Let me continue to play Devil's Advocate for a second, then. There are many reasons why attempting to influence the far future might not be the most important task in the world.
The one I've already mentioned, indirectly, is the idea that it becomes super-exponentially futile to predict the consequences of your actions the farther in the future you go. For instance, SIAI might raise awareness of AI to the extent that regulations are passed, and no early AI accidents happen: however, this causes complacency that does allow a large AI accident to happen; whereas if SIAI had never existed, and an early AI Chernobyl did occur, this would have prompted the governments to take effective measures to regulate AI.
Another viewpoint is the bleak but by no means indefensible idea that it is impossible to prevent all existential disasters: the human race, or at least our values, will inevitably be reduced to inconsequence one way or another, and the only thing we can do is simply to reduce the amount of suffering in the world right now.
These are no reasons to give up, either, but the fact is that we simply don't know enough to say anything about the non-near future with any confidence. That's no reason to give up, of course, in fact--our lack of understanding makes it more valuable to try to improve our understanding of the future, as SIAI is doing. So maybe make that you official stated goal: simply to understand if there's even a possibility of influencing the future--it is a noble and defensible goal by itself. But even then, arguably not the most important thing in the world.
There are many reasons why attempting to influence the far future might not be the most important task in the world.
I wouldn't even present that as a reason for caring. Superhuman AI is an issue of the near future, not the far future. Certainly an issue of the present century; I'd even say an issue of the next twenty years, and that's supposed to be an upper bound. Big science is deconstructing the human brain right now, every new discovery and idea is immediately subject to technological imitation and modification, and we already have something like a...
Now is the very last minute to apply for a Summer 2010 Visiting Fellowship. If you’ve been interested in SIAI for a while, but haven’t quite managed to make contact -- or if you’re just looking for a good way to spend a week or more of your summer -- drop us a line. See what an SIAI summer might do for you and the world.
(SIAI’s Visiting Fellow program brings volunteers to SIAI for anywhere from a week to three months, to learn, teach, and collaborate. Flights and room and board are covered. We’ve been rolling since June of 2009, with good success.)
Apply because:
Apply especially if:
(You don’t need all of the above; some is fine.)
Don’t be intimidated -- SIAI contains most of the smartest people I’ve ever met, but we’re also a very open community. Err on the side of sending in an application; then, at least we’ll know each other. (Applications for fall and beyond are also welcome; we’re taking Fellows on a rolling basis.)
If you’d like a better idea of what SIAI is, and what we’re aimed at, check out:
1. SIAI's Brief Introduction;
2. The Challenge projects;
3. Our 2009 accomplishments;
4. Videos from past Singularity Summits (the 2010 Summit will happen during this summer’s program, Aug 14-15 in SF; visiting Fellows will assist);
5. Comments from our last Call for Visiting Fellows; and/or
6. Bios of the 2009 Summer Fellows.
Or just drop me a line. Our application process is informal -- just send me an email at anna at singinst dot org with: (1) a resume/c.v. or similar information; and (2) a few sentences on why you’re applying. And we’ll figure out where to go from there.
Looking forward to hearing from you.