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| Transcendent Man | |
|---|---|
 Ray Kurzweil being interviewed by Barry Ptolemy on the set of Transcendent Man | |
| Directed by | Barry Ptolemy |
| Produced by | Barry Ptolemy Felicia Ptolemy Executive Producers: Joe Disanto, John Ramsay, Doobie White, Wren Waters |
| Starring | Ray Kurzweil |
| Edited by | Doobie White Meg Decker |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
Transcendent Man is a feature length documentary film about the life and ideas of renowned inventor, futurist, and author Ray Kurzweil (The Age of Spiritual Machines, Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough To Live Forever, The Singularity is Near). It is being produced by husband and wife team, Barry and Felicia Ptolemy, and will be released in 2009. The film begins by telling the story of Ray's early day's as an inventor, including his influences, successes and accolades, and eventually delves deeply into his astonishing predictions about the future, raising profound questions about our humanity, our divinity, and our destiny.
Synopsis
For the first time a documentary film team follows the great inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil and reveals over three decades of revolutionary thinking and living.
Growing up in a household of artists, the religion of Ray's childhood home was original thought and creativity. It was this environment that inspired Ray to become an inventor at age 5. Later, a more formal education in Unitarian Universalism taught Ray the idea of "many paths to the truth," which can still be found in his writings today.
By age 17 Ray had already received his first Presidential medal from Lyndon Johnson and had been showcased on the popular television show, Steve Allen's "I've Got a Secret". His career went on to earn him two more Presidential medals from Presidents Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. He holds fifteen honorary doctorates and is an inductee in to the National Inventors Hall of Fame. His many inventions include the CCD flatbed scanner, the Kurzweil Reader, which was the first reading machine for the blind, and the Kurzweil Keyboard which was the first synthesizer to recreate the acoustic sounds of the grand piano and other instruments (which Ray was inspired to invent by lifelong friend, Stevie Wonder).
Bill Gates who contributed to The Singularity is Near has called Ray Kurzweil, "The best person I know at predicting the future..." Gates has invited Kurzweil to his house on more than one occasion and has said, "I agree with 99% of what Ray says."
Yet all of these accolades and accomplishments are just the foundation for Kurzweil's most profound contribution to mankind, his vision of the future.
Ray Kurzweil theorizes that we will very soon merge with our non-biological creations, computers, in order to become trillions of times more intelligent and connected than we are today. If this idea doesn't scare you, maybe these facts will: Ray takes over 200 pills and supplements a day in order to re-program his biology and extend his life, he travels around the country and the world on an almost evangelical mission of spreading the word about our exponentially accelerating techology, and he is preparing for the day when technology will allow him to bring back his dead father.
Can Ray Kurzweil be taken seriously? Is his professional credibility undermined by his disruptive predictions?
The filmmakers embark on a journey around the world with Ray to reveal just how accurate or inaccurate he may be.
Background
Barry Ptolemy, a film and television writer, producer and director, was also a life-long student of the sciences when, in early 2006, he picked up a copy of Ray Kurzweils most recent book, The Singularity is Near. While reading the first chapter, Ptolemy shared the profound ideas of the book with his wife, Felicia, also a producer. The most notable ideas they discussed were Kurzweil's theory on exponential growth which postulates that we are quickly gaining the technology to extend our lives by hundreds and thousands of years, that our technology is an extension of biological evolution and will continue to exponentially enhance our lives, experiences, bodies, and brains, and that these techological advances will happen in the next few decades. Kurzweil concludes by suggesting that humankind will saturate the universe with our intelligence. Within the next hours, these ideas inspired the Ptolemy's to seek funding for a feature-length documentary on the Singularity and Kurzweil.
In February of 2007, the Ptolemy's met with Ray Kurzweil for the first time before he spoke at the 2007 RSA Conference in San Francisco. They proposed the project to Kurzweil and came to an agreement. Two months later, in April, 2007 the Ptolemy's finalized a deal with Kurzweil in which they acquired the world-wide rights to Kurzweil's most recent three books and agreed that they and their company, Ptolemaic Productions would produce a film on his life and ideas.
Production
Barry and Felicia Ptolemy began shooting Ray Kurzweil on April 18, 2007 in Newport Beach, California. The production continued to follow Ray around the country and the world through the end of 2007. Production resumes in February 2008. Some of the events the documentary team has filmed Ray at include:
World Innovation Forum, Newport Beach, California, USA
InterWoven Conference, San Francisco, California, USA
Pennsylvania College of Optometry, Receiving Honorary Doctorate, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
US Army's eCybermission Awards, Washington DC, USA
United Church of Christ Annual Synod (along with Barak Obama), Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Annual National Federation of the Blind Convention, Atlanta, GA, USA
World Transhumanist Association'sTransvision 2007, Chicago, Illinois, USA
World Business Forum, Milan, Italy
ExpoManagement Conference, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation Address, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
American Philosophical Association Debate, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Advanced Equities Venture Capital Summit, Laguna Niguel, California, USA
Transcendent Man has interviewed Aaron Kleiner (CFO, Kurzweil Technologies), Alan Dershowitz, Alvin Toffler, Aubrey de Grey, Ben Goertzel, Charles Kam, Craig Newmark, David Dalrymple, Dean Kamen, Desh Deshpande, Ed Begley, Jr., George Gilder, James N. Gardner, John Parmentola, Kevin Kelly, Sonya Kurzweil, Mark Maurer, Pauley Perrette, Martine Rothblatt, Peter Diamandis, Phillip Rosedale, Ralph Merkle, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Robert Metcalfe and William Shatner.
Transcendent Man will also feature: Walter Cronkite, Chuck Missler, Stevie Wonder, Jack Welch, and Colin Powell.
The film is scheduled to complete production in April 2008 and is scheduled for release in 2009.
References
- Kurzweil, Raymond (2005). The Singularity is Near. New York: Penguin Group. ISBN 0-670-03384-7
- http://imdb.com/name/nm1182222/ Robert B. Ptolemy IMDB Profile
- http://imdb.com/name/nm1137454/ Felicia Ptolemy IMDB Profile
- http://www.singularity.com/bookexcerpts.html The Singularity Is Near Official Site
- http://www.ptolemaicproductions.com/ Ptolemaic Productions Official Site
- http://www.kurzweiltech.com/aaroncv.html%7C Aaron Kleiner, CFO, Kurzweil Technologies
- http://www.sycamorenet.com/corporate/bio_deshpande.asp%7C Desh Deshpande Bio
External links
IMDB Transcendent Man Listing
Ptolemaic Productions official site
Facebook Profile
Fortune Magazine Article
Studio Daily Article
Filmmakers' Blog
Kurzweil's Site for "Big Thinkers"
Kurzweil's Site for Longevity Products