Summary: Transcendent Man is a documentary film by filmmaker Barry Ptolemy. The film chronicles the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil, inventor, futurist, and author of The Singularity is Near. Transcendent Man presents his vision of technological singularity, the point in the future in which technology will be advancing so rapidly that humans will have to enhance themselves with artificial intelligence in order to keep up. Kurzweil predicts the dawning of a new civilization in which humans will no longer be dependent upon their physical bodies, will become infinitely more intelligent, and lose the ability to distinguish between real and virtual reality. Kurzweil believes this will cause human aging and illness to be reversed, world hunger and poverty to be solved, and death to be “cured”. Critics accuse Ray of being too optimistic, and argue that the dangers of the Singularity far outweigh the benefits, pointing out the apocalyptic implications that once machines achieve consciousness, humanity may not be able to control them.
