Breakfast with Ray Kurzweil

Breakfast with the FT: Ray KurzweilCaroline Daniel, The Financial Times

Translation by InoSMI

The address at which Ray Kurzweil's apartment is located in San Francisco must remain secret, his secretary warns me – "for reasons of special secrecy." But I am allowed to reveal the details of the breakfast that the writer, inventor and pill-addicted futurist will prepare according to a recipe from his book "Life Without Borders or Nine Steps to Immortality" (Transcend: Nine Steps To Living Well Forever), published in 2009.

Kurzweil, who invented the first speech recognition system for blind people, a flatbed scanner and a musical synthesizer capable of reproducing the sounds of a real piano, has been dealing with the problem of creating artificial intelligence for 50 years. In his book The Age of Intelligent Machines (1990), he predicted the widespread use of computers and the emergence of mobile devices. In the bestselling book "The Singularity is Near" (The Singularity is Near, 2005), he writes about artificial intelligence and the future of humanity. In 2012, he took the post of technical director for the development of machine intelligence at Google.

Kurzweil's fans proclaimed him a "perfect thinking machine" and "the rightful heir of Thomas Edison." One of the founders of Microsoft, Bill Gates, called him "the man who gives the most accurate forecasts of artificial intelligence ... of any I know." To critics, he is "one of the greatest businessmen of our time" and "a narcissistic eccentric obsessed with immortality."

Kurzweil meets me at the door–slim, short and much more good-natured than I expected. He's wearing an ordinary blue linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He shakes my hand – his palms are soft, and his fingers are studded with gold rings (one from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the second I mistook for a Superman ring – in fact, this is a ring with the symbol of the Singularity University, of which Kurzweil is one of the founders). His hair is darker than in the early photos, and he looks like a "nerd" – something like Woody Allen's eccentric brother.

We walk past his musical synthesizer, paintings of the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, and then we get into the living room – there are slightly strange paintings of Monet and Van Gogh hanging in front of us. "Ultra–realistic 3D reproductions are printed on a laser printer," he explains.

I carefully examine a small table: white porcelain dishes and paper napkins. A bowl of berries, on a plate – smoked salmon and mackerel, six pieces of dark chocolate, a cardboard box of vanilla soy milk, several bags of sevia and a plate of thick barely warm oatmeal (which I will only try a little, but I will not master).

"Cocoa has an anti-inflammatory effect and is very useful. That's why there is dark chocolate, which has a little espresso coffee added to it. Berries, soy milk without sugar. Fish and green tea," he explains, pointing to what is served for breakfast. He hardly eats meat, loves fish and prefers "healthy carbohydrates and healthy fats. Here are just useful carbohydrates – a few berries, oatmeal porridge, vegetables."

Discouraged by this unusual food, I look at a set for salt and pepper in the form of cat figures and ask: "Do you have a lot of items in the form of cats?". This is not the question I wanted to ask this genius in the first place, but he answers in a very pleased tone: "Yes, I actually have 400 figures of cats. Here are just some of them. It's kind of my hobby. I really love cats. They are very sophisticated creatures." He had a cat and a cat for 18 years. "They were sleeping in an embrace. Father and daughter, although I don't think they were aware of their relationship. And, as it happens with old married couples, when one of them died, the other also died a few weeks later. When the cats died, I had an allergy. And I, as a very smart person, realized that I was allergic to cats. That's why I didn't start others anymore. Besides, I'm constantly on the road."

After sitting at the table for a few minutes, he goes out and brings a DVD film about himself (Transcendent Man) and five volumes of his writings – including "The Singularity is very close," which he calls his "most significant book." On its basis, the Singularity University was created. He opens the book. "Here I am writing about the neocortex, and this explains my work at Google, because I gave a preprint to Larry Page (one of the founders of Google), who liked the book very much. It was two years ago, and I asked him to invest in a company that I would create based on these ideas, and he replied: "Of course, we will invest, but I would like to convince you to do it with us, because we have resources at the Google level – a database, computers and talent".

During those few minutes while we were having breakfast, we managed to discuss incestuous cats, artificial intelligence, and how to get a job at Google. As he reaches for the berries, I tell him that, unfortunately, I never saw his bag of pills. There was a time when he took them up to 250 pieces a day, and now there are only 100. "I found a replacement for them in the form of products available in nature and more digestible. Therefore, instead of ten pills, I can limit myself to two." He had already taken his morning dose of 30 pills (then he showed me the usual bag of pills), including pills "for heart health, eye health, sexual health and brain health."

I ask how much such a diet costs. "Several thousand dollars a year. But not everyone needs so many drugs. A healthy 30-year-old person may have enough basic dietary supplements."

