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The Conversation

Sonja Fritzsche, Senior Associate Dean and Professor of German Studies, Michigan State University

Techno-utopians like Musk are treading old ground: The futurism of early 20th-century Europe

Elon Musk Ray Kurzweil Benito Mussolini

Twentieth-century futurists celebrated flight, communications and manufacturing. Today, they're inspired by space, AI and biotechnology. Davide Mauro/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

In “The Singularity is Nearer: When We Merge with AI,” the futurist Ray Kurzweil imagines the point in 2045 when rapid technological progress crosses a threshold as humans merge with machines, an event he calls “the singularity.”

Although Kurzweil’s predictions may sound more like science fiction than fact-based forecasting, his brand of thinking goes well beyond the usual sci-fi crowd. It has provided inspiration for American technology industry elites for some time, chief among them Elon Musk.

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