I used to think the singularity stuff was kinda silly and too speculative, but that's because I'd only read little bits of Kurzweil. Then I encountered the Good / Yudkowsky / Chalmers arguments and was persuaded.

This sounds familiar to me, somehow.

So I already have the motivation to do the things I've described above. The problem is that it takes a lot of time, and I'm not independently wealthy. I'm only able to make serious progress on my Friendly AI paper and book because I recently quit my IT job and I get to work on them 8 hours per day. But I can't coast for long. Lots of other people, I suspect, also have this problem of not being independently wealthy. :)

I know I've suggested this before, but the SIAI Visiting Fellows program will take care of living expenses short term, and in your case would likely lead to a long term position as a Research Fellow. It seems that you and they have a lot to offer each other.