Raymond Kurzweil ( ; born February 12, 1948) is an American inventor and futurist.
He was involved with computers by the age of 12 (in 1960), when only a dozen computers existed in all of New York City, and built computing devices and statistical programs for the predecessor of Head Start.
In 1963, at age 15, he wrote his first computer program.
In 1965, he was invited to appear on the CBS television program I've Got a Secret, where he performed a piano piece that was composed by a computer he also had built.
He took all of the computer programming courses (eight or nine) offered at MIT in the first year and a half. In 1968, during his sophomore year at MIT, Kurzweil started a company that used a computer program to match high school students with colleges.
in computer science and literature in 1970 at MIT.
Around this time, he sold the company to Harcourt, Brace & World for $100,000 (roughly $748,000 in 2020 dollars) plus royalties. In 1974, Kurzweil founded Kurzweil Computer Products, Inc.
On the possibility of divine intelligence, Kurzweil has said, "Does God exist? I would say, 'Not yet.'" Kurzweil married Sonya Rosenwald Kurzweil in 1975 and has two children.
Development of these technologies was completed at other institutions such as Bell Labs, and on January 13, 1976, the finished product was unveiled during a news conference headed by him and the leaders of the National Federation of the Blind.
Called the Kurzweil Reading Machine, the device covered an entire tabletop. Kurzweil's next major business venture began in 1978, when Kurzweil Computer Products began selling a commercial version of the optical character recognition computer program.
After a 1982 meeting with Stevie Wonder, in which the latter lamented the divide in capabilities and qualities between electronic synthesizers and traditional musical instruments, Kurzweil was inspired to create a new generation of music synthesizers capable of accurately duplicating the sounds of real instruments.
Kurzweil Music Systems was founded in the same year, and in 1984, the Kurzweil K250 was unveiled.
The first product, which debuted in 1987, was an early speech recognition program. Kurzweil started Kurzweil Educational Systems (KESI) in 1996 to develop new pattern-recognition-based computer technologies to help people with disabilities such as blindness, dyslexia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in school.
The recording and mixing abilities of the machine, coupled with its abilities to imitate different instruments, made it possible for a single user to compose and play an entire orchestral piece. Kurzweil Music Systems was sold to South Korean musical instrument manufacturer Young Chang in 1990.
KESI was eventually sold to Cambium Learning Group, Inc. During the 1990s, Kurzweil founded the Medical Learning Company.
He claims to have constructed inventions, solved difficult problems, such as algorithmic, business strategy, organizational, and interpersonal problems, and written speeches in this state. ==Books== Kurzweil's first book, The Age of Intelligent Machines, was published in 1990.
The Association of American Publishers awarded it the status of Most Outstanding Computer Science Book of 1990. In 1993, Kurzweil published a book on nutrition called The 10% Solution for a Healthy Life.
The Association of American Publishers awarded it the status of Most Outstanding Computer Science Book of 1990. In 1993, Kurzweil published a book on nutrition called The 10% Solution for a Healthy Life.
LexisNexis was one of the first customers, and bought the program to upload paper legal and news documents onto its nascent online databases. Kurzweil sold his Kurzweil Computer Products to Xerox, where it was known as Xerox Imaging Systems, later known as Scansoft, and he functioned as a consultant for Xerox until 1995.
The first product, which debuted in 1987, was an early speech recognition program. Kurzweil started Kurzweil Educational Systems (KESI) in 1996 to develop new pattern-recognition-based computer technologies to help people with disabilities such as blindness, dyslexia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in school.
Kurzweil is a public advocate for the futurist and transhumanist movements and gives public talks to share his optimistic outlook on life extension technologies and the future of nanotechnology, robotics, and biotechnology. Kurzweil received the 1999 National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the United States' highest honor in technology, from President Clinton in a White House ceremony.
In 1999, Visioneer, Inc.
During this period he also started KurzweilAI.net, a website devoted towards showcasing news of scientific developments, publicizing the ideas of high-tech thinkers and critics alike, and promoting futurist-related discussion among the general population through the Mind-X forum. In 1999, Kurzweil created a [fund] called "FatKat" (Financial Accelerating Transactions from Kurzweil Adaptive Technologies), which began trading in 2006.
investment software program, enhancing its ability to recognize patterns in "currency fluctuations and stock-ownership trends." He predicted in his 1999 book, The Age of Spiritual Machines, that computers will one day prove superior to the best human financial minds at making profitable investment decisions. In June 2005, Kurzweil introduced the "Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader" (K-NFB Reader)—a pocket-sized device consisting of a digital camera and computer unit.
The book's main idea is that high levels of fat intake are the cause of many health disorders common in the U.S., and thus that cutting fat consumption down to 10% of the total calories consumed would be optimal for most people. In 1999, Kurzweil published The Age of Spiritual Machines, which further elucidates his theories regarding the future of technology, which themselves stem from his analysis of long-term trends in biological and technological evolution.
This, according to Kurzweil, is only a precursor to the devices at the nano scale that will eventually replace a blood-cell, self updating of specific pathogens to improve the immune system. ==Views== ===The Law of Accelerating Returns=== In his 1999 book The Age of Spiritual Machines, Kurzweil proposed "The Law of Accelerating Returns", according to which the rate of change in a wide variety of evolutionary systems (including the growth of technologies) tends to increase exponentially.
He was the recipient of the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for 2001.
He gave further focus to this issue in a 2001 essay entitled "The Law of Accelerating Returns", which proposed an extension of Moore's law to a wide variety of technologies, and used this to argue in favor of John von Neumann's concept of a technological singularity.
