SINGULARITY UPDATE: Ray Kurzweil was on NPR’s Talk of the Nation on Friday, talking about his book The Singularity is Near and technological change in general You can listen to audio here. Interestingly, the New York Times says that The Singularity is Near is one of the most blogged books of 2005. Read this article on Kurzweil and life extension, too.

Meanwhile, here’s evidence that a lot of people want to see progress in aging research: “Forget ’40 is the new 30.’ Now even twentysomethings are joining the quest for eternal youth by using anti-aging products and wrinkle treatments.” Think how big the market will be when the products actually work.

UPDATE: Reader Michael McFatter emails that Kurzweil will be on C-SPAN2’s Book TV tonight at 10:15 Eastern.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Michael Stevens emails:

My wife (who just turned 21 today) has been using anti-aging treatments for a couple years now. People always tell her she doesn’t need it, but she claims now is the time to start, before the wrinkles show up. Once they appear, it’s too late. I think that’s probably true. I think it’s also worth mentioning that the $100 products you can buy at Macy’s probably don’t work any better than the $10 ones they sell down at the drugstore.

Sunscreen and moisturizer help — though you don’t want to short yourself on Vitamin D, either. And you want to exercise, but not too much. “The more your race ’em the less you trust — the less you drive ’em, the more they rust.”