Quotes by Ray Kurzweil

About Ray Kurzweil:

Raymond is an American author, computer scientist, inventor and futurist. Aside from futurology, he is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments. He has written books on health, artificial intelligence (AI), transhumanism, the technological singularity, and futurism. Kurzweil is a public advocate for the futurist and transhumanist movements, and gives public talks to share his optimistic outlook on life extension technologies and the future of nanotechnology, robotics, and biotechnology.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Biology is a software process. Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells, each governed by this process. You and I are walking around with outdated software running in our bodies, which evolved in a very different era.

Ray Kurzweil

People say we're running out of energy. That's only true if we stick with these old 19th century technologies. We are awash in energy from the sunlight.

Ray Kurzweil

I consider myself an inventor, entrepreneur, and author.

Ray Kurzweil

I decided to be an inventor when I was five. My parents had given me a few various enrichment toys like erector sets, and for some reason I had the idea that if I put things together just the right way, I could create the intended effect.

Ray Kurzweil

The Blue Brain project expects to have a full human-scale simulation of the cerebral cortex by 2018. I think that's a little optimistic, actually, but I do make the case that by 2029 we will have very detailed models and simulations of all the differ...

Ray Kurzweil

My mission at Google is to develop natural language understanding with a team and in collaboration with other researchers at Google.

Ray Kurzweil

Once we have inexpensive energy, we can readily and inexpensively convert the vast amount of dirty and salinated water we have on the planet to usable water.

Ray Kurzweil

New technologies can be used for destructive purposes. The answer is to develop rapid-response systems for new dangers like a bioterrorist creating a new biological virus.

Ray Kurzweil

Take death for example. A great deal of our effort goes into avoiding it. We make extraordinary efforts to delay it, and often consider its intrusion a tragic event. Yet we’d find it hard to live without it. Death gives meaning to our lives. It giv...

Ray Kurzweil

Our technology, our machines, is part of our humanity. We created them to extend ourselves, and that is what is unique about human beings.

Ray Kurzweil

By the time we get to the 2040s, we'll be able to multiply human intelligence a billionfold. That will be a profound change that's singular in nature. Computers are going to keep getting smaller and smaller. Ultimately, they will go inside our bodies...

Ray Kurzweil

Supercomputers will achieve one human brain capacity by 2010, and personal computers will do so by about 2020.

Ray Kurzweil

By 2029, computers will have emotional intelligence and be convincing as people.

Ray Kurzweil

If you write a blog post, you've got something to say; you're not just creating words and synonyms. We'd like the computers to actually pick up on that semantic meaning.

Ray Kurzweil

I'm working on artificial intelligence. Actually, natural language understanding, which is to get computers to understand the meaning of documents.

Ray Kurzweil

Death gives meaning to our lives. It gives importance and value to time. Time would become meaningless if there were too much of it.

Ray Kurzweil

Science fiction is the great opportunity to speculate on what could happen. It does give me, as a futurist, scenarios.

Ray Kurzweil

Our intuition about the future is linear. But the reality of information technology is exponential, and that makes a profound difference. If I take 30 steps linearly, I get to 30. If I take 30 steps exponentially, I get to a billion.

Ray Kurzweil

When you talk to a human in 2035, you'll be talking to someone that's a combination of biological and non-biological intelligence.

Ray Kurzweil

By the 2030s, the nonbiological portion of our intelligence will predominate.

Ray Kurzweil

A lot of movies about artificial intelligence envision that AI's will be very intelligent but missing some key emotional qualities of humans and therefore turn out to be very dangerous.

Ray Kurzweil

Author Bio

  • NameRay Kurzweil
  • DescriptionAuthor, Scientist, & Futurist
  • BornFebruary 12, 1948
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionInventor; Computer Scientist; Author; Entrepreneur
  • AwardsGrace Murray Hopper Award; Lemelson–MIT Prize; National Medal Of Technology And Innovation