Editing Ray Kurzweil (section)

==Life, inventions, and business career==

===Early life===
Kurzweil grew up in [[Queens]], New York City. He attended NYC Public Education Kingsbury Elementary School PS188. He was born to secular [[Jews|Jewish]] parents who had emigrated from [[Austria]] just before the onset of [[World War II]]. Through [[Unitarian Universalism]] he was exposed to a diversity of religious faiths during his upbringing.<ref>{{cite book | last=Peragine | first=Michael | date=2013 <!-- 2013-03-13 --> | title=The universal mind: The evolution of machine intelligence and human psychology | publication-place=San Diego | publisher=Xiphias Press | language=en | asin=B00BQ47APM | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dvb0DAAAQBAJ&pg=PT106 | quote=He was born to secular Jewish parents who had escaped Austria just before the onset of World War II. He was exposed via [[Unitarian Universalism]] to a diversity of religious faiths during his upbringing.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine | url=https://www.thekurzweillibrary.com/playboy-re-invent-yourself-the-playboy-interview <!-- http://www.kurzweilai.net/reinvent-yourself-the-playboy-interview-with-ray-kurzweil --> | last=Hochman | first=David | date=April 19, 2016 | title=Reinvent yourself: the Playboy interview with Ray Kurzweil | type=Interview | magazine=Playboy |language=en-US|access-date=2024-04-11}}</ref> The Unitarian church has a philosophy that there are many paths to the truth: his religious education consisted of studying one religion for six months before moving on to another.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kurzweil|first=Ray|title=The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology|publisher=Viking|year=2005|isbn=978-0-670-03384-3|location=United States|pages=Prologue}}</ref> His father, Fredric, was a concert pianist, a noted conductor and a music educator. His mother, Hannah, was a visual artist. He is the elder of two children; his sister Enid, an accountant in [[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]], is six years his junior.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2000-06-17 |title=Ray Kurzweil |url=https://achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/#interview |access-date=2024-10-19 |website=Academy of Achievement |language=en-US}}</ref>

Ray Kurzweil decided at age five that he wanted to be an inventor.<ref>{{cite magazine | last=Rifken | first=Glen | date=March 18, 1991 | title=Raymond Kurzweil | type=Interview | magazine=Computerworld: The newsweekly of information systems management | volume=25 | number=11 | pages=75f | publisher=International Data Group | issn=0010-4841 | language=en | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vfztUIpZm7UC&pg=PA75}}</ref> As a young boy, he had an inventory of parts from various construction toys he had been given and old electronic gadgets he had collected from neighbors. In his youth, Kurzweil was an avid reader of science fiction. At age eight, nine, and ten, he read the entire [[Tom Swift Jr]]. series. At age seven or eight, he built a robotic puppet theater and robotic game. He was involved with computers by age 12 (in 1960), when only a dozen computers existed in New York City, and built computing devices and statistical programs for the predecessor of Head Start.<ref>{{cite AV media | people=Ingrid Wickelgren (host), Ray Kurzweil (guest) | date=November 20, 2012 | title=Ray Kurzweil | work=[[After Words]] | publication-place=Washington, DC | publisher=National Cable Satellite Corporation | url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?309044-1/after-words-ray-kurzweil <!-- http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/309044-1 --> | access-date=11 April 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Wickelgren | first=Ingrid | date=11 December 2012 | title=On TV, Ray Kurzweil tells me how to build a brain | type=Blog post | website=Scientific American | url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/streams-of-consciousness/on-tv-ray-kurzweil-tells-me-how-to-build-a-brain/ | access-date=11 April 2024}}</ref> At 14, Kurzweil wrote a paper detailing his theory of the [[neocortex]].<ref>{{cite AV media | people=Diane Rehm (host), Ray Kurzweil (guest) | date=November 27, 2012 | title=Ray Kurzweil: "How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed" | work=[[The Diane Rehm Show]] | publication-place=Washington, DC | publisher=WAMU | url=https://dianerehm.org/shows/2012-11-27/ray-kurzweil-how-create-mind-secret-human-thought-revealed/transcript | access-date=11 April 2024}}</ref> His parents were involved with the arts, and he is quoted in the documentary ''[[Transcendent Man]]''<ref name="transcendentman.com">{{cite web |url=https://transcendentman.com/mind-boggling-technological-singularity-defined/ |title=Answering all your questions about The Technological Singularity |access-date=October 3, 2017 | website=Transcendent man: Prepare to evolve | date=2017-09-01 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003225351/https://transcendentman.com/mind-boggling-technological-singularity-defined/ | archive-date=2017-10-03}}</ref> as saying that the household always discussed the future and technology.<ref>{{cite AV media | title=Transcendent Man}}</ref>

