The best visuals to explain the Singularity to senior executives Tomorrow morning I’m doing a presentation to the top executive team of a very large organization on the next 20 years. Most of what I will cover will be general societal, business and technological drivers as well as specific strategic issues driving their business. However as part of stretching their thinking I’ll also speak a about the Singularity. As such I’ve been trying to find one good image to introduce my explanation, however I haven’t been able to find one which is quite right for the purpose. Ray Kurzweil’s Six Epochs diagram below is great and the one I’ll probably end up using, however it is a bit too over-the-top for most senior executives. Source: Ray Kurzweil, Applied Abstractions The chart below from Hans Moravec showing how exponential growth of computing power will allow machines to match human intellectual capabilities is excellent, but it is seriously out of date. Source: Hans Moravec, When will computer hardware match the human brain? Source: Ray Kurzweil, Tropophilia
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. 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. But what is still more annoying is when someone reads a blog post about a newspaper article about the Singularity, comes away with none of the three interesting theses, and spontaneously reinvents the dreaded fourth meaning of the Singularity: Apocalyptism: Hey, man, have you heard?
Who should pay when your robot breaks the law? Since it's inevitable I'll take the bullet and bring up Asimov's three laws of robotics: 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. 0. Ike was horrified when people started talking about applying his three laws to real robots. Singularity Hypotheses: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment What is the Singularity? Existential risk or cultist fantasy? Rapture of the nerds? An unstoppable intelligence explosion? The rapid acquisition by humanity of god-like powers? The rise of Terminator-style killer robots? 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. About Dr Amnon Eden: Dr Eden's publications include: About David Pearce: Logistics: Amnon H.
Planetary Alchemy by Alan Smale Let’s fix Mars. Of course, the Red Planet is spectacular just as it is. Images from forty years of Mars missions have revealed its stark beauty and rose-tinted rocky grandeur. Other canyons, networks of river valleys, stream beds, gullies, channels, layered deposits, deltas and alluvial fans provide strong evidence for flowing water, crater lakes and salty seas in a much warmer and wetter period of Mars’s history. There’s a lot to like about Mars. Some time in the future we might decide we need that dusty red real estate. Such a stunning transformation may be easier than you imagine. Keeping Pressurized and Keeping Warm Down to basics. First, the air pressure. Next: Temperature. Finally, the atmospheric composition. As it turns out, all three of these are fixable with technology that we either have now, or could develop within decades. So, what would it take to free all this water and CO2? There are two sane ways of heating the surface of Mars. Even more dramatic methods are possible.
10 ruptures technologiques prophétisées par le MIT 01net. le 28/04/14 à 19h05 Puces neuromorphiques, énergie éolienne ou impression 3D... Des drones pour l’agriculture de précision Nous vous parlions de l'agriculture de précision lors du Salon de l’agriculture, et à l’occasion d’une interview du fondateur de la société française Delta Drone. En plus des caméras, la dernière génération de drones civils embarque une flopée de capteurs minuscules : accéléromètre, magnétomètre, gyroscope, GPS, capteur de pression, etc. Grâce aux données récoltées, l’agriculteur pourra repérer le moindre insecte sur une feuille ou identifier précisément les parcelles qui ont besoin d’eau et donc doser très finement pesticides et irrigation. © Delta Drone Lancer de drone dans un champ. Des smartphones ultrasécurisés Principale conséquence de l’affaire Snowden pour la revue du MIT, le désir des consommateurs de sécuriser leurs communications. Le cerveau humain cartographié La compréhension de notre cerveau progresse. Des puces neuromorphiques © Second Sight © Darpa
Future - Science & Environment - Global resources stock check If we fail to correct current consumption trends, then when will our most valuable natural resources run out? As the world’s population soars, so does its consumption, and as a result we are stretching many of our natural resources to their limits. Of course, the assumption is that human ingenuity and market forces will prevent supplies from running out: we could create better or cheaper extraction methods, recycle materials, find alternatives to non-renewable sources, or reduce consumption. The hope is that talks at the Rio+20 Earth summit will help to steer the world economy on a more sustainable path. If you want to see the data we used to construct this infographic, you can find it here [PDF].
“Singularity University n’est pas une secte” » Article » OWNI, Digital Journalism Singularity University ? Ni secte, ni temple transhumaniste ! Eugénie Rives revient pour OWNI sur dix semaines de formation dans la Silicon Valley, au sein d'une institution qui croit aux nouvelles technologies et en leur capacité à sauver le monde. Si elle n’a pas commencé à programmer dès l’âge de quatre ans, Eugénie Rives n’a rien à envier aux exploits de ses camarades de la Singularity University, dont elle a suivi le dernier programme d’été. Chez Google France depuis cinq ans, la jeune femme a commencé à monter des projets dès l’âge de 19 ans, qui marque son départ vers la Californie. S’ensuivent le Mexique et l’Argentine, où elle met en place un festival de courts-métrages, dont elle assure la promotion à travers le monde grâce aux nouvelles technologies. Eugénie Rives revient avec nous sur cette expérience et en profite pour dissiper les confusions entretenues autour de “SU”. Singularity University, temple du transhumanisme ? Pas du tout. Non ! C’était extraordinaire.
9 Overlooked Technologies That Could Transform The World What I've noticed is that most people don't really pay attention to "science" news, unless it's something that they can see immediately. I think this is at least partially because of the amount of news that comes out daily - whatever we may think about the quality of news, there is just a flood of it, which makes picking out "interesting" items difficult. When I talk about (just for example) the idea of gene therapy, most people think that it is still complete science fiction, as opposed to a very near-term product that will be available. Of course, CSP has been around for years, so it isn't really "new" to the average person. What they don't realize is the way that efficiencies have improved... Finally, of course, for a majority of people, the only science fiction they think of it Star Wars/Trek, or (advanced!) If you are on friendly terms with a non-technical coworker, ask them about any of the subjects mentioned here, you will be surprised at their response.