The futurist Ray Kurzweilone of the most influential references in artificial intelligence (AI) and former director of engineering at Googleargued that thinking that time can “go back” could start to make sense in just a few years. Their predictions speak to a complex phenomenon involving technological, biological and computational advances that could alter the way humans experience life.

According to an analysis released by Bessemer Venture PartnersKurzweil bases a large part of his projections on what he calls the “law of accelerated returns”a theory that maintains that Technological progress does not advance linearly, but exponentially.

This implies that every advance is based on the previouswhich ends up generating a multiplier effect that accelerates development of new technologies.

This growth, he maintains, remained constant over timeregardless of external factors such as wars or economic crises. For Kurzweil, This trend is the basis for anticipating when certain technological milestones will occur.such as the development of artificial intelligences capable of equaling or surpassing humans.

According to the scientist, by 2029 a level of artificial intelligence capable of passing the Turing testa classic test that evaluates whether a machine can imitate human behavior indistinguishably.

According to what was stated in the conversation collected by Bessemer Venture Partners, Kurzweil had already anticipated in 1999 that this milestone would be reached within 30 years.. Today, he even considers that his prediction could be conservative, since some experts believe that this point could be reached sooner.

However, one of the central points is not only the ability of machines to simulate human intelligencebut What this implies for the experience of time and human life.

As artificial intelligence advances, explains the scientist, the perception of progress and change could accelerate to the point of alter the way we understand the passage of time.

One of the key concepts that explains this idea is “longevity escape velocity” or longevity escape velocity. This term describes the moment when medical advances allow human life to be extended faster of what we grow old.

Currently, Kurzweil explains, a person loses a year of life for every year that passesbut thanks to scientific advances recovers on average an additional four months.

However, as research is also advancing exponentially, it is expected that by 2029 that balance changes: For every year lived, a full year could be recovered of life expectancy.

From that point on, the balance would be positive. That is to say:

In this context, The idea of ​​“going back in time” does not imply traveling to the pastbut reverse biological deterioration and prolong life indefinitelyat least from a theoretical perspective.