Kurzweil attended [[Martin Van Buren High School]]. During class, he often held onto his class textbooks to seemingly participate while focusing on his own projects hidden behind the book. His uncle, an engineer at [[Bell Labs]], taught Kurzweil the basics of [[computer science]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Inventor of the Week |url=http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/kurzweil.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102111050/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/kurzweil.html |archive-date=2014-01-02 |access-date=2011-04-21 |publisher=Web.mit.edu}}</ref> In 1963, at 15, he wrote his first computer program.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=%2Farticles%2Fart0467.html |title=KurzweilAI.net |publisher=KurzweilAI.net |access-date=2011-04-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050222180825/http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=%2Farticles%2Fart0467.html |archive-date=2005-02-22 }}</ref> 

Kurzweil created pattern-recognition software that analyzed the works of classical composers, then synthesized its own songs in similar styles. In 1965 he was invited to appear on the [[CBS]] television program ''[[I've Got a Secret]]'',<ref>{{cite web|title= Ray Kurzweil Biography and Interview |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=    https://achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/#interview}}</ref> where he performed a piano piece composed by a computer he had built.<ref name="booktv">{{cite video |people=Pedro Echevarria (host), Ray Kurzweil (guest) | url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?194500-1/depth-ray-kurzweil |title=Ray Kurzweil |work=[[In Depth]] | publisher=[[Book TV]] |date=November 5, 2006 |access-date=2015-04-22}}</ref> Later in the year, he won first prize in the International Science Fair for the invention;<ref name="ssp">{{cite web |url=http://www.societyforscience.org/Page.aspx?pid=261 |title=Alumni Honors |publisher=Society for Science and the Public |access-date=2010-05-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729231138/http://www.societyforscience.org/page.aspx?pid=261 |archive-date=2012-07-29 }}</ref> his submission to [[Intel Science Talent Search|Westinghouse Talent Search]] of his first computer program alongside several other projects resulted in his being one of the contest's national winners, for which President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] personally congratulated him during a [[White House]] ceremony. The experiences impressed upon Kurzweil the belief that nearly any problem could be overcome.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://techland.time.com/2010/04/02/an-interview-with-ray-kurzweil/ |title=An Interview With Ray Kurzweil | first=Doug | last=Aamoth |publisher=Time Inc. |magazine=Time |date=April 2, 2010 |access-date=September 25, 2014}}</ref>

===Midlife===

While in high school, Kurzweil had corresponded with [[Marvin Minsky]] and was invited to visit him at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], which he did. Kurzweil also visited [[Frank Rosenblatt]], a psychologist at [[Cornell University|Cornell]].<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite magazine | last=Michaels | first=Morgan | date=November 6, 2000 | title=Nerd of the Week: Ray Kurzweil | website=Nerdworld: Your source for nerdly culture, life, and work styles since 1995 | url=http://www.nerdworld.com/lf_notw_014.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010122032400/http://www.nerdworld.com/lf_notw_014.html | archive-date=2001-01-22}} Also archived by [https://www.pressandappearances.com/the-nerd-of-the-week-interview the Kurzweil Library + collections]</ref> He attended MIT to study with Minsky, obtaining a B.Sc. degree in computer science and literature in 1970. Kurzweil took all the computer programming courses (eight or nine) MIT offered in his first year and a half.