In 2002 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, established by the U.S.
Much emphasis is on the likely course of AI development, along with the future of computer architecture. Kurzweil's next book, published in 2004, returned to human health and nutrition.
Kurzweil's 2005 book The Singularity Is Near was a New York Times bestseller, and has been the #1 book on Amazon in both science and philosophy.
Scansoft merged with Nuance Communications in 2005. Kurzweil's next business venture was in the realm of electronic music technology.
investment software program, enhancing its ability to recognize patterns in "currency fluctuations and stock-ownership trends." He predicted in his 1999 book, The Age of Spiritual Machines, that computers will one day prove superior to the best human financial minds at making profitable investment decisions. In June 2005, Kurzweil introduced the "Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader" (K-NFB Reader)—a pocket-sized device consisting of a digital camera and computer unit.
Live Long Enough to Live Forever was co-authored by Terry Grossman, a medical doctor and specialist in alternative medicine. The Singularity Is Near, published in 2005, was made into a movie starring Pauley Perrette from NCIS.
The book was released in April 2019. In an article on his website kurzweilai.net, Ray Kurzweil announced his new book The Singularity Is Nearer for release in 2022. ==Movies== In 2010, Kurzweil wrote and co-produced a movie directed by Anthony Waller called The Singularity Is Near: A True Story About the Future, which was based in part on his 2005 book The Singularity Is Near.
Hyundai acquired Young Chang in 2006 and in January 2007 appointed Raymond Kurzweil as Chief Strategy Officer of Kurzweil Music Systems. ===Later life=== Concurrent with Kurzweil Music Systems, Kurzweil created the company Kurzweil Applied Intelligence (KAI) to develop computer speech recognition systems for commercial use.
During this period he also started KurzweilAI.net, a website devoted towards showcasing news of scientific developments, publicizing the ideas of high-tech thinkers and critics alike, and promoting futurist-related discussion among the general population through the Mind-X forum. In 1999, Kurzweil created a [fund] called "FatKat" (Financial Accelerating Transactions from Kurzweil Adaptive Technologies), which began trading in 2006.
Hyundai acquired Young Chang in 2006 and in January 2007 appointed Raymond Kurzweil as Chief Strategy Officer of Kurzweil Music Systems. ===Later life=== Concurrent with Kurzweil Music Systems, Kurzweil created the company Kurzweil Applied Intelligence (KAI) to develop computer speech recognition systems for commercial use.
In February 2007, Ptolemaic Productions acquired the rights to The Singularity Is Near, The Age of Spiritual Machines, and Fantastic Voyage, including the rights to film Kurzweil's life and ideas for the documentary film Transcendent Man, which was directed by Barry Ptolemy. Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever, a follow-up to Fantastic Voyage, was released on April 28, 2009. Kurzweil's book How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed, was released on Nov.
By 2008, he had reduced the number of supplement pills to 150.
In February 2007, Ptolemaic Productions acquired the rights to The Singularity Is Near, The Age of Spiritual Machines, and Fantastic Voyage, including the rights to film Kurzweil's life and ideas for the documentary film Transcendent Man, which was directed by Barry Ptolemy. Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever, a follow-up to Fantastic Voyage, was released on April 28, 2009. Kurzweil's book How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed, was released on Nov.
Premiered in 2009 at the Tribeca Film Festival, Transcendent Man documents Kurzweil's quest to reveal mankind's ultimate destiny and explores many of the ideas found in his New York Times bestselling book The Singularity Is Near, including his concepts of exponential growth, radical life expansion, and how we will transcend our biology.
While being interviewed for a February 2009 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Kurzweil expressed a desire to construct a genetic copy of his late father, Fredric Kurzweil, from DNA within his grave site.
The book was released in April 2019. In an article on his website kurzweilai.net, Ray Kurzweil announced his new book The Singularity Is Nearer for release in 2022. ==Movies== In 2010, Kurzweil wrote and co-produced a movie directed by Anthony Waller called The Singularity Is Near: A True Story About the Future, which was based in part on his 2005 book The Singularity Is Near.
He maintains the news website kurzweilai.net, which has over three million readers annually. Kurzweil has been employed by Google since 2012, where he is a director of engineering. ==Life, inventions, and business career== ===Early life=== Kurzweil grew up in the New York City borough of Queens.
The newer machine is portable and scans text through digital camera images, while the older machine is large and scans text through flatbed scanning. In December 2012, Kurzweil was hired by Google in a full-time position to "work on new projects involving machine learning and language processing".
Larry Page and Kurzweil agreed on a one-sentence job description: "to bring natural language understanding to Google". He received a Technical Grammy on February 8, 2015, specifically for his invention of the Kurzweil K250. Kurzweil has joined the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a cryonics company.
By 2015 Kurzweil further reduced his daily pill regimen down to 100 pills. Kurzweil has made a number of bold claims for his health regimen.
The book was released in April 2019. In an article on his website kurzweilai.net, Ray Kurzweil announced his new book The Singularity Is Nearer for release in 2022. ==Movies== In 2010, Kurzweil wrote and co-produced a movie directed by Anthony Waller called The Singularity Is Near: A True Story About the Future, which was based in part on his 2005 book The Singularity Is Near.
Around this time, he sold the company to Harcourt, Brace & World for $100,000 (roughly $748,000 in 2020 dollars) plus royalties. In 1974, Kurzweil founded Kurzweil Computer Products, Inc.
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