Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil pulled back the curtain to a future filled with transformative technologies such as a three-dimensional printer that can print a violin with good sound quality. His talk, given in a packed Edwards Auditorium, was the inaugural lecture of this fall’s Honors Colloquium, Are You Ready for the Future?

Kurzweil envisions that plans for solar panels or house parts could be emailed to individuals who would then print the products on these printers.

Human life will be extended because biology has become part of information technology, thanks to the unlocking of the human genome. Kurzweil said the creation of microscopic blood cells that could be sent through the bloodstream to destroy pathogens and disease at the cellular level and organ replacements are around the corner.

Kurzweil foresees a merger of the human brain with artificial intelligence in 20 to 30 years.