I have already mentioned a few times how I respect Ray Kurzweil, his work and his predictions. Let's just say I am a huge fan. You can read about his career and distinctions on Wikipedia. And I strongly recommend reading his latest book: (when humans transcend biology).
One of the most amazing things about this guy, beyond his inventions and accomplishments as an engineer and as an entrepreneur, is the success of his predictions of the future. Way back in the 80s he actually predicted the emergence of the Internet in the mid-90s and he predicted that the best chess players in the world would be outsmarted by a computer in 1998 - Kasparov laughed at that prediction in 1993 and he ate his teeth in 1997, one year earlier than expected. Indeed Ray is often a little bit too conservative...