A technology expert with a track record of predicting industry sea changes has made some shocking new predictions in a new book.
Google’s Ray Kurzweil prophesied the age of the iPhone and the fact that a computer would beat someone at chess by 1998.
In his new book, The Singularity is Nearer, Kurzweil predicts that humans will completely merge with AI, becoming immortal cyborgs by 2045.
He also predicts that advances in AI will make it possible to resurrect loved ones and connect our brains to cloud technology, in what he calls the “fifth age” of human intelligence.
Singularity is the idea that artificial intelligence (AI) will eventually surpass human intelligence, fundamentally changing human existence.
Kurzweil writes, “Babies born today will graduate from college when the Singularity happens.
“Ultimately, nanotechnology will allow these trends to culminate in directly augmenting our brains with layers of virtual neurons in the cloud.”
“In this way, we will merge with AI. These are the most exciting years in all of history.
He says recent AI breakthroughs like ChatGPT show that his 2005 prediction in his first book, The Singularity is Near, is correct and “the trajectory is clear.”
His most shocking predictions are below:
The dead will return to life
Kurzweil believes AI technology holds the promise of bringing the dead back — first in the form of human-replicating simulations, then physically back to life.
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Kurzweil’s attempts to “bring back” his father – who died when Kurzweil was 22 – with the help of AI began more than 10 years ago.
Kurzweil created a replica of his father by feeding an artificial intelligence system with his father’s letters, essays and musical compositions.
He writes: “We already create through our digital activities extremely rich records of how we think about what we feel.
“And in this decade, our technologies for recording, storing and organizing this information will advance rapidly.”
By the late 2020s, Kurzweil expects “highly realistic” non-biological reconstructions of humans – and then of living bodies.
He writes: “Eventually, replicants may even be housed in cybernetically augmented biological bodies grown from the DNA of the original human.”
Kurzweil predicts that humans will move into artificial bodies “more advanced than what biology allows” – and that by 2040 it will be possible to make a copy of a human.
People will become millions of times smarter
Kurzeil says we’re about to enter a “fifth age” of intelligence, where man merges with machine — driven by the arrival of human-level AI and brain chips like Elon Musk’s Neuralink.
Kurzweil believes that in the years after 2029, human intelligence will be multiplied millions of times by connecting human beings directly with machines.
He writes: “A key capability in 2030 will be to connect the upper ranges of our neocortices to the cloud, which will directly extend our thinking.
“In this way, instead of AI being a competitor, it will become an extension of ourselves.”
Immortality begins in 2030
Humans will begin to achieve “escape velocity” for immortality by 2030, Kurzweil predicts.
This will be supported by huge leaps forward in health treatment.
He writes that by 2030, biological simulators with artificial intelligence will perform clinical trials in hours, not years – leading to new drugs and treatments for longevity.
Archiving technologies, which he describes as a “fourth bridge” where people can “archive” themselves using technology.
He writes: “The long-term goal is medical nanorobots. They will be made of diamondoid parts with embedded sensors, manipulators, computers, communicators and possibly power sources.
Life will become cheaper – and easier
Kurzweil believes the technology will revolutionize everyday life, with robots able to build skyscrapers incredibly quickly using 3D printers to produce construction parts.
Other AI-driven breakthroughs will drive down the cost of solar energy through breakthroughs in photovoltaics – lowering the cost of energy.
Meanwhile, breakthroughs in robotic mining will reduce the cost of extracting raw materials.
He writes: “In 2030 it will be relatively cheap to live at a level that is considered luxury today.
Entertainment where we “feel” every thought
Human brains will be upgraded by “nanotechnology,” enabling new forms of entertainment, Kurzweil believes.
Kurzweil says that having fun will eventually put “every thought in someone’s head into yours.”
He writes that brains will be augmented by “harmless nanoscale electrodes inserted into the brain via the bloodstream.”
He writes: “Freed from the shell of our skulls and processed on a substrate millions of times faster than biological tissue, our minds will be empowered to grow exponentially, ultimately expanding our intelligence millions of times.”
