Call for Volunteers at Global Future 2045

1 MichaelAnissimov 21 March 2013 12:17PM

This post is on behalf of Amy Willey, former MIRI employee who is Volunteer Coordinator for GF 2045.

One of the most exciting futurist events this year will be Global Future 2045, in New York City on June 15-16. 

They need volunteers! You can apply to be a volunteer here

Amy Willey, the volunteer coordinator, previously organized Singularity Summit. She is fun to work with! Volunteering at Global Future 2045 is an opportunity to meet many interesting scientists and futurists. 

Think Twice: A Response to Kevin Kelly on ‘Thinkism’

6 MichaelAnissimov 07 November 2012 06:07AM

I wrote a blog post responding to Kevin Kelly that I'm fairly happy about. It summarizes some of the reasons why I figure that superintelligence is likely to be a fairly big deal. If you read it, please post your comments here. 

Questions on SI Research

7 MichaelAnissimov 01 June 2012 03:00PM

Hello LessWrong,

As one of my assignments at the Singularity Institute (SI), I am writing a research FAQ answering the most frequently asked questions regarding the Singularity Institute's research program. 

For a short summary of what SI is about, see our concise summary

Here are some examples of questions I'm currently planning to include:

1) who conducts research at SI?

2) what are the specific research topics being investigated?

3) what is the history of SI's research program?

4) where does SI see its research program in 5, 10, and 20 years?

5) what other organizations conduct research similar to SI?

Please submit other questions that come to mind below. Unfortunately, due to limited time, we cannot answer every question posed to us. However, I hope to answer some of the questions that receive the most upvotes. Thank you for your participation!

Sudden Future Singularity (SFS) as soon as 8.7 million years in the future?

2 MichaelAnissimov 08 March 2012 10:41AM

No, not the kind of Singularity usually discussed here... I'm referring to the possibility of phantom energy-driven rips in the cosmos caused by accelerating expansion, or "sudden future singularities of pressure". (Technically: "a momentary infinite peak in the tidal forces of the universe.") A recent paper by Ghodsi & Hendri shows that cosmic microwave background, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), and type 1a supernovae data is consistent with the possibility of a sudden future singularity as soon as 8.7 million years from now. 

"Cosmological tests of sudden future singularities"
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1201.6661v1.pdf 

As I understand it, the authors are not saying that a SFS is likely 8.7 million years from now, just possible. This puts a dampener on the notion that the only plausible scenario of cosmological breakdown is Heat Death. 

Here's another paper that outlines other exotic cosmological singularities which have been under discussion in the cosmology community for the past decade, and the behavior of pointlike particles and strings as they approach such singularities. 

A Brief Summary of Recent Happenings at the Singularity Institute

17 MichaelAnissimov 11 December 2011 08:59PM

Posted at http://singinst.org/blog/2011/12/11/a-brief-summary-of-recent-happenings-at-the-singularity-institute/

The Singularity Summit was a huge success. We raised over $300,000, one-third of that a donation from Jaan Tallinn, another third from a variety of generous donors who gave during or immediately after the Summit, and a third from ticket sales. We have roughly $500,000 in the bank, while annual payroll expenses are about $350,000. We almost have enough money to make it through the next year without adding any research staff, though we definitely would like to add additional researchers. In the meantime, our (unpaid) Research Associates team has been growing, and is tackling a variety of projects.

Since the Singularity Summit in October, our President Michael Vassar moved on to help found Personalized Medicine, a company we are all excited about, and Luke Muehlhauser was appointed Executive Director. Luke answered questions about these changes and our future plans in a recent video Q&A. I encourage you to watch it, and submit additional questions you may have about the Singularity Institute.

We have seven staff at this time: Luke, Michael Anissimov, Anna Salamon, Carl Shulman, Amy Willey, Louie Helm, and Eliezer Yudkowsky. Our internal collaboration has increased, we're keeping work logs, and we regularly eat dinner together. It's becoming more of a family.

What are we all doing? Luke and Michael are working on a new website for the Singularity Institute. Amy and Luke are working hard to expand the Singularity Summit brand and bring the Summit to "the next level." Anna and Eliezer are building a curriculum for the new Rationality Org, which we hope to spin off as a separate organization from Singularity Institute sometime next year. Luke, Anna, and Carl have been working on a variety of research papers, and Carl has also been working with the fast-growing "optimal philanthropy" movement, which is now poised to direct substantial funds over the next few years to reducing existential risks. Louie is working on donor relations, fundraising, recruiting, operations, and has also contributed to some of our forthcoming research articles.

In the coming year, we look forward to improving communication and transparency with our supporters, and to increasing the rate of our published research output.

People with Experience in Wikipedia Editing?

7 MichaelAnissimov 10 December 2011 07:31PM

Hi all,

At the Singularity Institute we're looking for a volunteer with experience making edits to Wikipedia. The quality of some Wikipedia pages related to our subject matter could use improvement, but we would like to consult with someone who has an editing background on the way to go about it. 

Please get in touch with me at michael@intelligence.org.

Thank you!

Comprehensive List of All Singularity Summit Talks and Video Links

26 MichaelAnissimov 18 November 2011 04:34PM

Here is an index of all Singularity Summit speeches. 


Summit 2006


Summit 2007

Summit 2008

Summit 2009


Summit 2010

Summit 2011

Rationality Minicamp Photos Online

5 MichaelAnissimov 16 September 2011 05:42AM

Interview with Singularity Institute Research Fellow Luke Muehlhauser

12 MichaelAnissimov 15 September 2011 10:23AM

Yesterday I sat down with Lukeprog for a few hours and we produced this ten-page interview for the Singularity Institute blog. This interview contains information about the Singularity Institute's technical research program and recent staff changes that hasn't been announced anywhere else!  We hope you find it informative. 

http://singinst.org/blog/2011/09/15/interview-with-new-singularity-institute-research-fellow-luke-muehlhuaser-september-2011/

 

Singularity Institute Strategic Plan 2011

29 MichaelAnissimov 26 August 2011 11:34PM

Thanks to the hard work and cooperation of Singularity Institute staff and volunteers, especially Louie Helm and Luke Muehlhauser (lukeprog), we now have a Strategic Plan, which outlines the near-term goals and vision of the Institute, and concrete actions we can take to fulfill those goals.

http://singinst.org/blog/2011/08/26/singularity-institute-strategic-plan-2011/

We welcome your feedback. You can send any comments to institute@intelligence.org

The release of this Strategic Plan is part of an overall effort to increase transparency at Singularity Institute.

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