Basically, I'm trying to get into the AI field. I'm a Cognitive Science major at UCLA and I'm planning to graduate March of 2010.
I'm interested in singularity and also AGI. I've done a bit of research and gone job hunting for those kinds of jobs, but I really haven't found what I'm looking for yet. My dream would be to work with someone like Ben Goertzel, but I'm pretty sure that's unrealistic (please correct me if I'm wrong about that).
I've gone to my school's career center to see if they could help me find what I am looking for, but they were not too helpful. I found one company that works with speech recognition/natural language processing software, which was cool. There were two problems with that.
1) They were not working on AGI
2) They didn't hire me, lol
Modelcadet has told me about Teme (http://temetics.org/...teme-foundation), which is an orgranization that will help get undergrads involved in singularity-related research, however the Teme project is still under way, so I'm seeking other options for now. Plus, I won't be an undergrad for all that much longer.
Regular job hunting, my school, and imminst have not been able to help me so far. So I'm asking the general imminst populace: Do you know of any AI opportunities/companies/projects that a 22 year old with a Cognitive Science degree could get involved with? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. I thought about e-mailing Ray Kurzweil/Ben Goertzel directly, but I doubt I'd get a response and I wouldn't really know what to say without sounding like an idiot to them.
Vgamer1 and I share similar goals; frankly, there's little opportunity for people like us to get involved. Emailing Kurzweil or Goertzel won't amount to anything: These guys feel they're smart enough to achieve a singularity on their own (or only with the help of coders more capable than we could ever be).
It is, frankly, too late to pursue an advanced degree. Grad school may be a worthwhile, but only in providing an opportunity to do research. By the time you're able to secure a PhD, to get your foot in the door to the community of transhumanist researchers, the Singularity will have already happened. Also, I have found academic opportunity lacking because of its conservatism: Professors become intimidated in their ignorance.
I believe the best way to enter the AGI field in a relevant way is to build a community we can leverage. Each of us has nothing we can offer the Dr. Goertzels of the world, but together we can attract their attention. Teme exists to support young scientists like us; I will seek to assist you in any way I can.
I'd be willing to lick toilets to work at Novamente LLC, but such institutions are strapped for cash, and you're unlikely to find any opportunities thrseeks to promote applied research, ough them. You have to bring something to the table. Volunteers abound, but these people are looking for skilled help. You must demonstrate value to these people, which is an enormous challenge. Their greatest need, from my experience, is in organizing this abundance of volunteer help in a meaningful way. Nothing is going to fall into your lap; we have to work increasingly diligently to even be seen as these memes enter the mainstream.
Building Teme into sustainability seems the most viable route. I too, am interested in other avenues, but in my experience, worthwhile opportunities do not exist. Join
http://temetics.org to create our own opportunity.
