Ray Kurzweil is teaching computers how to read. Next will be the singularity — a term he popularized for the point at which humans and computers will merge.

In 2045, he predicts, human intelligence will be enhanced a billion fold, thanks to high tech brain extensions. As a director of engineering at Google, Mr. Kurzweil is working on getting machines to understand “natural” language. Computers aren’t as good as humans at context.

In How to Create a Mind, he advocated building a synthetic extension of the brain — connecting it to the cloud. He thinks blood-cell-sized computers will connect to the cloud the way our iPhones do now. […]