Liam Finn could rightly be identified as a world citizen. The New Zealand native was a globetrotting toddler, accompanying father Neil Finn on Crowded House tours, repeating the experience as a young adult with his own band, the renowned Betchadupa. To record FOMO, the sophomore follow-up to 2007 solo debut I’ll Be Lightning, Finn relocated to London, but moved to New York City three years ago. Finn’s third solo set, The Nihilist, runs the gamut of his genetic and experiential influences. Finn will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on him.
Finn: Ray Kurzweil is famous for inventing state-of-the-art early synthesizer pianos after becoming friends with Stevie Wonder. At least that’s what I thought he was famous for. Turns out he’s developed computer software to help people with blindness, dyslexia and ADD with text-to-speak programs and voice-recognition systems. He also has some pretty radical ideas on the future, and there is a bloody interesting documentary he made called The Singularity Is Near in which he explains his theories on how we will eventually become half-human/half-computer, extending out life spans and expanding our minds. There are a lot of people out there who think he’s a complete wacko—and I don’t necessarily agree with him—but I’m starting to think these kinds of ideas aren’t so crazy with how fast we seem to adjust to new technologies. Not a good documentary to watch if you’re already paranoid.
