What's a Singularity? What's the Singularity Summit?
September 23 2008 / by Alvis Brigis
Category: The Web Year: 2008 Rating: 1
When seriously exploring the futures ahead of us it’s impossible not to encounter discussion of the “Singularity”. A concept with multiple profound meanings, the Singularity meme is an important tool for framing our understanding of how tomorrow will unfold.
Tyler Emerson, Executive Director of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence does a great job summarizing these various interpretations, all of which will be presented and debated at this year’s action-packed Singularity Summit (Oct 25th):
As Tyler points out, the Singularity has been picking up great traction in both scientific media and leading intellectual circles. Case in point is the involvement of forward-thinking juggernauts like Peter Thiel, Vernor Vinge, Peter Diamandis, Esther Dyson, Marvin Minsky, Justin Rattner and the infamous Ray Kurzweil, all of whom will be presenting at the Summit this October – an event that will be thoroughly covered by MemeBox and Future Blogger (proud media sponsors of the event).
For more information on the summit, go to SingularitySummit.com.
As an add-on to the summit, attendees will also have the option to attend an Emerging Tech Workshop (Oct 24th) organized by SciVestor, featuring panels on Robotics, the Semantic Web and Natotechnology, plus a closing keynote by seasoned foresight pro and Future Blogger favorite Jamais Cascio.
I will be there with my FlipCam reporting on the event for Future Blogger and hope to see you there as well. I promise you, the memetic rush will be akin to drinking water from a fire hose. It’s a great way to get a valuable crash course in accelerating change, artificial intelligence and a variety of disruptive forces poised to transform the world around us.
Disclaimer: MemeBox is a proud media sponsor of the Singularity Summit 2008. That being said, you really should attend.
Comment Thread (4 Responses)
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Ray Kurzweil is an idiot. It’s impossible now to mention his name without falling into muffled laughter and thinking of psuedoscientific buffoons like Claude “Rael” Vorilhon and L. Ron Hubbard.
Posted by: adbatstone80 September 27, 2008
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Kurzweil has opened a lot of research doors and future possibilities. Sure, his smooth trajectory of exponential growth projected through 2045 is theoretical speculation (rooted in some very real present day trends), but he has gotten people to think about the runaway growth / Strong AI scenario. Hopefully his upcoming movie will help expand our future simulations rather than constrict them.
re: how Kurweil’s vision fits into the summit – It’s just one of three definitions of a singularity. That’s important to remember.
Posted by: Alvis Brigis September 27, 2008
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“his smooth trajectory of exponential growth projected through 2045 is theoretical speculation”
Translation: The Singularity will happen, but not in this century.
I wish Kurzweil would shut the hell up for once about 2045. It’s still virtually the present. Just like 2000 was to the 1960s.
The best thing for him to do if he wants to retain his credibility is to shift his timescale in light of all that’s happened recently (economic collapse, Sarah Palin, etc.)
Posted by: adbatstone80 September 28, 2008
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@ abatstone80—There won’t be that bad of an economic collapse. The sky is not falling. However, it seems you’re obsessed with Kurzweil and will bash him here for no reason at all. Of course, its all speculation, but the only way we’ll know for sure is to wait it out and see what happens. I don’t consider his word gospel either, but his ideas are intriguing.
I watch PhysOrg and other sites about breakthroughs in technology. There is some pretty spectacular stuff coming down the pipe. Stop getting so moody.
Posted by: Covus September 29, 2008
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