The coming problem of our iPhones being more intelligent than us

[Commentary] Ray Kurzweil, a renowned futurist and the director of engineering at Google, now says that the hardware needed to emulate the human brain may be ready even sooner than he predicted -- in around 2020 -- using technologies such as graphics processing units (GPUs), which are ideal for brain-software algorithms. He predicts that the complete brain software will take a little longer: until about 2029. The implications of all this are mind-boggling. Within seven years -- about when the iPhone 11 is likely to be released -- the smartphones in our pockets will be as computationally intelligent as we are. It doesn’t stop there, though. These devices will continue to advance, exponentially, until they exceed the combined intelligence of the human race.

Kurzweil tells me he is not worried. He believes we will create a benevolent intelligence and use it to enhance ourselves. He sees technology as a double-edged sword, just like fire, which has kept us warm but has also burned down our villages. He believes that technology will enable us to address the problems that have long plagued human civilization -- such as disease, hunger, energy, education, and clean water -- and that we can use it for good.

[Vivek Wadhwa is a fellow at Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University]