By 2010 computers will disappear. They’ll be so small, they’ll be embedded in our clothing, in our environment. Images will be written directly to our retina, providing full-immersion virtual reality, augmented real reality. We’ll be interacting with virtual personalities.

The quotation encapsulates Ray Kurzweil’s late-20th/early-21st-century futurist thesis that computing would become ubiquitous and effectively “invisible” as it miniaturized and diffused into everyday objects. “Disappear” does not mean computers cease to exist, but that they stop being distinct, box-like devices and instead become embedded infrastructure—wearables, ambient sensors, and networked environments. The reference to images written to the retina anticipates augmented/virtual reality interfaces that bypass traditional screens, while “virtual personalities” points to conversational agents and simulated companions. As a prediction, it also illustrates a recurring tension in technological forecasting: broad directional trends (ubiquitous computing, AI assistants) can be prescient even when specific timelines and technical modalities prove optimistic.