The forever man

Ray Kurzweil is on a quest for immortality, said Holman Jenkins in The Wall Street Journal. “I’m right on the cusp,” says the 65-year-old futurist and inventor. Kurzweil, famed for his belief that man and computer will someday merge, believes that in 15 years, medical technology will be adding a year to human life expectancy every year. By the 2040s, he thinks people will be able to upload the contents of their brains to the Internet, “the way we back up everything now that’s digital.” At that point, death will become a thing of the past. When the “hardware’’ of our bodies finally fails, he says, our intelligence, experience, and identity will live on as “software” in cyberspace. Kurzweil’s goal now is to survive another 15 years, or as he says, to “live long enough to live forever.” He takes more than 150 pills and supplements a day, and constantly has his blood chemistry tested to make sure he’s avoiding genetic predispositions to heart disease and diabetes. If Kurzweil does develop a life-threatening illness such as cancer, he plans to put aside his other projects and develop a cure. Why not start working on that cure now? “Well, I have to pick my priorities. Nobody can do everything. I don’t know if you’re aware, but [I’ve joined] Google as director of engineering.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up