Former Google engineer and esteemed futurist Ray Kurzweil has made another bold prediction: Immortality is within reach for humans by 2030, thanks to the help of nanorobots. You read that right — humans could potentially live forever, according to Kurzweil.
Kurzweil, who has a track record of accurate predictions such as foreseeing a computer beating humans in chess by 2000, shared his prediction in a recent YouTube series by tech vlogger Adagio. The 75-year-old computer scientist believes that advancements in genetics, robotics and nanotechnology will allow tiny robots to run through veins, repairing any damage and keeping people alive indefinitely.
This isn’t the first time Kurzweil has made such a claim. In his 2005 book "The Singularity Is Near," he first proposed the idea that everlasting life could be achieved by 2030.
But Kurzweil’s most daring prediction yet is that by 2045, humans will have merged with the artificial intelligence they've created, multiplying our intelligence a billionfold. And if all goes according to plan, in just seven years, people could become immortal cyborgs.
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Kurzweil has proven to be remarkably accurate in his forecasts. His success rate is better than most weather forecasters. In an act of self-reflection in 2010, he embarked on a review of his predictions made 20 years earlier to assess their accuracy. In his publication, he asserted that out of the 147 forecasts he made in 1990 for the period preceding 2010, a staggering 115 were proven to be “fully accurate,” while an additional 12 were deemed “largely accurate,” and three were entirely erroneous.
But just like the weather, predicting the future can be a tricky business, and even the most brilliant minds can’t get it right all the time. This fact was made evident by his hopeful yet premature forecast of self-driving cars being on the roads by 2009.
The idea of attaining immortality through technology raises many ethical and philosophical questions. Would immortality lead to overpopulation? Who would have access to such technology, and would it create a new form of social inequality? And what would it mean for the understanding of death and the value of life?
It’s worth noting that Kurzweil is not the only tech visionary with ambitious plans for the future. Tesla Inc. CEO and Twitter owner Elon Musk, for example, founded Neuralink Corp. in 2016 with the goal of building a brain chip interface that can be implanted in the skull. The company claims this technology could eventually help disabled patients move and communicate again and even restore vision. Musk has taught society to never underestimate the power of technology and human innovation. Retail investors have even begun funding futuristic brain technologies with startups like Trubrain raising millions on platforms like StartEngine.
Although the notion of immortality in a few years may seem far-fetched, it’s hard to deny the human desire for longevity.
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