Kurzweil’s talk, which took place before our “Fireside Chat” that was announced as a surprise final event of the day’s proceedings, amounted to his first public appearance in connection with the publication of his new book, “How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed.”

Naturally, it builds a bit on his previous book, “The Singularity Is Near,” in which he argues that in time — about the year 2030 or so — the exponential increase in computing power will lead humanity to enhance itself with machines. In the new book, he talks about the latest thinking in how the brain works and how it’s organized, and where its limitations are. Eventually, he argues, we’ll be enhancing our brains with computing power in some way as well. […]