Ben Goertzel says the Singularity may get here sooner than many of us expect:

One of these years, one of these AGI designs—quite possibly my own Novamente system—is going to pass the critical threshold and recognize the pattern of its own self, an event that will be closely followed by the system developing its own sense of will and reflective awareness. And then, if we've done things right and supplied the AGI with an appropriate goal system and a respect for its human parents, we will be in the midst of the event that human society has been pushing toward, in hindsight, since the beginning: a positive Singularity. The message I'd like to leave you with is: If appropriate effort is applied to appropriate AGI designs, now and in the near future, then a positive Singularity could be here sooner than you think.

Goertzel says that with a Manhattan Project approach, we could be there in a decade or so, but that it will most likely take a little longer being driven by a few serious researchers trying "really, really" hard to make it happen. Like Kurzweil, Goertzel believes that better understanding of the human brain will lead us there, but he's not convinced that we need a full brain scan or significantly more powerful hardware.

This is a good overview for folks who haven't read much about AGI (artificial general intelligence.) There are some interesting thoughts in the comments as well. Read the whole thing.