Ray Kurzweil

Yeah, well, let's see.

It's 2009, guys.

2009, okay, well, the journalist here is telling the story here.

Well, no, it was before that, because we launched Singularity in 2009.

I think we met in 2007, and the Singularity's New York came out in 2005, right?

I think so, 2005.

I remember I took The Singularity is Near, which is quite a thick book.

I took it backpacking in Chile.

And I read the book, making notes in the margins.

And I had started with Bob Richards and Todd Hawley, something called the International Space University.

back in 1987 with the founding conference.

And when I read your book, it changed my world.

How many folks here in the room did the Singularity of New York change your world, right?

I mean, amazing.

And I said, there needs to be a university that teaches this stuff.

Because all universities, you go down a very narrow niche, you become a hyper-super specialist, and no place could you learn a broad version.

I pitched you over a lunch, and then off to the races.

It was a dinner, wasn't it?

Yeah, it was a dinner.

It was true.