The Singularity Is Nearer featuring Ray Kurzweil | SXSW 2024

Portuguese and Spanish language translations for SXSW 2024 Keynotes and Featured Sessions presented by Itaú

Twenty-five years ago, Ray Kurzweil predicted computers would reach human-level intelligence by 2029, unlocking solutions to the world’s grandest challenges. Today we are right on track to reach this milestone. During the 2030s, AI will become superintelligent, vastly outstripping our capabilities and enabling dramatic medical breakthroughs to overcome aging. This is not an alien invasion. AI is evolving from within us and will reflect our humanity. By 2045, we will connect our brains directly to the cloud, enhancing our intelligence a millionfold and expanding our consciousness in ways we can barely imagine. This is the Singularity.

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[EL_Duderino]

Ray Kurzweil is a hero to me. He designed some of the first OCR software for blind people. I've worked helping blind people with technology for over 20 years. That's just a small part of what he has done. I would call him a Renaissance man.

[fabianasosa]

I couldn’t stomach the way he interviewed one of the greatest minds

[carlosfreire]

Was the interviewer under the impression that people were there to hear from him?

[givemefletch]

Interview was antagonistic; very bizarre.

Ray is getting older but he’s a brilliant mind. He deserves deep respect.

[kszyman]

I enjoyed listening to Ray. I read Fantastic Voyage when it came out in 2005 and I messaged him with some questions. He was kind enough to respond and send me an autographed copy of "The Singularity is Near". I also heard him speak a few years later at the University of Arizona. I'm 65 this year and one of, if not the oldest, men on the planet with my particular type of muscular dystrophy. I won't make Escape Velocity but following his advice has likely added years to my life. Ray is one of my heroes.

[jamesmoore]

The interviewer is Nick Thompson, CEO of the Atlantic and former editor of Wired. Not sure if this is his usual interview style, but I agree with everyone here that he could be more respectful.

[Armanali]

Interviewer needs to be fired. Horrible interpersonal skills.

[johnflood]

Ray Kurzweil is a gentleman. He's low key, he's patient and he's amazingly polite in the face of the interviewer who was arrogant, disrespectful, glib, and dismissive of many of Mr. Kurzweil's ideas. In fact, it was Kurweil's sense of dignity that made the interviewer look like a jerk. The Atlantic magazine should fire that guy. He make The Atlantic look like a masthead for the worst kind techie nerd know it all with no moral compass. It was difficult for me to watch this interview because of the interviewer. I wanted to listen to Ray Kurzweil and the interviewer made is a very unpleasant experience. The Atlantic should fire that guy. He's a disaster.

[RyanOwensTampa]

This was great information from Ray. On a sidenote, I’ve never seen such universal agreement about the dislike of an interviewer.

[percy]

very disrespectful to the guest and the audience when you don't care the guest is heard. what is the audience supposed to do? twiddle their thumbs?

[-taz-]

I like how Ray didn't want to continue until the people in the audience could hear, whereas the host and SXSW were perfectly happy to leave them out, after I imagine they spent a lot of time and money to be there. It shows that Ray is actually a good guy.

[David-iinu]

The interviewer makes this difficult to watch. His personality and hand gestures seem obtrusively contrived. His demeanor is gnawing and abrasive, and most of his questions are phrased in a way that sound like he is challenging Kurzweil. He sounds impatient, patronizing and self-important, like his questions are more important that Kurzweil's response.

[cliffordramsey]

I would like to introduce to the SXSW video team the concept of ✨editing✨

[peaceandlove]

Why’s the audio so low? Shouldn’t we be past these issues in 2024?

[DanielBateman-rcus]

Ray Kurzweil is a god. So sorry to see him interviewed by Mandark from Dexters Lab.

[macrumpton]

I have listened to several discussions/interviews with Anthropic's Claude and I have to say I would have no idea I was talking with an AI, except that Claude seems more erudite than most people. I think we have already passed the Turing Test. As William Gibson said "The future is already here. It's just not evenly distributed yet”.

[klarad]

Interviewer was pretty bad. I like Ray’s optimism, I hope he’s right. I want to continue experiencing the world, even if it’s in digital form, so I’m looking forward to brain upload (eventually).

[Zoubeck]

This interviewer is terrible! Long live Kurzweil.

[DTMcKay]

why is this interviewer an egomaniac who thinks his opinions are more important or valid than someone who literally wrote the book on this topic? He pushes the conversation into empty and meaningless conversational dead ends when Kurzweil actually has plenty to say and to communicate things that this crowd wants to hear, who even is this guy?

[Eliguitar]

the thing is you can create a digital twin (or will eventually be able to) but the subjective experience of being alive will still end for the organic original.
having a computer twin doesn't mean YOU live forever (or even 500 years).
It means the computer twin lives forever.
you still die when your brain dies.
you don't experience the subjective internal consciousness of that digital twin.
as far as medical advancements that are able to combat the currently inevitable genetic "clock running down" that results in death...there's potential there. If AI aided science is able to "talk" to the DNA and modify/preserve it and thus prevent it from "running down"/aging then that will extend human life.