Google’s Director of Engineering, Ray Kurzweil, says it’s “wonderfully suggestive” of a time when computers really will think and feel.

Kurzweil makes the comment in the foreword to Virtually Human: The Promise and the Peril of Digital Immortality, a new book by Bina 48’s owner, Martine Rothblatt, who makes legal and ethical arguments for why intelligent software might eventually deserve all the rights of people. [...]… read more

Last year, Google’s Director of Engineering Ray Kurzweil talked about a future where the biological parts of our body will be replaced with mechanical parts as early as 2100.

Kurzweil said, “We’re going to become increasingly non-biological to the point where the non-biological part dominates and the biological part is not important any more.”

In a technique called singularity, the human race will be able to upload their entire minds to become digitally… read more

Ray Kurzweil | The next major food revolution will be vertical agriculture, in which we grow food in AI controlled vertical buildings rather than horizontal land: hydroponic plants for fruits and vegetables and in vitro cloned meat. Benefits will be profound:

1. Today over one third of usable land is devoted to agriculture, 70% of which is for animals for meat production. Vertical agriculture will free up almost… read more

Damien Hirst’s works, inspired by topics such as medicine, science, life and death, have been known to ooze a visceral as well as visually arresting charm.

We’d probably be thinking more along the lines of Ray Kurzweil and desires of ever lasting life. Hirst has faced us with pills and medicine from the clinical pharmaceuticals industry. [...]

Elon Musk-chaired Solar City, the biggest name in residential solar power, is now offering loans to allow their customers to own their solar panels for cheaper than their current lease offerings.

One possible disadvantage to the MyPower program is that solar power, like virtually all technology, is bound to improve dramatically over the next 30 years, dropping in cost and increasing in efficiency.

In fact, futurist Ray… read more

If Google’s director of engineering has his way, we’ll all be around indefinitely — in the cloud at least. Artificial intelligence guru Ray Kurzweil is one of a number of technologists, inventors and futurists who believe that the ability to upload our minds to the web, create virtual bodies, and thereby live forever, is within touching distance.

Kurzweil thinks we’ll achieve digital immortality as soon as 2045, and takes 150 supplements… read more

If anyone can define innovation it’s Richard Florida and Ray Kurzweil, two of its leading prophets. Kurzweil, a famed inventor and artificial intelligence theorist, was among the first to foresee the internet’s rise and vast cultural reach. He is a Director of Engineering at Google.

“In about 40 years,” he predicts, “the pace of change is going to be so astonishingly quick that you won’t be able to… read more

Futurist Ray Kurzweil notes that solar power has been doubling every two years for the past 30 years, as costs have been dropping. He says solar energy is only six doublings — or less than 14 years — away from meeting 100 percent of today’s energy needs.

Energy usage will keep increasing, so this is a moving target. But, by Kurzweil’s estimates, inexpensive renewable sources will provide more… read more

“A new app that allows blind people to listen to an audio readback of printed text is receiving rave reviews,” according to Reuters. “It will enable a new level of engagement in everyday life, from reading menus in restaurants to browsing handouts in the classroom.

“The $99 app is the result of a four decades long relationship between the National Federation of the Blind and Ray Kurzweil, a… read more

Futurist Ray Kurzweil notes that solar power has been doubling every two years for the past 30 years, as costs have been dropping. He says solar energy is only six doublings — or less than 14 years — away from meeting 100 percent of today’s energy needs.

Energy usage will keep increasing, so this is a moving target. But, by Kurzweil’s estimates, inexpensive renewable sources will provide more… read more