Subscribe by EmailThe future is sooner than you think
June 5, 2008 by Mark O'Neill |By Mark O’Neill
Doctor Ray Kurzweil is no ordinary predictor of the future. He doesn’t just make up random predictions and cross his fingers, hoping they come true. He has actually made some predictions that have been mostly spot-on.
For example, back in the 1980’s, he predicted the rapid growth of the internet in the 1990’s and a computer chess champion by 1998 (it was actually 1997 with Deep Blue so he was one year off). He also predicted a handheld device for blind people by 2008. Last Thursday night at the World Science Festival, he produced it (I tried searching for it and it may be this but I am not sure).
But now he has made three new predictions that I have found fascinating and I wonder if they will come true :
- Within 10 years, there will be a drug that lets you eat whatever you want without gaining weight.
- Within 20 years all our energy will come from clean sources.
- And the best one of all - “Are you depressed by the prospect of dying? Well, if you can hang on another 15 years, your life expectancy will keep rising every year faster than you’re aging. And then, before the century is even half over, you can be around for the Singularity, that revolutionary transition when humans and/or machines start evolving into immortal beings with ever-improving software”.
What do you think? Do the predictions sound credible to you?
Doctor Kurzweil - visionary or dreamer? You decide.
Via New York Times
You Might Also Like:
- Prometeus - The Future of the Internet?
- Microsoft’s vision on the future of our healthcare system
- NTT DoCoMo: The Future of Mobile Networks (Video)
- MP3 Players: 10 Years of Digital Music
His claims don’t sound that far-fetched to me. With the constant development in nanotechnology, pretty much anything will be possible within a couple of decennia.
Other chess computers nowadays are designed to be more general, but those programs weren’t designed until the early ’00s.
After all, also, this is a technique used by all champions, and in all professional competitive activities where applicable, that is, studying your opponents’ strategies, tactics, and patterns.
If he has had the same opportunity, Kurzweil will die at some point, of that I’m sure, unless he has done the same, if he has had the opportunity.
Just God knows the future.. That person just think in advanced. just it.
I mean, not *me*, but some people might…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil#Future_Predictions
I also yearned to develop translator software, but I think it’s one of the most difficult things, and considering the fickle nature of language, maybe not completely possible. Only the King James Bible has kept the English language as one of the most stable languages in the world…
French has preserved itself far better since the Middle Ages thanks to the Académie Française. Like all modern languages, it has been invaded by American terminology — but the basic syntax, grammar and most of the vocabulary remains relatively unchanged. Even though it is the sanctification of one of the worst bastardized forms of Latin.
Recently read another incredible book that I can’t recommend highly enough, especially to all of you who also love Ray Kurzweil’s work. The book is “”My Stroke of Insight”" by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. I had heard Dr Taylor’s talk on the TED dot com site and I have to say, it changed my world. It’s spreading virally all over the internet and the book is now a NYTimes Bestseller, so I’m not the only one, but it is the most amazing talk, and the most impactful book I’ve read in years. (Dr T also was named to Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and Oprah had her on her Soul Series last month and I hear they’re making a movie about her story so you may already have heard of her)
If you haven’t heard Dr Taylor’s TEDTalk, that’s an absolute must. The book is more and deeper and better, but start with the video (it’s 18 minutes). Basically, her story is that she was a 37 yr old Harvard brain scientist who had a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. Because of her knowledge of how the brain works, and thanks to her amazingly loving and kind mother, she eventually fully recovered (and that part of the book detailing how she did it is inspirational).
There’s a lot of learning and magic in the book, but the reason I so highly recommend My Stroke of Insight to this discussion, is because we have powerfully intelligent left brains that are rational, logical, sequential and grounded in detail and time, and then we have our kinesthetic right brains, where we experience intuition and peace and euphoria. Now that Kurzweil has got us taking all those vitamins and living our best “”Fantastic Voyage”" , the absolute necessity is that we read My Stroke of Insight and learn from Dr Taylor how to achieve balance between our right and left brains. Enjoy!