C-SPAN BookTV: In Depth | Host Pedro Echevarria interviews author, inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil about his life and work. Topics included expanding human intelligence with machines, human pattern recognition, inventing machines to help persons with sensory disabilities, and artificial intelligence.

He responded to viewer calls and electronic mail. Included were video clips of Mr. Kurzweil’s appearance on I’ve Got a Secret in 1965, a demonstration of his female alter ego in a virtual reality community in 2001, and two clips from October 30, 2006, of a tour of his office in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, where he demonstrated technology.

Mr. Kurzweil is the author of several books on the subject of artificial intelligence, includingThe Age of Intelligent Machines, The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence, and his latest,The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. His companies have made major breakthroughs in print, sound and speech recognition technologies. As a result of his work, he was awarded the 1999 National Medal of Technology by President Clinton. He is also the author of The 10% Solution for a Healthy Life and Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever.