by Ray Kurzweil

So we could say that the universe --``all that is''-- is indeed personal, is conscious in some way that we cannot fully comprehend. This is no more unreasonable an assumption or belief than believing that another person is conscious. Personally, I do feel this is the case. But this does not require me to go beyond the ``mere'' ``material'' world and its transcendent patterns. The world that is, is profound enough.*

* excerpted from The Material World: ``Is That All Their Is?'' Response to George Gilder and Jay Richards.  In Jay W. Richards, editor, Are We Spiritual Machines. Discovery Institute Press, Seattle, 2002.