In 1999 Ray Kurzweil published "The Singularity is Near" claiming that in 2045 artificial intelligence would surpass human intelligence and our society would enter into a period of exponential technological growth, changing the human race beyond all recognition.<br /><br />This would be easy to dismiss as science fiction, but Kurzweil holds 17 doctorates and was described Bill Gates as "the best man I know for predicting the future of artificial intelligence."<br /><br />The talk covers an introduction to the technological singularity and transhumanism, a look at Kurzweil and his predictions on the singularity, alternative theories and critics of the ideas.
