Google Inc's AI guru Ray Kurzweil talks failure, nano-robots, and the singularity in Waterloo

Futurist, inventor and Google Inc. director of engineering Ray Kurzweil has some high praise -- and a friendly dig -- for the Waterloo region. Kurzweil said he visits many communities and gives many speeches like the one he delivered Thursday at the Tech Leadership Conference, hosted by the innovation hub Communitech. Wherever he goes, people tell him he's visiting the region's equivalent of Silicon Valley: "Our community is the Silicon Valley of the Left Bank of Paris, our community is the Silicon Valley of Tel Aviv." "Kitchener-Waterloo and the Toronto area really are a Silicon Valley, second only maybe to the actual Silicon Valley. A place that celebrates the idea that failure is something to be, if not encouraged, at least accepted," he said. "We have a word for failure. The only way to make these innovations in the world is to accept these frustrations and setbacks."