The Singularity Institute Blog

Was Our Oldest Ancestor a Proton-Powered Rock?

Michael Anissimov — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:36:59 +0000

For an interesting example of the power of lateral thinking solving scientific problems, check out the article “Was our oldest ancestor a proton-powered rock?” at New Scientist.

Singularity Summit 2009 Videos Now Available

Michael Anissimov — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:32:49 +0000

The videos for Singularity Summit 2009 are now available at Vimeo. The few that are missing are either still awaiting confirmation of permission or the speaker asked for video not to be posted of their talk.

Singularity Summit 2009 - the Best Summit Yet!

Michael Anissimov — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:28:01 +0000

Thanks to all 813 people who attended the Singularity Summit! The event was a huge success. If you want to buy a T-shirt to commemorate the event, you can do so here.

Growth of SIAI Supporters on Facebook

Michael Anissimov — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:50:44 +0000

The SIAI cause group on Facebook has recently surpassed 1,000 members. Join now to support our mission.

David Orban Interviews Itamar Arel on Artificial General Intelligence for Singularity Summit 2009

Michael Anissimov — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:44:23 +0000

See the video on YouTube. Arel claims that AGI could be possible within 10 years if there were enough focus and funding on the problem. He also claims that the basic breakthroughs for AGI have already been made.

Ephemerisle — A Floating Festival in the SF Bay Area

Michael Anissimov — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:53:01 +0000

Patri Friedman, Executive Director of the Seasteading Institute and a friend of SIAI, invites SIAI supporters to attend his organization’s conference, from September 28 - 30 in San Francisco, and Ephemerisle, a “floating festival of politics, community, and art”, in the Sacramento River Delta on October 2-4.

Ed Boyden on the Singularity in Technology Review

Michael Anissimov — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:45:33 +0000

Ed Boyden, who leads the Synthetic Neurobiology Group at MIT, is concerned about the Singularity, and will be speaking at our upcoming Singularity Summit conference in New York. He recently published the article “The Singularity and the Fixed Point” on the website of Technology Review, MIT’s magazine, which looks into the challenge of giving Artificial Intelligence proper motivations. Making theoretical progress on the question of, “how do we give Artificial Intelligence proper motivations, such that we can trust those motivations even if the AI becomes smarter and more powerful than humans?” is a primary reason for SIAI’s existence.

The End of Aging - An Evening with Aubrey de Grey

Tom McCabe — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:17:20 +0000

The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence is co-sponsoring a talk on ending aging with gerontology researcher Aubrey de Grey and the New York Academy of Sciences, on the evening of Tuesday, September 22nd in New York City.

The End of Aging
An Evening with Aubrey de Grey
September 22, 2009 | 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
At the New York Academy of Sciences

Could it be possible for humans to live hundreds of years in the very near future? Is aging a curable disease? Iconoclast Aubrey de Grey predicts it’s only a matter of decades before regenerative medicine extends human life expectancy indefinitely. This event is one of five events in the 2009 Provocative Thinkers Series presented by Science & the City, a program of the New York Academy of Sciences. Cosponsored by the Singularity Institute.

Singularity Summit 2009 Early Registration Extended

Michael Anissimov — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:58:09 +0000

We have extended the early bird registration deadline for the Summit from August 10th to August 20th. Register in the next two weeks for a ticket fee of $399 instead of $498. You can lower your registration costs further by mentioning the event in your blog or Twitter ($25 off), putting up a banner ad on your blog for the event ($50 off), or referring people (20% off per non-student referral). Students also receive a 20% discount.

The Summit will feature 27 excellent speakers, including Ray Kurzweil, David Chalmers, Peter Thiel, Aubrey de Grey, and AI specialists like Ben Goertzel, Marcus Hutter, and Juergen Schmidhuber. See you there!

Singularity Summit 2009 Discounts

Michael Anissimov — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:57:22 +0000

In anticipation of our upcoming event in New York, the fourth annual Singularity Summit, the Singularity Institute is offering a set of discounts. The most important is early registration, 20% off until August 10th, making registration $399 instead of the usual $498. Other discounts include:

- Students receive a 20% discount. Only 150 student seats available.
- Each non-student referral (up to 2) receives a 20% discount.

To receive any of these discounts, email us, except for the student registration, which only requires clicking a check box on the registration page and sending a copy of your photo ID. The registration page is here. A list of speakers is here. See you in New York!