Ito: Think twice about immortality and the singularity

MIT Media Lab director Joichi Ito speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Ray Kurzweil's vision of the "singularity" -- when nanobots make humans immortal and computer progress is so fast that the future becomes profoundly unknowable -- is a bad idea.

That's the perhaps surprisingly contrary opinion of Joichi Ito, who as a high-tech investor and director of the MIT Media Lab might be expected to be a natural ally. The lab, after all, aims to be at the center of today's technology revolution.

Ito, speaking today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said he believes the singularity vision puts the wrong priorities first.

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by Stephen Shankland via CNET