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Topics: Technology, Artificial Intelligence, News
Callum Jones
Topics: Technology, Artificial Intelligence, News
A man who has a reported 86 percent success rate when making predictions about the future claims that by 2030, we'll have achieved immortality.
Some people's theories are more likely than others when it comes to the future.
Baba Vanga is one that immediately comes to mind, with some of her terrifying 2024 predictions already coming true just four months into the year.
A group of people you'd expect to have a pretty good track record on predicting what will happen in the future are futurists.
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That's someone who uses their research to make statements about the future based on current trends.
Computer scientist and futurist Ray Kurzweil has some very specific timelines for the future, particularly with when humanity will achieve immortality.
Kurzweil has a decent track record of making predictions about technology in particular, as he correctly predicted in 1990 that a computer would beat human world chess champions by the year 2000.
The futurist also predicted the rise of portable computers and smartphones, the shift to more wireless technology, and the rise of the internet to mainstream when the average Joe would never have seen it coming.
But as you'd probably expect, Kurzweil does not get everything correct, as he previously predicted self-driving cars would be in use by 2009.
Some 14 years ago now, the futurist reviewed his own predictions from the previous 20 years.
And to say he was pretty successful is an understatement.
After making a whopping 147 predictions in that time, Kurzweil claimed he got 115 of them 'entirely correct'.
15 of the predictions were said to be 'essentially correct', while only three were completely wrong.
Pretty good going, that's for sure.
Perhaps one of Kurzweil's most ambitious claims is that humanity will immortality by 2030.
And if this particular prediction proves to be accurate, it'll mean you just need to ride out the next six years for a chance of living forever.
Yes, the prediction may sound pretty bold, but with Kurzweil's track record, we certainly shouldn't dismiss it out of hand.
Speaking on the Lex Fridman Podcast, the futurist said by the year 2030, we will be able to 'advance human life expectancy' by 'more than a year every year'.
He said we'll soon achieve 'longevity escape velocity', and 'kids today or even people in their 20s or 30s' might have a shot at eternal life.
And speaking further in a separate interview with Futurism in 2017, Kurzweil added: "2029 is the consistent date I have predicted for when an AI will pass a valid Turing test and therefore achieve human levels of intelligence.
"I have set the date 2045 for the 'Singularity' which is when we will multiply our effective intelligence a billion fold by merging with the intelligence we have created."
Better get that in the calendar, then...