Ray Kurzweil, Google Inc.’s director of engineering, took the stage at NASA’s research park at Moffett Field and the crowd fell silent. They’d been waiting all week at Singularity University’s FutureMed conference in Mountain View to hear the storied futurist-inventor-author speak. Finally, the slight, bespectacled Kurzweil launched in, telling the history of Silicon Valley’s role in the exponential advance of innovation in his heavy New York accent.

After the talk, Kurzweil’s fans swept him off the stage, seeking autographs on their copies of his many books. What makes the 66-year-old Queens native a Silicon Valley rock star? […]