I just find it interesting that the event is scheduled for St. Crispin's Day -- is that a reference to "we few, we happy few, we band of brothers", OR to "half a league, half a league, half a league ahead" -- or total indifference by Singularity experts on the subject of ancient battles which happened to inspire great English poets?-)
"Before anyone posts any angry comments: yes, the registration costs actual money this year."
For comparison: The Singularity Summit at Stanford cost $110K, all of which was provided by SIAI and sponsors. Singularity Summit 2007 undoubtedly cost more, and only $50K of that was raised through ticket sales. All ticket purchases for SS08 will be matched 2:1 by Peter Thiel and Brian Cartmell.
All ticket purchases for SS08 will be matched 2:1 by Peter Thiel and Brian Cartmell.
Thanks for mention. Some inaccuracies: SS08 registrations matched 1:2 by two donors at any time (every dollar given matched by two dollars). Matching donor list forthcoming. Includes Thiel (not Cartmell at this time), among others.
TANSTAAFL.
I'm not sure that makes much sense in this context, because you were offering a free lunch last year...
FYI all: The Singularity Summit 2008 is coming up, 9am-5pm October 25th, 2008 in San Jose, CA. This is run by my host organization, the Singularity Institute. Speakers this year include Vernor Vinge, Marvin Minsky, the CTO of Intel, and the chair of the X Prize Foundation.
Before anyone posts any angry comments: yes, the registration costs actual money this year. The Singularity Institute has run free events before, and will run free events in the future. But while past Singularity Summits have been media successes, they haven't been fundraising successes up to this point. So Tyler Emerson et. al. are trying it a little differently. TANSTAAFL.
Lots of speakers talking for short periods this year. I'm intrigued by that format. We'll see how it goes.
Press release: