Raymond Kurzweil takes up to 200 supplements and pills a day to maintain his health. Although he is 62 years old, he estimates that his intense regiment has made him physically 20 years younger. He’s not pursuing a good lifestyle to stay fit forever. He just wants to survive until the Singularity, the event where our technology far exceeds the limitations of our human knowledge, rendering us unable to predict our own machine run future.
It may sound a bit too science fiction to seem real – after all the plot of The Terminator series among others follow this scenario – but Kurzweil and his fellow Singularitarians believe this distant future could be as soon as 2045. With the progress we’re making with artificial intelligence, they hope that someday well be able to transfer our knowledge into the far sturdier computers and robots that can withstand more damage than our frail human frames. (For all you X-Files fans out there, it’s kind of like the Kill Switch episode in season five.)
To learn more about the Singularity and what it means for all of us, check out “2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal” by TIME senior writer and Techland guru Lev Grossman. To (kind of) quote The Simpsons, “I for one welcome our new robot overlords.”
More on TIME.com:
Gaming Tip Sheet: “Singularity”
Can a New Supercomputer Beat Jeopardy!’s Best?
The Singularity Is Coming; or No It Isn’t; or Wait Maybe It Is!