Posted on Wednesday, February 19th, 2014 by Angie Han

If Spike Jonzes Her left you yearning for a virtual Scarlett Johansson of your very own, we have some good news. According to futurist Ray Kurzweil, who spends a lot of time pondering such things, a Samantha-like A.I. could be available as early as 2029.Other aspects of the movie, like the foul-mouthed video game character, could be available even sooner, around 2020.

Kurzweil made his predictions in his review of the sci-fi romance, which he regarded as more realistic than other cinematic depictions of A.I. Still, he had a few bones to pick with Jonzes movie, including its ending. Find out why after the jump.

The scientist was quite taken withHer as a movie, praising its well-crafted script, excellent directing, and outstanding performances. But any film critic couldve told you that.Where Kurzweils writeup gets interesting is when he delves into the science of it all, and puts it alongsideThe Matrix andBeing John Malkovich as a realistic vision of a future technology.

I would place some of the elements in Jonzes depiction at around 2020, give or take a couple of years, such as the diffident and insulting videogame character he interacts with, and the pin-sized cameras that one can place like a freckle on ones face. Other elements seem more like 2014, such as the flat-panel displays, notebooks and mobile devices.

He continues, Samantha herself I would place at 2029, when the leap to human-level AI would be reasonably believable. But he didnt find everything about Jonzes movie to be completely believable.

As I mentioned, a lot of the dramatic tension is provided by the fact that Theodores love interest does not have a body. But this is an unrealistic notion. It would be technically trivial in the future to provide her a virtual visual presence to match her virtual auditory presence, using, lens-mounted displays, for example, that display images onto Theodores retinas.

Additionally, in Kurzweils view, the ending doesnt make much sense. (Spoilers follow from here on out.) Not only does Samantha evolve much more quickly than Kurzweil thinks is plausible, theres really no need for her and the other A.I.s to leave the humans behind.

If they are progressing in this way, it means that they can continue their relationships with the unenhanced humans using an increasingly small portion of their cognitive ability, he points out.

The rest is here:

Futurist Ray Kurzweil Believes Spike Jonzes Her Could Be a Reality by 2029