His wife Sofia is a psychologist, as well as children – 34–year-old Ethan and 27-year–old Aimee - also take supplements. Unable to finish the mackerel that did not impress me, I switched to berries. Kurzweil doesn't eat much either. I ask if he likes the food. "Actually, I like all kinds of food." Then he switches to a scientific tone: "The fact is that this food gives fewer calories."

He began to be interested in health at the age of 15, when his father Fredrik had a heart attack. "He died when I was 22 and he was 58." Kurzweil realized that he could inherit a predisposition to diseases from his father. When he was in his early 30s, he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Having become disillusioned with traditional methods of treatment, he "approached the issue from the standpoint of the inventor." And the disease receded. "Genetic predisposition can be overcome. It is generally believed that predisposition is determined by 80% genes and 20% lifestyle. And if you try, then the predisposition will depend on 90% on external factors and lifestyle and only 10% on heredity," he says.

Although the 67-year–old Kurzweil is young in person (he uses an antioxidant cream daily), he is aging - even if his "biological age is approaching 50. But he hasn't gotten that far yet."

But all these are trifles compared to Kurzweil's main goal – to live forever. And this means being healthy enough to live up to what he calls "Bridge-2 – when, as a result of the biotechnological revolution, it will be possible to reprogram inherited biological systems" and "Bridge-3" – the emergence of molecular nanotechnology that will allow "rebuilding" the human body.

The idea of a radical increase in life expectancy has occupied Kurzweil for more than a dozen years. Today, representatives of the technical elite from Silicon Valley are engaged in such sci-fi heroic ideas of saving humanity from death. Billionaires like Peter Thiel, one of the founders of the PayPal payment system, call death "the greatest enemy." Death is no longer considered inevitable – now it is the newest enemy that needs to be "destroyed". Google has also created an independent company, Calico, to combat aging. "Two years ago, I discussed the problems of longevity with the head of independent Google companies. As a result, Calico appeared, and I work for them as a technical consultant."

"I think every death is a tragedy. We have learned to put up with it, and with the life cycle, and so on. But people have the opportunity to expand the natural boundaries of the possible. A thousand years ago, life expectancy was only 19 years. In 1800, it increased to 37 years. Everyone believes that life can be prolonged. Some come up with medicines for diseases, and this is appreciated. And not just: “Oh! Great, this will save you from death.""

Once in 2009, in Newsweek magazine, one scientist spoke about Kurzweil with ridicule, saying that he was going through "the most public midlife crisis." "These are attacks concerning personal qualities, not the arguments of the opponent. This is what I call the "death-ist" philosophy of people who revere death," he argues.

Kurzweil argues that the main mistake of his critics is that they consider progress to be a linear process. Here is his main thesis: "The essence of information technology is that it develops exponentially ... 30 steps in linear development mean only 30. Step one, second, third, fourth, 30th – so you reach 30. And in the case of geometric progression, it will be one, two, four, eight. Step 30 will mean a billion."

If the progress of medical science could once be a random and haphazard process, now, he argues, we are beginning to understand "the programs that control life." The data obtained within the framework of the Human Genome project will allow for not progressive development, but development in a geometric progression. "Over the next 20-25 years, we will be able to defeat almost all diseases and stop aging."

When you sit next to Kurzweil, he doesn't seem like a man out of his mind. He makes bold predictions and talks about cats with the same good-nature and joy. He looks the other person in the eye, and it seems that he is devoid of any doubts. I wonder how he achieved this. Kurzweil tells me that he grew up in a middle-class family in a house on the outskirts of New York Queens. His father was a concert pianist and conductor, and his mother Hannah was an artist.

He became an inventor, firstly, thanks to the books of Tom Swift Jr., whose collected works he read at the age of seven at a scout camp. This collection is on his bookshelf. The title of one of the books, written in 1914, sounds like a prediction: "Tom Swift and his photo phone." "Usually people had a lot of trouble with him, and he hid in the basement, and then came out with some new invention that saved the situation."

And he was also influenced by his grandmother Lillian Bader, who wrote a book of memoirs "One Life is not enough" (which sounds relevant to her grandson) about her life in Austria. Their Jewish family fled the country in 1938. In 1953, when Kurzweil was five years old, Lillian showed him her mechanical typewriter. "She made a huge impression on me – after all, it was the same magic car. You could take a blank sheet of paper and turn it into something that looked like part of a book. And it wasn't some kind of home trick. With technology – when you see how it works – everything is covered with magic."

In high school, his first serious invention was a computer program that allowed him to analyze melodies composed by composers and write his own music in the same style. "With this synthesizer, I won all these national competitions. I happened to meet President Johnson, and I demonstrated this synthesizer on the TV show "I have a Secret"."

In 1970, he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a degree in computer engineering and literature. After that, there were other inventions. Blind singer Stevie Wonder became the first to have a speech recognition system invented by Kurzweil. "The biggest pleasure I got was creating a speech recognition machine for blind people. I started working on it in 1973 and am constantly improving it. The excitement associated with invention allows you to break away from the dry formulas on the board and see the pleasant changes taking place in people's lives."

Kurzweil knows how to look into the future, but he also lives under the power of the past. He takes out his father's dissertation, written back in 1938 on the subject of Brahms' work, and recalls a concert of the composer's works that his father gave in Vienna in 1937. A rich lady from Philadelphia sitting in the hall was so moved that she said to Fredrik: "If you ever need anything, let me know." In March 1938, after the Anschluss, she paid for his relocation to America. "We can say that Brahms saved his life."

He is still fascinated by his late father. "He was usually a pathologically shy and very calm person, but when he conducted, he became a "maestro", and then after the concert there was a feast, and everyone came and addressed him as "maestro"! And he took off his hat and … He was absolutely amazing."

There are hundreds of boxes filled with his father's documents in his house. "I keep all his letters and even his electricity bills. There are films on 8mm film, photographs, and a lot of vinyl records with recordings of his concerts. And I have a grand plan to create a three-dimensional copy of my father based on information that could reflect all the features of his personality. And people who remember him would not be able to distinguish him from the real Fredrik Kurzweil. And this avatar would be more like my father than he was if he was still alive (and he would be 102 years old).

It is clear that the "copy" of his father that he wants to create would be very unusual – it would be the father who was 58. "Yes," Kurzweil agrees. – Our relations with him became closer and warmer already before his death. When I was a kid, he was always busy. [But] when I was already a teenager, he was sick and spent a lot of time at home, and we could talk about music and artificial intelligence."

What would you like to ask – am I embarrassed and pause before saying the word "his"? "I would like to continue talking to him about music, about the connection between music and life, philosophy and mathematics."

He predicts that by 2029 computers will catch up with humans in terms of intelligence. And the progress of the work on creating a three-dimensional embodiment of the father will depend on how the work at Google on the development of human language recognition systems goes. If this task is completed, it will be possible to conduct "a dialogue with a computer, it will be possible to endow it with human traits and provide a knowledge base."

However, in 2012, New York University psychology professor Gary Marcus, in his article "Kurzweil's New Dark Theory of Intelligence," published in the New Yorker, questioned the ability of intelligence to recognize hierarchy. In addition, he stated that Kurzweil underestimates the psychology of a person and his irrational behavior too much."

Kurzweil's work at Google is aimed at exploring not only keywords, but also more complex concepts. As an example, he cites the following situation: "I met this girl last night at a party. We only talked a little, but I immediately felt that something connected us with her. Can this happen? What do they write about it in psychology books? Ultimately – and this is a long–term project - it will be like asking a person who has studied the relevant literature, and the computer will correctly select quotes for us and summarize all the information."

Artificial intelligence is also under attack from engineering and technical workers - such as Elon Musk, who called artificial intelligence "the most serious threat to our existence." Realizing all the dangers coming from AI, Kurzweil is concerned about how artificial intelligence is misinterpreted in films, presenting it as a dangerous and far–from-human force - a kind of "invasion of intelligent machines alien to us." He considers artificial intelligence a tool that will allow billions of people to "expand their capabilities." These smart assistants will not necessarily be carried in your pocket – they can be implanted inside the body and into the brain."

He is especially animated when he presents the future and developments for creating virtual reality. "We will have instruments in the Taj Mahal or on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and you will be able to feel a warm, moist breeze on your cheek, and it will be very plausible. All this should happen in the next few decades.

He recalls how in 2001 he participated in the TED conference (conferences in which lectures are held on topics from the field of science, art, design, politics, culture in order to spread unique ideas - approx. transl.). During the lecture, sensors were demonstrated on it to create a three-dimensional copy of the rock singer, as a result of which he turned into "Ramona". "My voice started sounding like her voice. And I sang the song “White Rabbit” [from the Jefferson Airplane repertoire]. It's supposed to be a song about drugs, but drugs are just one of the means of changing reality." Kurzweil puts a piece of dark chocolate in his mouth and continues: "I turned into a completely different person – a young woman. I really felt very liberated. So, it is quite obvious that you can become anyone. A man and a woman can exchange images and roles."

He feels no less excitement when he writes a novel using the good old method, creating an image of a heroine who expresses his own thoughts without a twinge of conscience. "The book is called Danielle, and it describes the life of a young girl from the moment of birth to the age of 22. She is currently in Zambia. These are my fantasies about myself. And the girl is smart beyond her years."

As I leave, I pass by his synthesizer and ask if he plays it. "I have a very narrow repertoire," he admits. – "Narrowed to a minimum." Well, yes, I'm kidding, if he happens to live forever, he will be like Bill Murray from Groundhog Day, who, unable to die, becomes a professional pianist (and also creates ice sculptures and speaks French). "There are so many things in the world where our mind could be applied. This is precisely the goal of creating artificial intelligence – to expand our capabilities."

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