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Futurist Kurzweil sees virtual travel replacing transportation; video on the Singularity

12:46 PM Tue, Apr 14, 2009 |
By Sheila Lennon    Email this author |   Email this entry

Going Down The Rabbit Hole: The future of transportation may mean not moving at all. GOOD interviews futurist Ray Kurzweil:

GOOD: How will technological advances change transportation in the 21st century?

Ray Kurzweil: For starters, we will replace a lot of transportation with the ability to meet each other in virtual reality. I give about a third of my speeches around the world using a virtual-communication system that allows me to appear at a venue in three dimensions and in real time. My image is three-dimensional, life-sized, and fully realistic. As I move around, the audience sees their local background behind me.

Ultimately, virtual reality will be extremely realistic and incorporate all of the senses. If we go out to around 2030, we will be able to send someone an information file (as an email attachment, for example) and they will "print" it out in three dimensions to create virtually any three-dimensional object, such as a computer, a solar panel, a module to build housing, food, or clothing. This will replace most of the transportation needed to ship products.

And that's just the beginning... I wonder if I could send a hologram of myself to work while I lounge in the back yard.


Ray Kurzweil tells us about his vision of the Singularity--a point around 2045 when computers will acquire full-blown artificial intelligence and technology will infuse itself with biology.

Motherboard: The Singularity Of Ray Kurzweil - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

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