First class graduates Kurzweil's Singularity University (opens in new tab)

(sfgate.com)

19 pointsKisil16y ago17 comments

17 comments

8 comments · 3 top-level

edw51916y ago· 3 in thread

My first reaction was that if you're going to live forever, why rush to graduate, there's plenty of time. Then when I read the article, I saw that they are looking at all kinds of other opportunities. Good stuff.

ncarlson16y ago

This isn't a person attack. It's just a general observation.

People seem to vastly oversimplify Kurzweil's (and others) stance on the singularity. The truth is that we don't know what will happen. The best one can do is prepare for possible senarios.

randallsquared16y ago

Not everyone expects that the singularity will be survivable. Extinction still seems the most probable outcome.

nazgulnarsil16y ago

this is why I don't understand the "nerd utopia" line. it seems that the vast vast majority of possible non-human intelligences would have goals directly harmful to human goals (even modest ones). It seems like the best we can hope for is a really nice zoo.

3 more replies

johnohara16y ago· 2 in thread

Kurzweil articulated many of his early ideas on Singularity at an AI symposium held in 2001. RealPlayer video of all the sessions used to be available through Dr. Dobb's Journal's TechNetCast feature. I watched them all and they were very, very interesting -- both for and against. Great stuff.

I tried to locate a link to them for this post but TechNetCast seems no more and DDJ's site doesn't bear fruit either. If anyone here knows where they might be found please share -- they are definitely worth the time.

Since then, Kurzweil has certainly pursued his beliefs (books, speeches, press, etc.) with these graduates being the latest expression of those ideas.

MikeCapone16y ago

My introduction to Kurzweil was this lecture he gave at MIT in 2005:

http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/327/

I then read The Singularity is Near.

I tend to agree more with Eliezer Yudkowsky and Michael Anissimov than Kurzweil about this stuff, but the video above is still worth watching (much much better than his TED video, which was too short to allow him to make his main points).

dan_the_welder16y ago

In other news, use of Real Player has pushed the date of the Singularity back by 5 years.

biohacker4216y ago

Is is just me or did the project seems a bit mundane? The introduction is about biotech and nanotech, etc, and the projects are mobile apps, scaling up 3D printing, and smart traffic. Anyone else underwhelmed? Maybe I had unreasonable expectations.

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