DemocratChronicle.com: For example, Kurzweil said his trend lines show solar energy as meeting the world's energy needs in about 18 years, since the amount of electricity generated from solar doubles about every two years.
Having recently charted the human genetic code, scientists are only at the early stages of treating biology like technology, but using the same approaches will let people reprogram the genetic software that makes them run. That work will mean that in about 15 years, humankind will start adding more than a year each year to its average life expectancy.
"If you can hang on another 15 years, you may get to experience the remarkable century ahead," Kurzweil said.
Seems hard to believe, huh?. But, we forget that Kurzweil's prediction (made in the 1980's) that a computer would defeat the world chess champion by 1998 was equally unbelievable. And, if someone told me 10 years ago that I'd be walking around today with a palm-sized cell phone that would provide high speed internet access, GPS capability, hundreds of songs, a college dictionary, virtually every translation of the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare (both in searchable format), a scientific calculator, live weather radar, a detailed map of any location in the world, and much, much more--all for $400--I would have said that they were crazy.
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