Three Major Singularity Schools : The Singularity Institute Blog I’ve noticed that Singularity discussions seem to be splitting up into three major schools of thought: Accelerating Change, the Event Horizon, and the Intelligence Explosion. Accelerating Change:Core claim: Our intuitions about change are linear; we expect roughly as much change as has occurred in the past over our own lifetimes. But technological change feeds on itself, and therefore accelerates. Change today is faster than it was 500 years ago, which in turn is faster than it was 5000 years ago. The thing about these three logically distinct schools of Singularity thought is that, while all three core claims support each other, all three strong claims tend to contradict each other. I find it very annoying, therefore, when these three schools of thought are mashed up into Singularity paste. Apocalyptism: Hey, man, have you heard? I’ve heard (many) other definitions of the Singularity attempted, but I usually find them to lack separate premises and conclusions.
Top 10 Reasons We Should Fear The Singularity Why do we fear the technological singularity? Well, let me give you what I believe are the top 10 most popular reasons: 1. Extinction Extinction is by far the most feared as well as the most commonly predicted consequence of the singularity. The global apocalypse for the human race comes in many flavors but some of the most popular ones are: the supersmart terminator AI’s – a robopocalypse; nanotechnology gone rogue – the so called grey goo scenario, home-made Smart Weapons of Mass Destruction – used by terrorists and nihilists; genetic modifications or mutations – turning us into living-dead zombies; science experiments gone wrong – the Large Hadron Collider creating a black hole that engulfs the planet… In short, the fear is that, as Bill Joy notoriously put it: The Future Doesn’t Need Us. 2. Perhaps the second most common reason for fearing the singularity is the potential slavery or subjugation of the entire human race. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. “NASA are idiots. 10.
Laurent Alexandre : "La stratégie secrète de Google apparaît…" Laurent Alexandre est une personnalité atypique dont l'expertise est écoutée. Chirurgien urologue de formation, diplômé de l'ENA, HEC et Sciences-Po, cofondateur de Doctissimo.fr, il préside désormais la société de séquençage de génome DNA Vision. Ce "cerveau" s'intéresse "aux bouleversements qu'entraîneront pour l'humanité les progrès de la science, de la technomédecine et des biotechnologies". Il y a consacré un essai remarqué intitulé La Mort de la mort dans lequel il affirme que "l'homme qui vivra 1.000 ans est déjà né". Google est le premier embryon d'intelligence artificielle au monde, selon vous. Expliquez-vous…Regardez la vague de rachats de start-up et de sociétés auxquels Google procède! Quel est le lien entre l'idéologie "transhumaniste" et Google? Quel est le but de cette croissance tentaculaire? Aucun concurrent de taille pour ébranler ce géant? Qui contrôle Google aujourd'hui? Le tableau est effrayant… N'est-ce pas trop tard? Source: JDD papier
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us July 22, 2011 by Akira Hirai Daniel Pink’s book, Drive, explores some misconceptions about what drives human behaviors. For example, one commonly held belief is that if you provide larger monetary incentives, people will perform better. This turns out to be true for simple, mechanical tasks, but false when applied to complex tasks that require conceptual reasoning. This brilliantly animated video summarizes some of Dan’s thinking. Other articles by Akira Hirai. Filed under: Economics, Strategy About Cayenne Consulting.
Study surprise yields new target for assessing genes linked to autism DURHAM, N.C. – Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have uncovered a new genetic signature that correlates strongly with autism and which doesn't involve changes to the DNA sequence itself. Rather, the changes are in the way the genes are turned on and off. The finding may suggest new approaches to diagnosis and treatment of autism. The researchers found higher-than-usual numbers of gene-regulating molecules called methyl groups in a region of the genome that regulates oxytocin receptor expression in people with autism. "In both blood samples and brain tissue, the methylation status of specific nucleotides in the oxytocin receptor gene is significantly higher in someone with autism, about 70 percent, compared to the control population, where it is about 40 percent," said co-lead author Simon G. Oxytocin is a hormone secreted into the bloodstream from the brain, and also released within the brain, where it has a bearing on social interaction. The findings by Dr.
Singularity Summit at Stanford An Annual Conference onScience, Technology, and the Future The Singularity Summit is an annual conference on science, technology, and the future co-produced by MIRI and Singularity University. Topics explored include artificial intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, the Singularity, robotics, regenerative medicine, and big picture issues on the trajectory of human civilization. Each year, about 25 eminent speakers share their latest views over the course of two days. The conference was founded by MIRI, Ray Kurzweil, and Peter Thiel in 2006. Summit 2012 Summit 2011 Summit 2010 Summit 2009 Summit 2008 Summit 2007 Summit 2006
Within the Next 30 Years: Humanity Will Be Transformed by Exponential Growth The 4 Forces Driving the Evolution & Transformation of Humanity Four primary driving forces are leading us towards our transformation of humanity into a meta-intelligence both on and off the Earth: We’re wiring our planetEmergence of brain-computer interfaceEmergence of AIOpening of the space frontier Let’s take a look. Wiring the Planet Today, there are 2.9 billion people connected online. Brain-Computer Interface A multitude of labs and entrepreneurs are working to create lasting, high-bandwidth connections between the digital world and the human neocortex (I wrote about that in detail here). Artificial Intelligence/Human Intelligence Next, and perhaps most significantly, we are on the cusp of an AI revolution. Opening the Space Frontier Finally, it’s important to note that the human race is on the verge of becoming a multiplanetary species.
