
Source excerpt “at least until we "saturate" the Universe with the intelligence of our human-machine civilization” Location in source Section on Moore's Law as an S curve
How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher
Machine-checked · 2026-11-01
Source details and check notes Authors Ray Kurzweil Version Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31 (SHA-256 b1235f63983668667c5abade21b45d8084f3487cc19648396665252510f29aac). The Kurzweil Library page labelled "essay: the Law of Accelerating Returns. author: by Ray Kurzweil date: January 2001", with a page date of January 1, 2025. Not compared with the kurzweilai.net copies of 2001 (captures listed in retrievalFailures). The cross-family check of 2026-11-01 read the kurzweilai.net copy captured on 7 November 2001, which states that the essay was written in November 2000 and published on 7 March 2001, and found the quoted passages it compared. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-31 Language English (en) Archive copy Open archived copy, captured 2001-11-07: The Law of Accelerating Returns ↗ . Captured 245 days after the recorded publication date. An archive copy shows only what the archive retrieved on 2001-11-07. It does not prove what the page said earlier, and it can differ from the copy checked on 2026-10-31.Attribution Ray Kurzweil, “The Law of Accelerating Returns”, 2001-03-07. Reuse No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution. Check notes Candidate pack passage, machine succession, scale and acceleration (research/heterodox-thought). The quotation (14 words) matched the text retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31. Matching ignored differences of whitespace, case, quotation marks, dashes and Unicode compatibility forms, so the source’s typography can differ. A cross-family machine check (2026-11-01, item 30) classified the record’s passage blind and reached the same stance. No human editorial review. primary source Supports the claim
The Law of Accelerating Returns ↗ The Kurzweil Library (writingsbyraykurzweil.com), essay page · 2001-03-07
Archived copy, captured 2001-11-07: The Law of Accelerating Returns ↗
Copy source reference
Cite the original source Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.
Copy APA
Download BibTeX Download RIS Download CSL-JSON
Source excerpt “it is only a matter of a few centuries before its intelligence saturates the matter and energy in its vicinity, and it begins to expand outward at the speed of light or greater.” Location in source Section "Why Intelligence is More Powerful than Physics" (see also "Why SETI Will Fail")
How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher
Machine-checked · 2026-11-01
Source details and check notes Authors Ray Kurzweil Version Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31 (SHA-256 b1235f63983668667c5abade21b45d8084f3487cc19648396665252510f29aac). The Kurzweil Library page labelled "essay: the Law of Accelerating Returns. author: by Ray Kurzweil date: January 2001", with a page date of January 1, 2025. Not compared with the kurzweilai.net copies of 2001 (captures listed in retrievalFailures). The cross-family check of 2026-11-01 read the kurzweilai.net copy captured on 7 November 2001, which states that the essay was written in November 2000 and published on 7 March 2001, and found the quoted passages it compared. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-31 Language English (en) Archive copy Open archived copy, captured 2001-11-07: The Law of Accelerating Returns ↗ . Captured 245 days after the recorded publication date. An archive copy shows only what the archive retrieved on 2001-11-07. It does not prove what the page said earlier, and it can differ from the copy checked on 2026-10-31.Attribution Ray Kurzweil, “The Law of Accelerating Returns”, 2001-03-07. Reuse No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution. Check notes Candidate pack passage, machine succession, scale and acceleration (research/heterodox-thought). The quotation (33 words) matched the text retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31. Matching ignored differences of whitespace, case, quotation marks, dashes and Unicode compatibility forms, so the source’s typography can differ. A cross-family machine check (2026-11-01, item 30) classified the record’s passage blind and reached the same stance. No human editorial review. Status and meaning Editorial status. Machine-checked . Machines found this record and checked it against its sources; no person accepted it individually. Each evidence record above shows how it was checked.
Relation. A passage of the document meets the proposition’s criterion. The record documents what the text states, in its register (fiction and satire are labelled); it is not evidence that the proposition is true and implies no influence on or from another text.
Date. Published 7 March 2001 and written in November 2000, as the kurzweilai.net copy captured on 7 November 2001 states (cross-family check of 2026-11-01). The Kurzweil Library page read for the pack labels it January 2001.
Record ID ht-w10-kurzweil-2001-law-of-accelerating-returns