Crazy prediction that would change the course of human history According to visionary inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, that for the first time in the history of humanity, medical advances may enable us to take the first steps towards achieving biological immortality in the next 15 years.
Famous for his incredibly accurate predictions about the pace of technological progress, Kurzweil believes that the intersection of nanotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), and genetics will lead to a dramatic transformation in the way we age.
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Kurzweil dreams of an impending age when nanobots – tiny robots the size of blood cells – will defeat the aging process by swarming through our bodies, unclogging our arteries, repairing damaged cells, zapping rogue proteins, and zipping up breaking strands of DNA.
This ongoing internal upkeep, he claims, will not just ward off illness but rejuvenate the body’s youthful pep, possibly even stopping the natural process of deterioration.
This brave forecast is also bound up with Kurzweil’s notion of the ”Singularity,” a hypothetical period in the future in which technological development will proceed so fast that it brings about a paradigm shift in human culture which is difficult to reverse.
He sees this tipping point coming around 2045, when the advent of human/AI consciousness amplifies our cognitive prowess, memory and perception in a way that will move us beyond the bounds of biology.
The notion of imminent immortality is a radical idea as well as a dubious one, but Kurzweil has a track record of being right about things that people previously said were impossible.
He was well-known for predicting the development of the internet, the potential of AI and the union between biology and computing years before they became mainstream. He allegedly has a success rate of 86% out of his previous 147 predictions.
But the idea of achieving immortality by 2030 comes with massive ethical and societal implications. It’s debate is heavily influenced by issues of overpopulation, resource management, and even the fear of perpetuating social inequalities if access to such technologies are not widespread.
That which defines human existence at bottom itself could come under question as we try to make sense of a world in which death is not the end that we cannot avoid.
But with all this hand-wringing, Kurzweil is anything but pessimistic about our future, and instead, sees a world not so far away in which our intellectual and creative capabilities advance beyond the limits of what we can currently conceive with the help from the technology we created.
As 2030 looms closer and closer, the world is left to wonder if this newest bit of brash prophecy will join the rank and file of Kurzweil’s impressive tally of spot-on soothsaying.
