After robotics software and now hardware, the third piece of Google’s puzzle seems to be the artificial-intelligence work of Ray Kurzweil, a recent company hire.

Kurzweil is known for talking up the notion of a technological singularity, a point in human history during which artificial-intelligence systems will suddenly surpass human abilities.

According to Kurzweil, the singularity will take place around 2045. When Amazon unveiled its flying delivery drones earlier this month, Kurzweil’s response was far less skeptical than many others in the tech industry.

“We now have the opportunity to create communities based on common interests and passions rather than the accident of geographic proximity. Drones will provide the opportunity to share physical things with those we care about,” he wrote on his personal blog. […]