Here is what Kurzweil says about it in his book, The Singularity is Near:

Computer language translation continues to improve gradually. Because this is a Turing-level task - that is, it requires full human-level understanding of language to perform at human levels - it will be one of the last application areas to compete with human performance.

New studies show that brief, intense exercise benefits the heart. “Six weeks of intense sprint interval exercise training improves the structure and function of arteries as much as traditional and longer endurance exercise with larger time commitment.” So I could save about 30 minutes a day just by hopping on the ROM for 4 minutes. Ray Kurzweil uses it.

KURZWEIL: Well, I don`t actually buy that either. I do it for four minutes. But I have added it to my other routine. I still walk and I still work out with weights.

BECK: Why would you do that for four minutes in that ad.

KURZWEIL: It is a good four minutes. If you are going to exercise four minutes. I recommend it.

Supposedly it gives you “a complete non-impact cardio, resistance- and flexibility workout” - in just 4 minutes!
The only problem is that they cost exactly $14,615 a piece. Wondering why it is so expensive? Just go to whyisitsoexpensive.com.
You can get a DVD or video about it for free, though, or just watch this:

Wired has a new article about Ray Kurzweil and the Singularity. It’s pretty good - nothing really new, I guess. I like the picture of Kurzweil’s daily pill intake. I think I recognize the fish oil capsules.
They briefly mention FatKat, but no new information about his hedge fund.

“If you’re just very good at doing mathematical theorems and making stock market investments, you’re not going to pass the Turing test,” Kurzweil acknowledged in 2006 during a public debate with noted computer scientist David Gelernter. Kurzweil himself is brilliant at math, and pretty good at stock market investments. The great benefits of the singularity, for him, do not lie here. “Human emotion is really the cutting edge of human intelligence,” he says. “Being funny, expressing a loving sentiment - these are very complex behaviors.”

I was blown away by this article in seed magazine about scientists who have already accurately simulated a neocortical column of the brain (which contains 10,000 neurons and about 30 million synaptic connections between them). “The column has been built and it runs,” Markram says. “Now we just have to scale it up.”
It will happen - computers will “simulate” consciousness. It will be self-aware. It really is only a matter of time. It just seems inevitable to me. Why?
Because the trend is obvious. Look at the exponential increase in technology. Compare its rate to the rate of progress of a century ago. It’s speeding up. Not only that - but it makes logical sense. When you build technology upon technology and knowledge from knowledge it only makes sense that it will build exponentially. Also, I’ve seen this pattern before with other things. Like chess. I remember all of the skeptics and it progressed in a similar way. The technology improved. There were signs it was going to happen - the same signs as you can read in this article. Finally - it makes sense that it would be possible. I see no logical reason why consciousness can’t be simulated (i.e. there is no magic involved).
And further, I feel it and I trust my intuition. In the pattern-recognizing part of my brain - the same part that helps me to trade. This is a trend and I’m betting that it will continue. This chart is shooting up - it’s a strong chart. An alpha stock. Volume is pouring in and it’s about to break out.

Nobody knew what would happen when the supercomputer began simulating thousands of brain cells at the same time. “We were all emotionally prepared for failure,” Markram says. “But I wasn’t so prepared for what actually happened.”

Ray Kurzweil’s new movie sounds pretty interesting:

It’s a Pinocchio story. She detects a “gray goo” attack, an attack of self-replicating nanobots. The Department of Homeland Security is oblivious to this, and won’t listen to her, so she gets her other avatar friends to work on this. But she breaks some homeland security protocols in the process. She’s arrested — and there’s a discussion about how you can arrest a virtual person. She hires (civil rights attorney) Alan Dershowitz to defend her, and also to establish her rights as a legal person. She feels she’s human enough to have human rights. There’s a whole courtroom scene, and finally the judge says, “OK, I’ll grant your legal rights if you can pass the Turing Test.” She hires Tony Robbins, the motivational speaker, to help her become more human, and the plot goes on from there.

Ray actually wrote the plot summary on imdb for the movie. It will be released in late 2008.

Highlights from Ray Kurzweil’s speech at the World Business Forum in Milan in October 2007: