Portrait of a Futurist: Transcendent Man

Transcendent Man. Directed by Robert Barry Ptolemy. USA: Ptolemaic Productions, 2009, 86 minutes.

Futurist Film Studies Week continues (concludes, actually) with a brief review of the biographical documentary Transcendent Man, one of two movies intended to introduce Ray Kurzweil’s ideas to a larger audience. The other, a feature-length film version of The Singularity Is Near, directed by Kurzweil along with Anthony Waller and Toshi Hoo, is currently making the rounds on the film festival circuit. Filmmaker Robert Barry Ptolemy and subject Ray Kurzweil are currently screening Transcendent Man in various cities around the country. The full schedule of upcoming appearances and events is on the film’s Web site.

Transcendent Man begins with futurist, author, and inventor Ray Kurzweil introducing the concept of the Singularity, explaining the Law of Accelerating Returns, and forecasting just how technologically accelerated society is likely to become in the next 20 years.

Kurzweil prognosticates that breakthroughs in biotechnology and nanotechnology will prevent disease and halt aging, enabling humans to live indefinitely; that artificial intelligence will not only exist in 20 years but will also be vastly superior to human intelligence; and that people will quickly merge with this higher, non-biological form of consciousness.

This is familiar territory for anyone who’s read Kurzweil’s books. The nagging question is: When it comes to the Singularity, is Kurzweil more prophet than inventor, “more poet than mechanic” (as Wired founding executive editor Kevin Kelly puts it in the film). While Kurzweil is given due respect by many colleagues, he’s characterized by others as an overly-optimistic scenario-builder who speeds up his timelines and refuses to take all of the risks and variables into account. (One interviewee points out that trying to genetically improve humans by turning off “bad genes,” for instance, could have disastrous repercussions.) Several commentators argue that dystopian scenarios are more likely than utopian ones, given what we know. Summing things up nicely, inventor Dean Kamen says, "I think the biggest implications of the Singularity are that we don't know the implications of the Singularity."

One of the film’s core strengths is the way that Ptolemy surrounds his star with a supporting cast of cutting-edge researchers and experts in the field who all offer solid intellectual contributions and intriguing perspectives on the unknown. Notable standouts include AI researcher and Xiamen University professor Hugo de Garis, who offers a chilling dystopian AI scenario reminiscent of the Terminator movies, and University of Reading professor Kevin Warwick, who describes his own personal experiences upgrading his body and mind via technological implants. Ben Goertzel of NASA also provides valuable commentary and insight.

The last third of the documentary focuses on Kurzweil’s more introspective side as he ruminates on the nature and perceived meaninglessness of death. More close to the bone, it also reveals a son who misses his father (his personal mission is to bring his father back to life, via AI). During these moments, Kurzweil veers away from his well-rehearsed presentation on the Singularity and opens up to the camera in unexpected and moving ways.

The storytelling is brisk and economic—unusual for a first film, which clocks in at a little under an hour and a half. Transcendent Man is a compelling documentary that provides a great deal of insight into what the near- to mid-future may hold in store as well as a glimpse into the mind of one of the most important and well-known futurists working today.