Google Hires Futurist Ray Kurzweil to Lead Engineering Lab

Ray Kurzweil is considered by some to be a brilliant futurist, by some to be a quack, and many others have never heard his name. But you clearly have to be doing something right for Google to hire you to head its engineering lab, which is what they have just done for Mr. Kurzweil.

Kurzweil, an author and inventor, is best known for his literature discussing the future, such as The Age of Spiritual Machines and The Singularity Is Near. These works discuss concepts such as the future intermingling of man and machine, the blurred lines between what constitutes life, and the end of human death, amongst other advanced topics regarding the future.

Some critics think Kurzweil’s ideas are far grander than reality, and think his time frames about when these ideas will become reality are off. Kurzweil believes we are merely decades away from humans being able to live forever through means of technological advances. But Kurzweil also garners plenty of respect in the technology community, and is considered a leader on these subjects by many. Now at the head of Google’s engineering lab, he is in a position to lead us even further into the future than perhaps even he dreamed before.