Pourquoi devrions-nous nous intéresser aux NBIC Toute vision un peu prospective de l’avenir de l’internet et du numérique doit prendre en compte les croisements annoncés de ces techniques avec les nanotechnologies, les technologies du vivant et les sciences de la cognition – ce que les Américains rassemblent sous l’appellation (sujette à débat) “convergence NBIC” (nano-bio-info-cogno), en y injectant des milliards de dollars au titre de la recherche-développement. De nouveaux cycles technologiques s’amorcent, dont les effets pourraient s’avérer bien plus profonds que ceux de l’internet et du téléphone mobile. Pourtant, au premier coup d’oeil on pourrait se demander ce que ces quatre disciplines ont en commun, et pourquoi, ces “révolutions technologiques” (parfois proches, parfois encore un peu futuristes) devraient susciter l’intérêt d’un informaticien, voire d’un décideur dont les préoccupations sont a priori moins technologiques et de plus court terme. En fait, dès aujourd’hui, ces connexions nous interpellent et nous concernent.
How to Start a Startup March 2005 (This essay is derived from a talk at the Harvard Computer Society.) You need three things to create a successful startup: to start with good people, to make something customers actually want, and to spend as little money as possible. Most startups that fail do it because they fail at one of these. A startup that does all three will probably succeed. And that's kind of exciting, when you think about it, because all three are doable. If there is one message I'd like to get across about startups, that's it. The Idea In particular, you don't need a brilliant idea to start a startup around. Google's plan, for example, was simply to create a search site that didn't suck. There are plenty of other areas that are just as backward as search was before Google. For example, dating sites currently suck far worse than search did before Google. An idea for a startup, however, is only a beginning. What matters is not ideas, but the people who have them. People What do I mean by good people?
Your Storytelling Brain | Think Tank With rendition switcher Michael Gazzaniga : Some people, for instance, love the metaphors that come out of, say, literature and the arts and think that you want to leave those whole and untouched by an analysis as to why we may like those metaphors or why those metaphors seem to help our thinking or any of a number of questions. And there’s a sense that if someone goes in and assesses that situation and gives a biologic dimension to why we do like those things that somehow it’s all diminished by that. And that’s just not true. In my early part of my career - and it continues - I studied patients who had their two brains disconnected. What we were responsible for was working out the functions of each hemisphere. The behavior comes out and then there is this little narrator up there that turns it into a story that makes us feel coherent and unified. Why does the human always seem to like fiction? So why do we like that stuff? Directed / Produced by Jonathan Fowler & Elizabeth Rodd
Vernor Vinge on the Singularity Vernor Vinge Department of Mathematical Sciences San Diego State University (c) 1993 by Vernor Vinge (This article may be reproduced for noncommercial purposes if it is copied in its entirety, including this notice.) The original version of this article was presented at the VISION-21 Symposium sponsored by NASA Lewis Research Center and the Ohio Aerospace Institute, March 30-31, 1993. A slightly changed version appeared in the Winter 1993 issue of Whole Earth Review. Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended. Is such progress avoidable? What is The Singularity? The acceleration of technological progress has been the central feature of this century. There may be developed computers that are "awake" and superhumanly intelligent. The first three possibilities depend in large part on improvements in computer hardware. What are the consequences of this event? Can the Singularity be Avoided?
Accelerationism: how a fringe philosophy predicted the future we live in | World news Half a century ago, in the great hippie year of 1967, an acclaimed young American science fiction writer, Roger Zelazny, published his third novel. In many ways, Lord of Light was of its time, shaggy with imported Hindu mythology and cosmic dialogue. Yet there were also glints of something more forward-looking and political. One plot strand concerned a group of revolutionaries who wanted to take their society “to a higher level” by suddenly transforming its attitude to technology. He and the book are largely forgotten now. Accelerationists argue that technology, particularly computer technology, and capitalism, particularly the most aggressive, global variety, should be massively sped up and intensified – either because this is the best way forward for humanity, or because there is no alternative. Occasionally, accelerationists have held teaching posts at universities. At any one time, there have probably only been a few dozen accelerationists in the world.
William Ross Ashby, cybernétique, homéostasie Un article de Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre. Pour les articles homonymes, voir Ashby. W. William Ross Ashby (6 septembre 1903, Londres – 15 novembre 1972) est un psychiatre-ingénieur anglais venu très tôt à la cybernétique et son influence est telle que Ludwig von Bertalanffy l’a mentionné pour sa contribution qui a influencé Norbert Wiener, Herbert Alexander Simon et les autres. Il a répandu le concept d'homéostasie, équilibre des fonctions vitales de la vie, par un appareil, l'homéostat, qui présente cette caractéristique, nouvelle dans les années cinquante, de combattre des perturbations externes infligées volontairement dans le but d'en perturber le fonctionnement. De Ashby, la Loi de la variété requise est la plus connue. Pour qu’un système « A » puisse contrôler (à la fois « surveiller » dans la signification française et « commander » dans la signification anglaise) un système « B », il faut et il suffit que la variété de « A » soit supérieure ou au moins égale à celle de « B ».
Singularity Hypotheses: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment What is the Singularity? Existential risk or cultist fantasy? Rapture of the nerds? Computing pioneer Alan Turing wrote as long ago as 1951 that "at some stage therefore we should have to expect the machines to take control". “Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since that time, the notions of 'intelligent explosion' and 'technology singularity' have increasingly passed into the public awareness. But are any of the accounts of the technological singularity credible? A new book, "Singularity Hypotheses: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment", is about to be published, that gathers the latest thinking about the singularity from a who's who of deep thinkers. London Futurists are very fortunate that the lead editor of this book, Amnon Eden, will be presenting a summary of some key arguments about Singularity hypotheses, in our meeting on 11th May. About Dr Amnon Eden: About David Pearce: