Transhuman News Blog

It’s been a busy month at Singularity University in terms of our interactions with Washington.  Yesterday, Dr. Dr. Bobby Braun, NASA’s Chief Technologist, spoke at a joint NASA Ames/Singularity University event which is introducing SU’s approach to exponential technologies to the local community.  Dr. Braun referenced an open letter he wrote to college students country-wide and spoke eloquently about this Administration’s commitment to leveraging technology to address Grand Challenges.  (His letter is a must-read.)

Three weeks ago, I was invited to Washington DC to participate in a 1.5 day conference put on by USAID, the $20bn development arm of the State Department.  Dr. Rajiv Shah, who heads up USAID, declared their commitment to using Science Technology & Innovation (STI) to address Grand Challenges in Development and demonstrated it by gathering 60 thought leaders from government, philanthropy, technology and development to discuss it.  The event was co-sponsored by Dr. John P. Holdren, Science Advisor to the President, and ended with a State Dinner with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who reiterated their commitment in her address to the conference attendees.

Dr. Rajiv Shah – Credit: USAID/Bethany Egan

Since leveraging technology to address global issues is our constant focus at Singularity University, we’re thrilled with these outcomes.  When we compared USAID’s draft list of Grand Challenges to what our students have studied and produced in their Team Projects, there was a 90%+ overlap.

One of the central structural questions about government that keeps us up at night is the following: “how do regulatory frameworks keep pace when technology is accelerating away from us?”  An approach to Grand Challenges which acknowledges and accounts for technology and innovation is necessary, but not easy.  Many organizations have been trying this for decades with little success.

Along with our Graduate Studies Program, we also run 9-day Executive Programs for government leaders and business executives (our next program is Oct 13-22nd) where we explore how disruptive technologies will create billion dollar opportunities (and threats).  Our last program was considered a resounding success.

We’ve had the luxury of a greenfield approach in thinking about how to address Grand Challenges with technology and have evolved this model with the top thinkers in the world along with the visionary ideas of our co-founders Peter Diamandis and Ray Kurzweil.  What’s exciting is that our government, which is traditionally slow to adopt new models, is fully engaged and implementing this approach.

It makes all of us at Singularity University highly optimistic about our future.

Salim Ismail
CEO & Executive Director
Singularity University

Join Singularity University as it presents “Women @ the Frontier,” a very special evening to showcase the voice of women leaders on Tuesday, July 13^th at NASA Ames Research Park. Meet and hear from women leaders at the frontier of business, technology, science, and humanitarianism as they address Singularity University’s “10^9+ challenge” and address the question: “How would you positively impact one billion people, in 10 years, leveraging exponential trends and innovative entrepreneurship?”

Women @ the Frontier will feature a powerhouse panel, including:

• Susan Fonseca-Klein – Singularity University – Host & MC
• Sonia Arrison Senkut – Pacific Research Institute – Panel Moderator
• Liddy Karter – Karter Capital Advisors
• Cynthia Kenyon – UCSF
• Rebecca Moore – Google
• Laurie Yoler – GrowthPoint Technology Partners

Singularity University is hosting its first Women’s Forum featuring top female entrepreneurs, VCs, humanitarians, innovators, scientists and technology leaders to hear their voices on issues relevant to our future.  The event will begin with a ‘Frontier Expo’ showcasing cutting edge scientific and technological breakthroughs, women-led initiatives, entrepreneurial ventures and start-ups, and women’s resources associations. Following the Expo, the event will culminate with a ‘Frontier Panel.’

WHEN: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 — Exposition: 6:30-7:30 pm, Panel + Q&A: 7:30-9:00 pm

WHERE: Singularity University Campus, NASA Ames Research Park, Building 3 Ballroom, Moffett Field, CA 94035

RSVP:  http://event.pingg.com/women-frontier

DIRECTIONS: http://singularityu.org/about/directions/bldg-3-nasa-classrooms

WEBSITE: http://singularityu.org/women2010/

ABOUT SINGULARITY UNIVERSITY

Singularity University (SU) is an interdisciplinary university whose mission is to assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies in order to address humanity’s grand challenges. With the support of a broad range of leaders in academia, business and government, SU hopes to stimulate groundbreaking, disruptive thinking and solutions aimed at solving some of the planet’s most pressing challenges. SU is based at the NASA Ames campus in Silicon Valley. For more information, visit, http://www.singularityu.org

…or at least that’s what Ray Kurzweil thinks. He has spent his life inventing machines that help people, from the blind to dyslexics. Now, he believes we’re on the brink of a new age – the ’singularity’ – when mind-boggling technology will allow us to email each other toast, run as fast as Usain Bolt (for 15 minutes) – and even live forever. Is there sense to his science – or is the man who reasons that one day he’ll bring his dad back from the grave just a mad professor peddling a nightmare vision of the future?

Who would have thought it? The quest for eternal life, or at least prolonged youthfulness, has now migrated from the outer fringes of alternative medicine to the halls of Harvard Medical School.

The key to eternal — or at least prolonged — youth lies in genetic manipulation that mimics the health benefits of reducing calorie intake, suggesting that aging and age-related diseases can be treated.

Blue Brain is an IBM computer built to simulate a human brain. It’s powered by 2,000 microchips, each acting as a single neuron, that enable it to execute 22.8 trillion operations per second. Based at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the project launched in 2005 to much controversy and skepticism. Modeling the complexity of the brain in a computer is considered a holy grail to some, and hubris to others.

Via Instapundit’s column for Popular Mechanics:

Destructive technologies generally seem to come along sooner than constructive ones—we got war rockets before missile interceptors, and biological warfare before antibiotics. This suggests that there will be a window of vulnerability between the time when we develop technologies that can do dangerous things, and the time when we can protect against those dangers. The slower we move, the longer that window may remain open, leaving more time for the evil, the unscrupulous or the careless to wreak havoc. My conclusion? Faster, please.

There is a lot of confusion around the meaning of the world Singularity. One of many reasons for this confusion is that people use the word Singularity to describe at least three different related but logically distinct possible outcomes.

Eliezer Yudkowsky’s post about the three schools of Singularity clears up a lot of confusion.

A young Kurzweil demonstrates his invention: an “electronic computer” that composes music.

Via the New York Times

The Singularity gets a good write-up by the Gray Lady. Many fascinating facts percolate the article, but my favorite is the fact that the USA has a contingency plan for an attack by Canada.

There are several great fictional post-Singularity or Singularity related fiction stories available online. Following is a list of some of my favorites. Post in the comments if you know of any other similar stories available online!

Accelerando

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

Three Worlds Collide

The Singularity Summit this year is August 14th through August 15th in San Francisco. Last year’s conference was great. I really recommend going to the Singularity Summit because it provides an overview of current thinking on Singularity related issues by almost all of the current thought leaders in the space.

Check out the Singularity Summit web page and watch some of the videos from last years conference.

The Singularity Summit this year is August 14th through August 15th in San Francisco. Last year’s conference was great. I really recommend going to the Singularity Summit because it provides an overview of current thinking on Singularity related issues by almost all of the current thought leaders in the space.

Check out the Singularity Summit web page and watch some of the videos from last years conference.

Thank you to all the 300+ people that were able to attend our Graduate Studies Program 2010 Opening Ceremonies and party on Monday night!

This was a great kick-off event and our 80 amazing students from all over the world thoroughly enjoyed meeting guests and hearing from keynote speakers Larry Brilliant, Larry Page, Dan Barry, Peter Diamandis, and Ray Kurzweil.

To view a quick 3 minute video please visit http://singularityu.org/gsp10oc (video is also below)

Click here to view the embedded video.

To view a gallery of photos please visit singularityu.org/gsp10oc-photos

Thank you!

-From the entire Singularity University Team

PS: To track and stay updated about the program over the next 10 weeks, please join our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/singularityu

A young Kurzweil demonstrates his invention: an “electronic computer” that composes music.

Via the New York Times

The Singularity gets a good write-up by the Gray Lady. Many fascinating facts percolate the article, but my favorite is the fact that the USA has a contingency plan for an attack by Canada.

Class Size Doubled to Accommodate Growing Interest in Addressing “Humanity’s Grand Challenges” through Scientific and Technological Collaboration

Opening Ceremonies Launches Summer Program at NASA Ames on June 21, Innovative Program Welcomes Students from 35 Nations

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – June 15, 2010 – Singularity University (SU) — the academic institution with the goal of preparing the next generation of leaders to address “humanity’s grand challenges” — today announced the second year of its Graduate Studies Program (GSP), and a doubled class size to accommodate 80 of the top students from 35 nations around the globe. On June 21 SU co-founders, faculty, industry leaders, and other VIP guests will welcome the new class of students at the program’s Opening Ceremonies to take place at NASA Ames Research Park. The Graduate Studies Program will begin June 19 and end with Closing Ceremonies on August 28.

Singularity University co-founders Dr. Ray Kurzweil and Dr. Peter H. Diamandis will formally introduce the GSP-10 class and introduce the students to their 10-week exploration of the convergence of science, exponentially accelerating technologies, and grand challenges. Dr. Larry Brilliant of the Skoll Urgent Threat Fund will keynote the event.

“The past year has demonstrated pressing global challenges, as well as a significant shift in the zeitgeist for exponential and accelerating technologies,” said Dr. Ray Kurzweil, co-founder and chancellor, Singularity University. “It is only through the scale of exponentially growing information technologies that we can meet these challenges.  It is our goal at Singularity University to foster a deep understanding of these technologies and through the team projects to directly solve urgent world needs.”

Ten Weeks of Study, A Lifetime of Innovation

The Graduate Summer Program is a ten-week interdisciplinary curriculum designed to facilitate understanding, collaboration, and innovation across a broad range of carefully chosen scientific and technological disciplines whose developments are exponentially accelerating. In addition to lectures and workshops with world-class leaders, students can also participate in hands-on excursions to leading Silicon Valley labs and companies, and exposure to NASA’s many technologies.

From more than 1,600 pre-applicants, the 80 graduate and post-graduate students in the summer program were chosen based on their level of expertise in individual “tracks,” demonstrated entrepreneurial and leadership skills, and their commitment to addressing and solving important issues facing our world. Taught by the leading minds in their respective fields, the GSP curriculum tracks include: future studies and forecasting; policy, law and ethics; finance and entrepreneurship; networks and computing systems; biotechnology and bioinformatics; nanotechnology; medicine, neuroscience and human enhancement; AI and robotics; energy and ecological systems; and space and physical sciences.

And the keystone of the GSP, the challenging Ten to the Ninth Power Plus (10^9+) group projects, are designed to positively affect at least one billion people within the next 10 years in five key areas. SU faculty chose five challenges for this year’s class: home energy, water, vertical farming, up-cycling, and space exploration.

“The biggest changes affecting the world today, such as the financial crisis, the growth of social media, medical technologies, aspects of climate change, are all rooted in accelerating and exponential factors,” said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, co-founder and chairman at Singularity University. “Billion dollar companies are popping up overnight while century-old companies are folding. Our 10-week Graduate Studies Program is an extraordinary program for graduate and post-graduate students to understand exponential technologies, their projected growth, their disruptive nature and their ability change the world. Students gain a working knowledge of ten different “exponential tracks,” as well as take an interdisciplinary deep dive to learn how to better manage and navigate these technologies. This year’s class of students are incredibly accomplished and truly exceptional, we expect the effects of the GSP graduates and their 10^9+ projects to be far-reaching and positively affect humanity’s challenges.”

There are several great fictional post-Singularity or Singularity related fiction stories available online. Following is a list of some of my favorites. Post in the comments if you know of any other similar stories available online!

Accelerando

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

Three Worlds Collide

We were pleased to see a long article featuring Singularity University appeared in today’s New York Times titled “Merely Human? That’s So Yesterday.”  While factually accurate, the narrow focus of the article may lead readers away from the core goal of our program, which is to leverage accelerating technologies to address global issues. It’s our focus on these global Grand Challenges that has attracted such a world-class faculty and applicants from 85 countries to apply to attend, and we thought it appropriate to explain this in more detail than the scope of the article presented.

We certainly agree with the acceleration in technology and the enormous impacts they continue to have on our lives.  But the major benefits also come with major costs and risks – the oil disaster in the Gulf is a clear example of that.  It’s also clear that many people around the world — including policy makers or business leaders– would like a better handle on the dramatic impact rapidly advancing technologies have on society.  The impact of the financial crisis, itself rooted in accelerating factors, is a further example.

We work to bring together students from around the world and from a wide variety of backgrounds: they are researchers and teachers, NGO workers and social and business entrepreneurs. Next Saturday, 80 students from 35 countries will start a 10-week intensive Graduate Studies Program that is the heart of Singularity University.

In Week One, we’ll bring together global experts in our grand challenges to examine the characteristics of home energy,
clean water, the future of food production, and upcycling of consumer waste.  They’ll learn what’s been tried, what’s worked, and what’s failed in these areas.  After that, they’ll spend half the program getting unique interdisciplinary views of accelerating technologies – including the state of the art and what might be possible in the next decade.  The second half is spent entirely on a set of team projects leveraging these technologies and working on products and services that can help people address them.  The four team projects from our inaugural summer are a great testament to our approach.

Our curriculum spends significant time on the risks of these accelerating technologies as well as the benefits.   We logically conclude it is probable that these technologies are coming, whether people like them or not, and it’s quite important to try to study them and their consequences, both good and bad.   Some may see optimistic projections as wishful thinking, and indeed there are those who believe in a better future simply because they like the idea.  But even if one assigns a low probability to the world changing events and technologies we study in our sessions, the effects are so dramatic that it would be an error not to have a place to study them.

Mr. Kurzweil has often stated that war is a very expensive method of human development, while technology has been an extraordinarily powerful and inexpensive method.  We at Singularity University agree – our view is that these accelerating technologies can actually scale to meet the needs of our Grand Challenges.

Salim Ismail
CEO & Executive Director
Singularity University

There is a lot of confusion around the meaning of the world Singularity. One of many reasons for this confusion is that people use the word Singularity to describe at least three different related but logically distinct possible outcomes.

Eliezer Yudkowsky’s post about the three schools of Singularity clears up a lot of confusion.