Late last year a LessWrong team was being mooted for the Google AI challenge (http://aichallenge.org/;  http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/8ay/ai_challenge_ants/). Sadly, after a brief burst of activity, no "official" LessWrong entry appeared (AFAICT, and please let me know if I am mistaken). The best individual effort from this site's regulars (AFAICT) came from lavalamp, who finished around #300.

This is a pity. This was an opportunity to achieve, or at least have a go at, a bunch of worthwhile things, including development of methods of cooperation between site members, gathering positive publicity, and yes, even advancing the understanding of AI related issues. 

So - how can things be improved for the next AI challenge (which I think is about 6 months away)?

About one month ago there was some discussion regarding entering an LW team in the Google AI challenge.

Has anyone actually entered? If so, what was the result? I scanned carefully the leaderboard, but could not find any familiar names.

Links:

(http://aichallenge.org/) 

(http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/8ay/ai_challenge_ants/)

http://www.cambrianexplosion.com/

This is one of the coolest things I've seen on the internet recently. Anyone who is familiar with R. Dawkins' "Weasel", Greg Egan's work like "Crystal Nights" etc and the simulation argument might find it fascinating.

Addiction Warning: I've spent 8 hours playing with this in the last 2 days... 

http://www.soniaarrison.com/index.php

I have not read the book. But a review on the Singularity Hub (http://singularityhub.com/2011/09/20/sonia-arrison-brings-longevity-to-the-masses-with-her-book-100/) is quite positive. It mentions that a good part of the book is devoted to considering the impact of increased lifespans on society, and it appears that the author's views are in the anti-deathism camp.

If anyone here has read this, I would appreciate an opinion.