TED: Ray Kurzweil delivers inspirational talk on the power of accelerating technology; AI by 2029

I was not inspired enough to make it to the ten-minute mark. I heard his broham Kevin Kelly give what seems like the same boring-ass speech at the '95 Computer Game Developer Conference, where everyone was talking amongst themselves waiting for it to end. I think we were supposed to have AI by 2015 then. I'd be happy if I could play Starcraft by then without the frickin' computer cheating.<p>Anyway, the good stuff always seems twenty years away. I think that's also when we all get flying cars, which is what I'm personally excited about. However, if Terminator 2 is correct, 2029 is also when the machines make the T-1000 and we all get shivved by liquid metal robots, so kinda good news, bad news there.<p>But it is charming to hear someone who still uses "virtual reality" un-ironically, even more precious to hear him refer to the telephone as the first virtual reality technology. What the hell is that supposed to mean?!

I thought this was an exceptional talk. It is absolutely packed with data, and presents an exciting biological perspective on the exponential nature of the growth of human technology. If you like good research then you will probably like this. The message is basically that any technology can and most likely will get eaten by something better that comes along, and with exponentially increasing probability with time. Got it. The talk then turns into a forecast of technology through 2030 or so. Fairyland, yes. But fun.<p>

"By 2010 computers will have disappeared. They will be so small they will be embedded into our clothing. We will interact with virtual personalities via signals wired into our retinas." (not an exact quote, but close)<p>I wish it was true, but that's not going to happen in 2 years. Maybe by 2020, but definitely not by 2010.<p><p>

I'm a big fan of Kurzeil's ideas but my goodness how boring are his speaches! I've seen about 5 speaches like this all with the same graphs etc.. And whats with the constant yawning. It almost seems that he is bored repeating the same content.<p>

Sounds like a smart guy, but this kind of stuff makes me think twice: <a href="http://www.rayandterry.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.rayandterry.com/</a><p>Also, does he have any technical books on the subjects he talks about?

IMHO this is not one of his better talks. Much better just to read the book. It's 500 pages but it's a very fast read. Lots of pretty graphs also.