The Singularity is Near?

In 1999 Ray Kurzweil published "The Singularity is Near" claiming that in 2045 artificial intelligence would surpass human intelligence and our society would enter into a period of exponential technological growth, changing the human race beyond all recognition.

This would be easy to dismiss as science fiction, but Kurzweil holds 17 doctorates and was described Bill Gates as "the best man I know for predicting the future of artificial intelligence."

The talk covers an introduction to the technological singularity and transhumanism, a look at Kurzweil and his predictions on the singularity, alternative theories and critics of the ideas.