In 1968, during his second year at MIT, Kurzweil started a company that used a computer program to match high school students with colleges. The program, called the Select College Consulting Program, was designed by him and compared thousands of different criteria about each college with questionnaire answers each student applicant submitted. Around that time he sold the company to [[Harcourt (publisher)#Harcourt, Brace & World (1960) and successors|Harcourt, Brace & World]] for $100,000 {{USDCY|100000|1968}} plus royalties.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kurzweiltech.com/raybio.html |title=Biography of Ray Kurzweil |publisher=Kurzweiltech.com |date=January 13, 1976 |access-date=2011-03-27}}</ref> In 1974, he founded Kurzweil Computer Products, Inc., and led development of the first omni-font [[optical character recognition]] system, a computer program capable of recognizing text written in any normal font. Before that time, scanners had been able to read text in only a few fonts. He decided that the technology's best application would be to create a reading machine, which would allow blind people to understand text by having a computer read it to them aloud. But the device required the invention of two enabling technologies—the [[Charge-coupled device|CCD]] [[flatbed scanner]] and the [[Speech synthesis|text-to-speech]] synthesizer. Development of these technologies was completed at other institutions like [[Bell Labs]], and on January 13, 1976, the finished product was unveiled during a news conference headed by Kurzweil and the leaders of the [[National Federation of the Blind]]. Called the Kurzweil Reading Machine, the device was large and covered an entire tabletop. [[Stevie Wonder]] heard about the demonstration of this new machine on ''[[Today (U.S. TV program)|The Today Show]]'', and later became the user of the first production Kurzweil Reading Machine, beginning a long-term association with Kurzweil.<ref name="TheSynth">{{Cite book|title=The Synthesizer|last=Vail|first=Mark|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2014|isbn=978-0195394894|pages=76–78}}</ref>

Kurzweil's next major business venture began in 1978, when Kurzweil Computer Products began selling a commercial version of the optical character recognition computer program. [[LexisNexis]] was one of the first customers, and bought the program to upload paper legal and news documents to its nascent online databases. He sold Kurzweil Computer Products to Xerox, where it was first known as Xerox Imaging Systems and later as [[Scansoft]]; he was a consultant for Xerox until 1995. In 1999, [[Visioneer|Visioneer, Inc.]] acquired Scansoft from Xerox to form a new public company with Scansoft as the new company-wide name. Scansoft merged with [[Nuance Communications]] in 2005.

Kurzweil's next business venture was in electronic music technology. After a 1982 meeting with [[Stevie Wonder]], in which Wonder lamented the divide in capabilities and qualities between electronic synthesizers and traditional musical instruments, Kurzweil was inspired to create a new generation of synthesizers that could duplicate the sounds of real instruments. [[Kurzweil Music Systems]] was founded in the same year, and in 1984, the [[Kurzweil K250]] was unveiled.<ref name=TheSynth/> The machine could imitate a number of instruments, and according to Kurzweil's press packet, musicians could not tell the difference between the Kurzweil K250 on piano mode and a grand piano,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Byrd |first1=Donald |last2=Yavelow |first2=Christopher |name-list-style=and |year=1986 |title=The Kurzweil 250 Digital Synthesizer |journal=Computer Music Journal |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=64–86 |doi=10.2307/3680298 |jstor=3680298}}</ref> though reviewers who actually attempted it questioned that.<ref>{{cite journal |title=
Kurzweil Digital Keyboard |journal=One Two Testing |volume=September |year=1984 |quote=". . . the piano sound wouldn't win any blindfold tests against a real grand if they were pitted against one another in the same room" |url=https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/kurzweil-digital-keyboard/8493}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Kurzweil 250 |journal=Electronics & Music Maker |volume=December |year=1984 |quote="During the comparisons, this prompted me to start burying myself in sheet music to see how the 250 could cope with the tonal ebb and flow of Rachmaninoff and the atmospheric haze of Debussy. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Bosendorfer won on both counts . . . " |url=https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/kurzweil-250/8026}}</ref> The machine's recording and mixing abilities coupled with its ability to imitate different instruments made it possible for a single user to compose and play an entire orchestral piece.

South Korean musical instrument manufacturer [[Young Chang]] bought Kurzweil Music Systems in 1990. As with [[Xerox]], Kurzweil remained as a consultant for several years. [[Hyundai Development Company|Hyundai]] acquired Young Chang in 2006, and in 2007 appointed Kurzweil as Chief Strategy Officer of Kurzweil Music Systems.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/frame.html?main=news_single.html%3Fid%3D6360 |title=Hyundai names Kurzweil Chief Strategy Officer of Kurzweil Music Systems |publisher=Kurzweilai.net |date=February 1, 2007 |access-date=2012-04-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513021858/http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/frame.html?main=news_single.html%3Fid%3D6360 |archive-date=2009-05-13 }}</ref> Concurrent with Kurzweil Music Systems, he created the company Kurzweil Applied Intelligence (KAI) to develop computer [[speech recognition]] systems for commercial use. The first product, which debuted in 1987, was an early speech recognition program. KAI was sold to [[Lernout & Hauspie]] in 1997.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/16/business/lernout-hauspie-to-buy-kurzweil-applied-intelligence.html "LERNOUT & HAUSPIE TO BUY KURZWEIL APPLIED INTELLIGENCE – The New York Times"]</ref>

