Let me preface this article by explaining a little bit about researching Kurzweil. This article is actually a carry over from an old blog that I do not write anymore, so it really has been even more delayed than it appears at the Pub. The problem has been that Ray Kurzweil has dabbled in so many interesting and controversial subjects, that when researching him it is extremely easy to get caught up in a tangent that takes you all over the internet. Every time I would sit down to write about Kurzweil, I would write half a sentence, look for something and before I knew it hours had passed and I still only had the half sentence. So without much further ado, the Invention Pub now presents Ray Kurzweil – The Huge Thinking Futurist!

There’s an old urban legend that says Charles H. Duell the Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office in 1899 stated that “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” Although Duell probably never uttered these words, it is an unfortunate sentiment that at times can be identifiable for many of us. On the other hand there are visionaries like Ray Kurzweil that believes we will be seeing many huge advancements in technology in the very near future.

As a programmer and inventor, Kurzweil used his skills primarily to come up with ideas that have really helped society. These include the first text-to-speech synthesizer used as a reading machine for the blind, a large vocabulary speech recognition program, and founded the Medical Learning Company producing interactive programs to help teach doctors. As great as this work is, Kurzweil is best known today for his thoughts on what the future holds for technology. His first book “The Age of Intelligent Machines” published in 1990, predicted the computer being able to beat the world’s best chess champions by 1998 (Deep Blue beat Kasparov in 1997), the explosion of the internet, and wireless internet access as the preferred method of access. He even predicted that we would have the technology this decade to develop driverless cars, and right on course the 2004 through 2007 DARPA Grand Challenge awarded teams for developing completely autonomous vehicles.

The most important thing about Kurzweil is that he has no shortage of ideas as to what the future of technology holds. Some of my favorites include computer courses that tailor themselves to meet individual needs, and the development of nanomachines to perform medical operations. As a computer scientist, Kurzweil talks a lot about computer capabilities especially in comparison to the human brain. In 2010, he believes that Supercomputers will have the same power as the human brain, and by 2020 a personal computer will have the same capabilities.

The biggest idea that Kurzweil is pushing and as a consequence has become the figurehead for is nanotechnology. We are already starting to see very primitive nanotechnology in the form of new materials being used for things from strengthening metals to spill and wrinkle resistant clothing. At some point in the near future nanotechnologies can be used for medicine, cleaning the air and other environmental hazards.

Kurzweil becomes perhaps most interesting and controversial when he explores technology potential beyond the next 20 years, yet plausible within the next 50 years. He really likes the idea of integrating the human body with various technologies such as robotics and nanotechnology. Already we are seeing many people with artificial limbs performing sophisticated movements, and even the success of the artificial heart. As these technologies evolve the line between human and robot will essentially disappear. Kurzweil’s most controversial idea is his belief that these technologies will be able to keep him alive just short of forever. One of his visions that made me laugh was that someday computers will be so complex that no human without nanotechnology brain enhancements will be able to understand them.

Regardless of your feelings on some of Kurzweil’s more outrageous ideas, the one thing that should be taken from this article is that we have only seen a small piece of the technology we are capable of inventing. Not only are there tons of things that can be inventing, there are tons of things worth inventing. As a little bonus I have embedded Ray Kurzweil’s TED talk, the first half may only be interesting to computer geeks like myself, but the second half is certainly worth watching for anyone interested in learning a little bit about nanotechnology.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 8:25 pm and is filed under Inspired Hops. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.