Page 18 - The EDIT | Q3 2017

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Discovery
the launch of its latest publication, ‘Merge — The closing gap between technology and us’.
For the book’s launch on the main stage at the Palais des Festivals, PHD’s worldwide strategy and planning director, Mark Holden, introduced arguably the most recognised futurist, Ray Kurzweil, to present a keynote on how we will all ultimately merge with machines, live longer and be a lot smarter — all within thirty years.
Kurzweil told delegates:
“The rst time we developed a neocortex for our brains, it gave us creativity and the ability to evolve new behaviours. But this was a one- shot deal. The next time we do it, it won’t be a one-o .”
According to Kurzweil, humans and tech will merge in the future and we will be able to link our neocortices to the Cloud to invent new forms of art, language and culture. Thus Information Tech will grow exponentially, allowing us to print high quality clothing, construction resources and manufacturing materials as well as reinvent agriculture and food production.
By 2029, Kurzweil believes that machines will be able to handle intelligent activities, like language, at human levels, which will effectively have consciousness.
He predicts: “From this point onwards, bio- technology will grow in maturity and increase exponentially as an information technology, according the law of accelerated returns, so
we’ll be able to overcome most diseases and the ageing process. What we don’t clean-up with bio- technology, we’ll get with nano-robots, inserted into our blood-streams.”
According to Kurzweil, we’ll be able to create
more profound expressions than we’re even able
to understand today. We’ll be funnier, smarter, sexier and better at expressing loving sentiments. “I believe it will create a better world,” he concluded. “We’ve eliminated all human jobs several times over since the 1900s so we’ll be fine. With new forms of knowledge created by this evolutionary path, will come new jobs.”
FIVE QUESTIONS IN FIVE MINUTES WITH RAY KURZWEIL
Kurzweil sat down in Cannes with PHD UK chairman Hugh Cameron to explore a future where humanity and technology will be inextricably linked.
You have a 30-year track-record of making accurate predictions about our future. How are you able to do this?
There is one thing about the future that’s very predictable. The price performance and capacity of every information technology has an exponential
THE EDIT ISSUE 7 | Q3 2017