Former Google developer Ray Kurzweil has made the startling forecast that humanity will become eternal in only seven years. Thus far, about 86% of his 147 predictions have been true.
Kurzweil made the claim in a YouTube video posted by the Adagio channel, in which the 75-year-old computer scientist explored advancements in genetics, nanotechnology, robotics, and other fields.
In the two-part video interview, the 75-year-old emphasised his claim made in the 2005 book 'The Singularity Is Near,' in which he projected that technology will allow humanity to live forever by 2030.
"2029 is the consistent date I have projected for when an AI will pass a genuine Turing test and hence acquire human levels of intelligence. I have set the year 2045 as the 'Singularity,' when we will double our effective intelligence a billion times by joining with the intelligence we have produced," Kurzweil told Futurism in 2017, as quoted by the New York Post.
Kurzweil discussed nanotechnology and robotics, which he believes will give rise to age-reversing 'nanobots' in a recent interview with the YouTuber. According to a former Google developer, these small robots would constantly repair damaged cells and tissues that degenerate as we age, rendering us immune to deadly diseases.
This isn't the first time this scientist has predicted something. Kurzweil predicted in 1990 that the world's top chess player would be defeated by a computer by the year 2000. Deep Blue defeated Gary Kasparov in 1997, confirming the forecast.
Later that year, in 1999, he predicted that by 2023, a $1,000 laptop would have the storage capacity and capabilities of a human brain. Kurzweil, a futurist author, also projected that by 2010, the majority of the globe would have access to high-bandwidth wireless internet.
