Immortality Only A Few Decades Away Thanks To Singularity

GETTY

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!

Related Topics: Immortality, Remember John Connor, singularity, time, Accessories & Peripherals, Gadgets
  • cyberprivateer

    Yeah, I’m doing the same thing, zillions of suppliments, riding my bike thousands of miles each year (more miles than I put on my car), swimming and weightlifting. While you can’t do everything you must, you must do everything you can. Unfortunately, God has a wry sense of humor. Remember the guy who lived on pine nuts and natural food? Euell Gibbons died at 64. I hope Ray makes it. I’m sure trying, but…as someone I can’t remember said, “Man plans and God laughs.” Ooh-rah!

  • tereglith

    I can’t help but think that the people of 2045 will look back on these predictions and laugh their heads off.

  • redishbaron

    I agree. This will probably become the flying car promise that we all remember from growing up. And I don’t have to put an age restriction on that statement since every generation has been promised flying cars since the 50′s

  • Jeff

    To the naysayers: I don’t know if Kurzweil is right about 2045, but he’s made some pretty accurate predictions about the growth of technology in his books.

blog comments powered by Disqus