Landed in London on April 5. Thanks to the gracious efforts of TED Fellow and Friend of FORA.tv, Rachel Armstrong, I had a much-coveted VIP ticket to the London premiere of the Transcendent Man waiting for me for that evening. The premiere was held in the Science Museum, London, next to Imperial College in South Kensington. Standing outside with a long queue of scientists and Kurzweil enthusiasts I remarked to the two people I was with – Rachel and Prof Lee Cronin of the University of Glasgow – that I most likely had the lowest science IQ inside of a square mile.
But even for me, the walk through the Museum up to the reception with Ray was enough to set the stage for a rich discussion on humanity and technology. On the way in we passed, among 100 other landmark objects in the history of innovation, the first steam engine and the Apollo 10 capsule that hurtled into the South Pacific with astronauts inside on April 10, 1969.
The film itself was exceptionally well made (I’ll spare you all my more extended critique) and the subsequent discussion was accessible enough to capture the imagination even of a neophyte like me. But my favorite moment of the evening was definitely the chance to preserve a bit of it in this photo with Rachel and the Transcendent Man himself.
Later on, Lee, Rachel and producer Frank Da Silva channeled the evening’s innovative energy into a new theory of “Clingularity” centering on my cling-wrapped suitcase. More to come on that front.
