I've written about the exponential advancement of science and technology and here is yet again another example. Scientists announced yesterday that for the first time they've created a complete set of synthetic genes and implanted them into living bacteria - this accomplishment could lead to the creation of new synthetic biofuels among other advances. That's right, people designed an organism on a computer and then made it real. Anyone left thinking Kurzweil is nuts when he refers to the law of accelerating returns ? See his video below.

J. Craig Venter, the human genome biologist who headed the project said, "The bacteria in the experiments reproduce naturally but behave exactly the way their newly constructed genes direct."

Although the advance is far from creating "life in a test tube," it was a singular achievement in making and assembling the chemical components of genes that functioned inside living cells exactly the way natural genes do. Watch Kurzweil talk about the law of accelerating returns and the singularity: