Ray Kurzweil Audio & Video

Two of the sharpest minds in the computing arena spar gamely, but neither scores a knockdown in one of the oldest debates around: whether machines may someday achieve consciousness.

How do you think about the future? As something long off, far away, “out there”? Think again, as eminent author, inventor and futurist Dr. Ray Kurzweil speaks with ease and eloquence about the challenging task of keeping pace with the exponential rate of technological change occurring on the planet.

Ray Kurzweil may be the closest thing we have to a crystal ball.

Author, inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil was interviewed about his life and work. Topics included expanding human intelligence with machines, human pattern recognition, inventing machines to help persons with sensory disabilities, and artificial intelligence.

Life is uncertain and the future is difficult to predict. Our bodies are complex machines that grow frail as we age, and a long, healthy life can be elusive. But does it have to be that way? What if we could use our scientific knowledge and technological know-how to bend the rules in our favor—and maybe even change them completely?

How close are we to a world in which the abilities of machines are indistinguishable from those of the species that invented them?

A Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of Alan Turing's Seminal Paper 'On Computable Numbers' featuring a debate on the limits of intelligent machines and a lecture on Turing's contributions.

Inventor, entrepreneur and visionary Ray Kurzweil explains in abundant, grounded detail why, by the 2020s, we will have reverse-engineered the human brain and nanobots will be operating your consciousness.

Mr. Kurzweil talked about his book, The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence, published by Viking Press.

Ray Kurzweil spoke about his book The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, published by Viking.