Ray Kurzweil: Man and Machines October 10, 2005

Part of the 2005 Seattle Science Lectures. Here's the description of this talk:

Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil is the best-selling author of The Age of Spiritual Machines, an exploration of the nature of life after machine and human intelligence begin to blur. Kurzweil believes that in the near future humans and machines will merge, a process he refers to as "The Singularity." In a post-Singularity word there will be no distinction between humans and machines or physical and virtual reality. In practical terms, Kurzweil believes that human aging will be reversed, world hunger and pollution will be solved, our bodies will be transformed by nanotechnology, and our brains will be downloadable. These concepts are addressed in his new book The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology.