Innovation is the life blood of technology, driving our lives onwards and upwards and steadily seeping into all aspects of our lives. And behind that innovation lays some truly great names — some familiar and some less so, as people bring their minds to bear on solving the biggest problems on the planet, or simply making things more fun.

Tech Radar has picked out the people we believe are shaping the modern tech world, including leaders from Google, Apple and Samsung, but also from the worlds of quantum computing, gaming and virtual reality. We have picked out some of the shining lights of tech.

Ray Kurzweil is a futurist, someone who studies the future and predicts where humankind is headed. Perhaps it’s better to say that he’s the futurist. The one whose words and predictions are clung onto and heard in every corner of the tech industry.

Kurzweil is lauded as one of the most influential thinkers of his generation, and is an inventor who has been called the rightful heir to Thomas Edison by Forbes.

His inventions include the first CCD flatbed scanner and omni-font OCR, but he’s most famous for his best selling books.

Kurzweil has plenty to say on the subject of AI and the singularity — the point when computers become more intelligent than humans — and believes a machine will pass the Turing test in 2029.

Furthermore, he thinks that by 2045, machine intelligence will be infinitely more powerful than humankind’s combined intellect, and further tech development will be driven by said machines. Just call them our robot overlords.

He also predicts nanobots floating around in our blood stream will be a reality in a couple of decades, helping us fight illness — hugely extending our lifespan — and augmenting our cognitive faculties. When he dies, his body will be preserved and stored in the hope of later revival.

Until then, Kurzweil is working at Google as director of engineering, where he’s using the firm’s vast data mines and resources to produce truly intelligent computers that understand human language on a deep level, in the quest for the perfect clever clogs search engine which really can deliver results. Isn’t that deep thought?

Photo of inventor & futurist Ray Kurzweil. — credit | Getty

great tech innovator:
Ray Kurzweil

age: 67
company: Google
best known for:
future technology, artificial intelligence, singularity concept, inventions

quote from Ray Kurzweil:
The power of ideas to transform the world is itself accelerating.

more on our site:
media — Tech Radar | Google, Ray Kurzweil developing ambitious intelligent AI search tech

related reading:
Tech Radar | Great tech innovators, Tech Radar has picked out some of the shining lights of tech