I signed up just to post this. I'll be honest, I have generally thought of you guys as a little bit crazy. But, this is pretty notable and I thought you should see it:
http://www.ft.com/cm...?nclick_check=1
Wow amazing. At first i thought that this link was just a fake web page to hack us since it asks us to register to keep reading this unbelievable, too-good-to-be-true article. Anyways, here's a link with the complete article for those who don't want to register (and haven't expired their 30-day 3 article limit!). Same Financial Times website:
http://www.ft.com/cm...?nclick_check=1 (edit: hm never mind, apparently my link ended up exactly like abc4980's... wicked thing)
Google and Nasa are throwing their weight behind a new school for futurists in Silicon Valley to prepare scientists for an era when machines become cleverer than people.
The new institution, known as “Singularity University”, is to be headed by Ray Kurzweil, whose predictions about the exponential pace of technological change have made him a controversial figure in technology circles.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Tech Blog: Tales from Topographic Oceans - Oct-17In depth: Browser battles - Sep-03Google and Nasa’s backing demonstrates the growing mainstream acceptance of Mr Kurzweil’s views, which include a claim that before the middle of this century artificial intelligence will outstrip human beings, ushering in a new era of civilisation.
To be housed at Nasa’s Ames Research Center, a stone’s-throw from the Googleplex, the Singularity University will offer courses on biotechnology, nano-technology and artificial intelligence.
The so-called “singularity” is a theorised period of rapid technological progress in the near future. Mr Kurzweil, an American inventor, popularised the term in his 2005 book “The Singularity is Near”.
Proponents say that during the singularity, machines will be able to improve themselves using artificial intelligence and that smarter-than-human computers will solve problems including energy scarcity, climate change and hunger.
Yet many critics call the singularity dangerous. Some worry that a malicious artificial intelligence might annihilate the human race.
Mr Kurzweil said the university was launching now because many technologies were approaching a moment of radical advancement. “We’re getting to the steep part of the curve,” said Mr Kurzweil. “It’s not just electronics and computers. It’s any technology where we can measure the information content, like genetics.”
The school is backed by Larry Page, Google co-founder, and Peter Diamandis, chief executive of X-Prize, an organisation which provides grants to support technological change.
“We are anchoring the university in what is in the lab today, with an understanding of what’s in the realm of possibility in the future,” said Mr Diamandis, who will be vice-chancellor. “The day before something is truly a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.”
Despite its title, the school will not be an accredited university. Instead, it will be modelled on the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, the interdisciplinary, multi-cultural school that Mr Diamandis helped establish in 1987.
Again, this is totally amazing. I did another search on google and it's for real. Now if NASA and Google acknowledge that machines will be smarter than humans one day, they should do more! Google's owners are stinkin' rich and young, in their 30's, they should fund massive researches into AI. But one step at a time, this Singularity University is a great deal to start with!
Edited by sam988, 03 February 2009 - 07:28 AM.