Transcendent Man

Ray Kurzweil is a difficult man to pin down: he is an inventor, author, futurist, and businessman, all rolled into one. This passionate American is most well-known as the herald of 'The Singularity' -- roughly speaking, the moment man and machine will become one. According to Kurzweil, realization of this vision is not far away: in 2029, computers will be just as intelligent as people. One of the driving forces behind this is the law of exponential growth, Kurzweil claims. "People underestimate the acceleration of technology." The film expounds Kurzweil's ideas and motivations at a rapid tempo, following him as he traverses the globe to promulgate his philosophy. We learn about the world of nanotechnology, genetics, and robots with the help of graphic techniques, archive films, and interviews. Proponents and opponents speak out, from California to Hong Kong. Kurzweil explains why he is interested in the "destiny of the human-machine civilization" and why he is searching for immortality ("I want to bring back my father"). An introduction to a striking man who, as his wife delicately puts it, has an incredible capacity to take pills -- some 200 per day.