A conversation with Newton-based inventor, author, and computer scientist, who believes technology will help humans extend their lives—a lot sooner than you might think.
Kurzweil / Photo by Simon Simard
Ray Kurzweil has been seeing the future with unsettling accuracy for decades. The inventor, computer scientist, and prolific author foresaw the explosive growth of the Internet, predicted a computer would defeat a world chess champion by 2000 (which happened in 1997), and anticipated that computers would wirelessly access information from the Internet, long before that was an actual thing.
But Kurzweil’s most audacious prediction isn’t just about technology—it’s about mortality itself. As an AI visionary, he’s spent years arguing that humans alive today could be the first generation to escape death entirely, not through philosophy or faith, but through exponential advances in artificial intelligence and medicine. Now 77, Kurzweil expects humans will beat disease within seven years—which, wow.
An edited and condensed version of our recent conversation with him is below.
You’re best known for your work on “the Singularity”—the point of accelerating technological change when human intelligence merges with AI. What connection do you see between this concept and the challenge of extending human longevity?
Singularity includes longevity. We’re already making very substantial gains in terms of overcoming health problems. Right now, if we come up with a new cure or treatment, it has to undergo human testing, and that could take years. We’re moving toward being able to simulate this using computers, which can be done in days. For example, with the COVID vaccine, they tried out thousands of formulations and did it in two days; otherwise, it would’ve taken years. This is going to be done for everything [as part of the AI revolution]. It’s not fully there yet, but it will be there in about five years.
You’ve popularized the concept of “longevity escape velocity”—in the simplest terms, what exactly is the theory, and why do you believe we’re so close to reaching it?
Eventually, [medical advancements] will be able to overcome what causes our bodies to expire. Right now, if you use up a year of your longevity, you’re a year older. But by 2032, you’ll gain back one year for each year lived. Beyond that, you’ll actually get back more than a year. It doesn’t guarantee immortality; accidents can happen, but we’re also reducing accidents. For example, the 40,000 deaths a year we have from humans driving cars, we’ll be able to reduce through automated driving.
You’re well known for your personal longevity routine. What are some of the things you do to stay healthy?
I do TPE, therapeutic plasma exchange, on a regular basis. Plasma holds toxins, and if you never replace it, it gets more and more filled with toxins. This process replaces the plasma in your blood with plasma that’s free of toxins. Also, my father died at age 58 of heart disease. We didn’t have the ability to control it back then. Right now, we have something called Repatha, which is an injection, so my LDL cholesterol, which is the bad, is now 10. I have no plaque because of this treatment. Then I take maybe 70 or 80 supplements a day, some through injections.
For the average person who simply wants to live a longer, healthier life, what is the most encouraging message you can share about the future of medicine?
AI is merging with medicine, so breakthroughs will be exponential. You want to be as healthy as possible, and even if you have a disease, you want to slow it down, because new things will come up very quickly. We’re going to be able to try out a billion different solutions in one weekend, find one that works, and then test it on a million different humans in a matter of days, rather than years. Within seven years, we’re going to come up with things that will overcome disease very quickly.
