Warm-ups. Language work 1 - d 2 - c 3 - b 4 - a 5 - c 6 - d 7 - b 8 - a 9 - b 10 - c 11 - a 12 - d

THE ARTICLE

Task 4

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - c

3 - b

4 - a

5 - c

6 - d

7 - b

8 - a

9 - b

10 - c

11 - a

12 - d

Computers 'to match man by 2029'

A leading US scientist has predicted that computers will be as intelligent as humans by 2029. Futurologist Dr Ray Kurzweil told the American Association for the Advancement of Science that in the near future, machine intelligence will overtake the power of the human brain. He said that within two decades computers will be able to think quicker than humans. Dr Kurzweil painted a picture of us having tiny robots called nanobots implanted in our brain to boost our intelligence and health. He told reporters that these microscopic nanobots would work with our brains to make us think faster and give us more powerful memories. Kurzweil explained that we are already “a human machine civilization” and that the upcoming technology “will be a further extension of that."

Dr Kurzweil was one of 18 top intellectuals asked by the US National Academy of Engineering to identify our greatest technological challenges. Other experts included Google founder Larry Page and the human genome pioneer Dr Craig Venter. Kurzweil has a very impressive background in science and innovation. He was an innovator in various fields of computing, including the technology behind CDs. He also pioneered automatic speech recognition by machines. He predicts the pace of new inventions will increase greatly from now, saying: "…the next half century will see 32 times more technical progress than the past half century." This means scenes from science fiction movies, like Blade Runner, The Terminator and I Robot, will become more and more a part of our everyday lives.

1. INTELLIGENCE: Walk around the class and talk to other students about intelligence. Change partners often. After you finish, sit with your original partner(s) and share what you found out.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

scientists / intelligence / the future / the human brain / nanobots / memory / intellectuals / our greatest challenges / innovation / pioneers / science fiction

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. OUR CHALLENGES: With your partner(s), talk about some of these 21^st-Century technological challenges (identified by the US National Academy of Engineering). Change partners and share what you talked about.

Challenge	Possible?	How?	When?	Benefits?
a. Make cheap solar energy
b. Reduce carbon emissions
c. Provide access to clean water
d. Understand the entire brain
e. Prevent nuclear terrorism
f. Make cyberspace safe
g. Improve our cities
h. Make better medicines
i. Advance personalized learning

4. NANOBOTS: With your partner, talk about for which of the things below you would put nanobots into your body. Rank them in order of most important to you. Change partners and share your ideas and findings

a. _____ to live to be 125

b. _____ to play an instrument like a concert performer

c. _____ to speak a new language fluently

d. _____ to play computer games like the world’s best player

e. _____ to be happy all day, every day

f. _____ to look very young for all of your life

5. ROBOT: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘robot’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

6. QUICK ROLE PLAY: Students A strongly believe that robots will one day take over and control the world; Students B strongly believe this idea is just science fiction. Change partners again and talk about your roles and conversations.

Дата добавления: 2015-01-03