Review of Transcendent Man (2009) by Bill G — 30 Jul 2011

This is a very interesting documentary about the inventor and would-be prophet Ray Kurzweil. Kurzweil is known primarily for his work in computer innovations, having invented things like the flatbed scanner and the first computerized text-to-speech machine. He now goes around talking about the coming "singularity," a hypothesized point in the future at which technological innovation becomes so rapid that humans and machines will merge and become indistinguishable. He thinks that in this singularity, people may be able to live and be healthy forever thanks to nanobots that will maintain our bodies for us, and that having the Internet wired directly into our brains will permit everyone to know everything. Kurzweil predicts that all this will happen around the year 2045.

The documentary skims along the surface of Kurzweil's ideas, and it is indeed very interesting to contemplate what incredible changes technology might make possible. The documentary also focuses a bit on Kurzweil's personal history, and how it might bias his scientific ideas. There are interviews with other technology experts who present alternative viewpoints to Kurzweil's. The documentary is well-produced, with good cinematography for its live footage and snazzy graphics when it's illustrating various things. It also has a totally appropriate Philip Glass musical score. At the end of the documentary, you are left with a good sense of Kurzweil as a person, and some basic comprehension of his predictions. The movie ultimately leaves me unable to say much for certain about the future: the only thing that is certain is that, for better or worse, it will be very different from the present.