Here’s the author of such interesting titles as The Age of Intelligent Machines and The Age of Spiritual Machines going for another big idea: today’s humans will be succeeded by superintelligent entities that’ll be partly biological, partly computerised.

Citing examples from medical devices to military weapons in which human control is being taken over by sophisticated mechanical manipulations, Kurzw-eil points out the inevitable ? that trends will accelerate towards unimaginable miniaturisation and computerisation.

Where will all this lead to? Smallness and speed, says Kurzweil, will reach a point of development which can be called a ‘singularity’. He borrows the term that astrophysicists use to describe an immensely dense compatification of matter. In Kurzweil’s singularity, however, technological changes become so profound that our bodies and brains merge with our machines. And our experiences shift from real reality to virtual reality.

Sure, many people will find Kurzweil’s depiction of what the future has in store for us a bit rosy, but his latest book is interesting reading nevertheless.