Ray Kurzweil, former Google engineer, and renowned futurist has predicted something pretty interesting: humans will achieve immortality by 2030 with the help of nanorobots. Now 75 years old, Kurzweil received the National Medal of Technology in 1999 and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2022. In recent decades, he has made some accurate predictions, including the forecast that a computer would beat humans in chess by 2000.
The prediction of humans reaching immortality by 2030 was first mentioned in Kurzweil’s 2005 book, ‘The Singularity Is Near’, in which he explained that current advancements and expansion in genetics, robotics, and nanotechnology could allow nanorobots to run through our veins in the near future. According to him, in less than a decade, humans will also create technology to turn back aging and illness with microscopic robots sent to repair our bodies on a cellular level. His comments recently resurfaced online YouTube series by tech vlogger Adagio.
Kurzweil also claimed that nanotechnology will enable us to eat whatever we want while staying thin and energized. He set the date of 2045 for the “Singularity,” which is when humans will multiply their effective intelligence a billionfold by merging with the A.I. they have created. Also, he previously predicted that an A.I. would pass a valid Alan Turing test and achieve human levels of intelligence by 2029.
While these predictions may seem far-fetched to some, many of his previous claims have come true, including the one that mentioned that consumers would be able to design their own clothes with precise measurement and style requirements from their home computers by 1999; and he also predicted that people would primarily use portable computers in various sizes and shapes by 2009.
Although immortality may seem like science fiction in its concept, the rapid advancement of technology suggests that Kurzweil’s prediction is not entirely impossible; with the continued development of genetics, robotics, and nanotechnology, we may possibly one day be able to achieve eternal life with the help of nanorobots. However, we cannot forget about the ethical and moral implications that must be addressed with the use of such technology.