“Prepare for a Heavenly Encounter with Kurzweil’s Everlasting Digital Spirit – if his Predictions Hold True (Once More)!”

“If Ray Kurzweil Is Right (Again), You’ll Meet His Immortal Soul in the Cloud”

“Ray Kurzweil is a very busy person. He’s a director of engineering at Google, a job he took not because he needs any particular employment, but simply because…well, Ray Kurzweil is not like the rest of us.”

The exciting spectacle of technological futurism is personified by none other than our man of the hour – Ray Kurzweil. Obviously, he’s not your average Joe sipping macchiato at Google’s cafeteria. He’s not there to make up the numbers in the tech giant’s directory. No, he got a front-row at Google because…well, being “ordinary” isn’t exactly scribbled into Kurzweil’s job description.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Kurzweil’s expansive career and audacious predictions, it’s that the familiar admonition to think outside the box might as well be hieroglyphics to him. Why restrict oneself to a box when there’s a whole cosmos of boundless possibilities and wild imaginations? It’s not all fairy tale stuff; most of his prophecies have proved to be creepily accurate – at least 86 percent of the time – which is not too shabby for a futurist, one would say.

In a universe where “disruption” is the tech industry’s morning mantra, Kurzweil’s notion of a hybrid brain combines the human mind with artificial intelligence. The knee-jerk reaction might be, hybrid what now? And just like that, Kurzweil, in his signature matter-of-fact tone adds another layer of frosting on the AI cake. Who would’ve thought? And taste buds were only just recovering from his last batch of predictions.

It’s fantastic in a wickedly brilliant way when he claims, with all certainty, that in 12 years the average human’s intelligence could potentially be amplified by artificial super-intelligence. It does beg the question: How much of this is ‘breakthrough’ and how much is simply Kurzweil ticking off boxes on his bucket list of ‘Cool (and potentially terrifying) Stuff That Could Happen’?

One could argue that tech achievements are built on a spiral, not a ladder. Innovations don’t just happen, they are the products of ceaseless cycles of trial, error, and success. And as Kurzweil continues to sweep bold strokes across the canvas of the future, we’re a captive audience, simultaneously excited and terrified at what awaits on humanity’s horizon.

In the big scheme of things, Kurzweil elucidates, not because he needs any particular employment, but because he’s Ray Kurzweil. And Ray Kurzweil is fundamentally, intriguingly, not like the rest of us. That is why we read, wonder, and wait to see what this ‘extraordinary Joe sipping macchiato at Google’s cafeteria’ dreams up next.

Read the original article here: https://www.wired.com/story/big-interview-ray-kurzweil/