===Later life===

Kurzweil started [[Kurzweil Educational Systems]] (KESI) in 1996 to develop new pattern-recognition-based computer technologies to help people with disabilities such as blindness, [[dyslexia]], and [[attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder]] (ADHD) in school. Products include the Kurzweil 1000 text-to-speech converter software program, which enables a computer to read electronic and scanned text aloud to blind or visually impaired users, and the Kurzweil 3000 program, a multifaceted electronic learning system that helps with reading, writing, and [[study skills]]. Kurzweil sold KESI to [[Lernout & Hauspie]]. After the legal and bankruptcy problems of the latter, he and other KESI employees bought back the company. KESI was eventually sold to [[Cambium Learning Group|Cambium Learning Group, Inc.]]

[[File:Raymond Kurzweil, Stanford 2006 (square crop).jpg|thumb|left|Raymond Kurzweil at the [[Singularity Summit]] at [[Stanford University]] in 2006]]

During the 1990s, Kurzweil founded the Medical Learning Company.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 27, 2014 |title=Google genius Ray Kurzweil predicts the future of technology |url=https://www.theneweconomy.com/business/google-genius-ray-kurzweil-predicts-the-future-of-technology |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=The New Economy |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1999, Kurzweil created a [[hedge fund]] called "FatKat" (Financial Accelerating Transactions from Kurzweil Adaptive Technologies), which began trading in 2006. He has said that the ultimate aim is to improve the performance of FatKat's A.I. investment software program, enhancing its ability to recognize patterns in "currency fluctuations and stock-ownership trends".<ref name="okeefe">{{cite news |url=https://fortune.com/2007/05/14/ray-kurzweil-innovation-artificial-intelligence/ |work=CNN |title=The Smartest (or the Nuttiest) Futurist on Earth |date=May 2, 2007 |access-date=July 26, 2016 |first1=Brian |last1=O'Keefe}}</ref> In his 1999 book ''[[The Age of Spiritual Machines]]'', Kurzweil predicted that computers would one day be better than humans at making profitable investment decisions. In June 2005, Kurzweil introduced the [[K-NFB Reader|"Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader" (K-NFB Reader)]]—a pocket-sized device consisting of a digital camera and computer unit. Like the Kurzweil Reading Machine of almost 30 years before, the K-NFB Reader is designed to aid blind people by reading written text aloud. The newer machine is portable and scans text through digital camera images, while the older machine is large and scans text through flatbed scanning.

In December 2012, Google hired Kurzweil in a full-time position to "work on new projects involving machine learning and language processing".<ref>{{cite news |last=Letzing |first=John |title=Google Hires Famed Futurist Ray Kurzweil |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/12/14/google-hires-famed-futurist-ray-kurzweil/?mod=WSJBlog&source=email_rt_mc_body&ifp=0 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=December 14, 2012 |access-date=2013-02-13}}</ref> Google co-founder [[Larry Page]] personally hired him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://singularityhub.com/2013/03/19/exclusive-interview-ray-kurzweil-discusses-his-first-two-months-at-google/|title=Exclusive Interview: Ray Kurzweil Discusses His First Two Months at Google|date=March 19, 2013}}</ref> Page and Kurzweil agreed on a one-sentence job description: "to bring natural language understanding to Google".<ref name="wsj" /> Kurzweil received a [[Technical Grammy Award]] on February 8, 2015, specifically for his invention of the [[Kurzweil K250]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/press-release/the-bee-gees-pierre-boulez-buddy-guy-george-harrison-flaco-jimenez |title=The Bee Gees, Pierre Boulez, Buddy Guy, George Harrison, Flaco Jimenez, Louvin Brothers and Wayne Shorter honored with the Recording Academy® Lifetime Achievement Award |publisher=grammy.org |date=December 18, 2014 |access-date=February 11, 2015 |archive-date=June 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611033851/https://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/press-release/the-bee-gees-pierre-boulez-buddy-guy-george-harrison-flaco-jimenez |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Kurzweil has joined the [[Alcor Life Extension Foundation]], a [[cryonics]] company. After his death, he has a plan to be perfused with [[cryoprotectant]]s, [[Cryopreservation#Vitrification|vitrified]] in [[liquid nitrogen]], and stored at an Alcor facility in the hope that future medical technology will be able to revive him.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Philipkoski |first=Kirsten |title=Ray Kurzweil's Plan: Never Die |magazine=Wired |date=November 18, 2002 |url=https://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2002/11/56448 |access-date=2013-02-11}}</ref>

