Maya Ajmera, President & CEO of Society for Science & the Public and Publisher of Science News, chatted with Ray Kurzweil, an alumnus of the Science Talent Search and a renowned inventor and futurist. Kurzweil also has written five best-selling books, is Cofounder and Chancellor of Singularity University and is a Director of Engineering at Google. We are thrilled to share an edited summary of their conversation.

You are an alum of the1965Science Talent Search. How did the competition impact your life, and are there any particular moments that still stand out for you?

The Westinghouse Science Talent Search was the first time I was recognized nationally. President Johnson had just been elected and we met him at the White House. He told us his goal was that our generation would never see the horrors of war.