Ray Kurzweil: A singular view of the future

May 7, 2009 | Source: New Scientist Opinion

“The power of ideas to change the world is accelerating and few people grasp the implications of that fully,” says futurist Ray Kurzweil.

“People don’t think exponentially, yet exponential change applies to anything that involves measuring information content. Take genetic sequencing. When the human genome project was announced in 1990, sceptics said: ‘No way you’re going to do this in 15 years.’ Halfway through the project the sceptics were still going strong, saying you’ve only finished 1 per cent of the project. But that’s actually right on schedule: by the time you get to 1 per cent you’re only seven doublings away.”