===Personal life===
Kurzweil is agnostic about the existence of a [[soul]].<ref name="CNN-2008">{{cite news |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0805/30/gb.01.html |work=CNN |title=CNN Transcript|date=May 30, 2008 |access-date=2016-01-05}}</ref> Of the possibility of divine intelligence, Kurzweil has said: "Does God exist? I would say 'Not yet.{{'"}}<ref>[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-immortal-ambitions-of-ray-kurzweil/ The Immortal Ambitions of Ray Kurzweil: A Review of Transcendent Man]; ''[[Scientific American]]''; John Rennie; February 15, 2011</ref> He married Sonya Rosenwald Kurzweil in 1975.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.crn.com/features/channel-programs/174907129/ray-kurzweil-founder-chairman-and-ceo-kurzweil-technologies.htm|title=Ray Kurzweil, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Kurzweil Technologies – CRN.com |work=CRN |date=December 9, 2005 |access-date=September 15, 2014}}</ref> Sonya is a psychologist in private practice in [[Newton, Massachusetts]]; she works with women, children, parents, and families. She holds faculty appointments at [[Harvard Medical School]] and [[William James College]] in graduate education in psychology. Her research interests and publications are in psychotherapy practice. She also serves as an active overseer at [[Boston Children's Museum]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kurzweilai.net/ask-ray-article-on-integrating-digital-media-into-childrens-lives-by-my-wife-sonya-kurzweil-phd |title=Ask Ray – Article on integrating digital media into children's lives by my wife Sonya Kurzweil, PhD – KurzweilAI |access-date=September 15, 2014}}</ref> Ray and Sonya Kurzweil have a son, Ethan, a venture capitalist,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324178904578340240851065014 |title=Father and Son Peer Into the Future of Tech |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=March 6, 2013 |access-date=October 28, 2014|last1=Efrati |first1=Amir }}</ref> and a daughter, [[Amy Kurzweil|Amy]], a cartoonist.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afb.org/info/living-with-vision-loss/using-technology/ray-kurzweil/part-1-of-4/1245 |title=An Oral History Interview with Ray Kurzweil, Part 1 of 4 |work=[[American Foundation for the Blind]] |access-date=October 28, 2014 |archive-date=October 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028083636/http://www.afb.org/info/living-with-vision-loss/using-technology/ray-kurzweil/part-1-of-4/1245 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Kurzweil, A. (2016). Flying couch: A graphic memoir. Catapult.</ref>

===Creative approach===
{{see also|Wait calculation}}
Kurzweil has said: "I realize that most inventions fail not because the R&D department can't get them to work, but because the timing is wrong{{nsmdns}}not all of the enabling factors are at play where they are needed. Inventing is a lot like surfing: you have to anticipate and catch the wave at just the right moment."<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.uakron.edu/president/speeches_statements/?id=c6856afc-067b-40d5-bfc1-ac93f118e3f5| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140419011924/https://www.uakron.edu/president/speeches_statements/?id=c6856afc-067b-40d5-bfc1-ac93f118e3f5| url-status = dead| archive-date = April 19, 2014| title = The University of Akron – Speeches & Statements}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://crnano.org/interview.kurzweil.htm |title=Nanotechnology: Ray Kurzweil Interviewed by Sander Olson|publisher= Center for Responsible Nanotechnology|access-date=September 15, 2014}}</ref> For the past several decades, Kurzweil's most effective and common approach to doing creative work has been conducted during a [[Lucid dream|lucid dreamlike state]] immediately preceding his waking state. He claims to have constructed inventions, solved algorithmic, business strategy, organizational, and interpersonal problems, and written speeches in this state.<ref name="ReferenceA" />