If anyone can define innovation it’s Richard Florida and Ray Kurzweil, two of its leading prophets. Kurzweil, a famed inventor and artificial intelligence theorist, was among the first to foresee the internet’s rise and vast cultural reach. He is a Director of Engineering at Google.

“In about 40 years,” he predicts, “the pace of change is going to be so astonishingly quick that you won’t be able to follow it unless you enhance your own intelligence by merging with the intelligent technology we are creating.”

Kurzweil built his reputation on bold predictions. He invented technology enabling the internet’s rise: the flatbed scanner, which digitizes printed materials, and the software making them searchable.

Kurzweil is now working for Google on a search engine so smart “you would interact with it like you would a human assistant.” He thinks we’re “only 15 years away from a tipping point in longevity” that makes death obsolete. […]