What if death, disease, and even biology itself were just problems waiting to be solved..? Futurist, thinker and inventor Ray Kurzweil thinks they are - and he’s built a career predicting the moment when humans and machines will merge.

In this episode, I have a mull about Kurzweil's key works, especiallyThe Singularity Is Near (2005) and its 2024 sequel The Singularity Is Nearer. Kurzweil claims that AI will match human intelligence by the end of the 2020s, and by mid- 2040s we’ll hit the “Singularity” - a point where exponential growth in AI, biotech, and nanotech transforms human life forever. Think radical life extension, brain–computer interfaces, and even digital immortality.

Kurzweil calls it progress. Critics call it techno-utopianism, even a kind of secular faith. In this audio essay, I discuss mind-uploading, overcoming death, whether AI is really “intelligent,” or just good at pattern recognition? Kurzweil’s vision is part science, part prophecy. Whether you find him inspiring or unsettling, his ideas force us to confront the future of intelligence, identity, and what it means to be human in a world remade by technology.

With thanks to Tristen Nunes -editing, research and post-production.