While there are numerous versions of what the future will become in the wake of the Singularity, the unifying principle is that, beyond this moment, the universe as we know it will be dramatically altered. And so the Summit is a sort of nirvana for hyper-intelligent dreamers: sci-fi fans with PhDs, big bank accounts, and boring day jobs, who love to debate radical visions of the future. Making a religion of rationality, it turns out, can lead some very smart people to embrace some insane-sounding ideas.

Laura Deming, who began attending MIT at the precocious age of 14, was one of four Thiel Fellows to speak onstage. Peter Thiel, the billionaire hedge fund manager, tech investor and founder of PayPal, is one of the biggest donors to the Singularity Institute. His fellowship offers the world’s brightest minds $100,000 each to drop out of school and pursue their bold ideas. Deming, who at 18 has already finished college, electrified the crowd with her short talk.

"There is one fact that never fails to infuriate me. Every day 150,000 die of a disease that we ignore. I remember when I was eight, I decided that I wanted to work on curing aging," Deming began. "It was watching my grandma try to play with my brother and I when arthritic joints made just walking painful." Deming’s voice grew husky, and her eyes watered with tears. "I remember clearly the death of three grandparents, three amazing people, from this awful, inexorable process that we have somehow come to view as something normal, natural, and beautiful... to be celebrated." She paused to collect herself. "At least outside this room, that seems to be the consensus."

"Just think how far we’ve come in a century," said Deming, her cheeks flushed with excitement. "Only a century ago, the nature of genetic code was still a mystery. Now we’re creating pocket-sized DNA calculators and swapping biological circuitry like it’s Lego blocks." Like many at the conference, her faith in a brighter future was grounded in the continuing acceleration of scientific progress. "If we succeed, we will have turned the most awful paradigm that we know on its head. The inevitability of death."

The crowd burst into rapturous applause.

I wondered if The Singularity might serve as a sort of substitute for faith among the Silicon Valley set who felt uncomfortable with some of religion’s mystical beliefs. "The Singularity resolves a lot of the problems that religion irons out for humans," said R.U. Sirius, a longtime attendee I chatted with. "The contradictions, the pains and suffering of living: these are deeply troubling for people who pride themselves on their rational minds. Here you can find a vision of absolute transcendence, but one that uses as its foundation long-term projections that are at least somewhat grounded in science."