Thanks to the efforts of volunteer translators, Smarter Than Us: The Rise of Machine Intelligence was translated into Russian.

Many thanks to the volunteers who translated it, and to Stuart Armstrong who wrote it in the first place!

But now, we need fresh volunteers who can help as editors, to proofread and edit the translated text before it will be compiled into beautiful pdf. If you were not working as a volunteer translator of this text and are willing to help, please contact me by email: . Please translate the synopsis as a 'test task'. If I have already asked you to translate it, but you haven't been working on the translation, please point it out to me or re-send your translation (sorry, it might got buried in the emails).

Thank you!

If you are native Russian speaker and are willing to help MIRI with bringing its information to Russian-speaking audience by helping with translation of key materials, e.g. the forthcoming ebook Smarter Than Us, please contact me via pm or email: 

Thanks!

If Strong AI turns out to not be possible, what are our best expectations today as to why?

I'm thinking of trying myself at writing a sci-fi story, do you think exploring this idea has positive utility? I'm not sure myself: it looks like the idea that intelligence explosion is a possibility could use more public exposure, as it is.

I wanted to include a popular meme image macro here, but decided against it. I can't help it: every time I think "what if", I think of this guy.

MIRI is conducting a survey to determine the best title for an upcoming book. Please consider voting on it to help us find out which title you would like best.

Click here to take survey

This is a repeat from May, 20 post. If you are a native Russian speaker, could volunteer an hour or two to read the sequence and share your opinion on it, and haven't contacted me before (here, by email or on lesswrong.ru)

As part of an effort to familiarize Russian-speaking audience with Less Wrong materials, I am participating in an ongoing translation of a certain sequence of texts to Russian.

Now I need volunteers who are willing to read the text and give feedback on its quality. If you are native Russian speaker and can dedicate an hour or two to reading the sequence, please drop me an email to nickolai@intelligence.org and I'll give you the link. Later I'll update this post with an information on which text this was and which feedback I have got (your exact words can remain private if you wish).

I'm doing it this way so that name of the text and other's opinion won't influence your decision to participate and your opinion. Frankly, I think this mode of interaction should be a standard option in popular forum software, but it isn't.

As part of an effort to familiarize Russian-speaking audience with Less Wrong materials, I am participating in an ongoing translation of a certain sequence of texts to Russian.

Now I need volunteers who are willing to read the text and give feedback on its quality. If you are native Russian speaker and can dedicate around 40 minutes to reading the sequence, please drop me an email to nickolai@intelligence.org and I'll give you the link. Later I'll update this post with an information on which text this was and which feedback I have got (your exact words can remain private if you wish).

I'm doing it this way so that name of the text and other's opinion won't influence your decision to participate and your opinion. Frankly, I think this mode of interaction should be a standard option in popular forum software, but it isn't.

Update (24 May): I have only got 1 (one) volunteer to date. I would like more Russian speakers to read this. If you are a native Russian speaker, could you please consider proofreading the text?

I stumbled on this project during my research: food4me.org

The complete mapping of the human genome sequence in 2000 introduced the possibility of individualised medicine, including personalised nutrition.  During this time the field of “nutrigenomics” emerged, which examines the relationship between food and gene expression.  Many were hopeful about the ability to plan diet recommendations based on an individual’s genetic profile.

However, the promise of personalised nutrition has failed to develop as a commercial service, and matching dietary advice to genetic profiles has proven difficult.  Some companies offer genetic mapping and health reports, but these services are often based on inaccurate information.

There is a need to comprehensively analyse the opportunities and challenges in the field of personalised nutrition.  In addition, the fundamental question remains, “how can we best use our current understanding of food, genes, and physical traits to design healthier diets tailored for each individual?”

To address these concerns, Food4Me has gathered an international group of experts to survey the current knowledge of personalised nutrition, and to explore the application of individualised nutrition advice.  The Food4Me project will also investigate consumer attitudes and produce new scientific tools for implementation.

Hatsune Miku is a singing synthesizer application with a female persona, developed by Crypton Future Media using Yamaha's Vocaloid technology. She will be preforming live in the NOKIA Theatre in Los Angeles Convention Center on the 2nd July 2011, during the ANIME EXPO 2011.

Vocaloid technology was first released in 2004, but didn't meet wide recognition at first. When designing the second generation of Vocaloids, Crypton Future Media asked the manga artist Kei to design an avatar for their upcoming synthesized voice. The first to be released, "CV01 - Hatsune Miku" became runaway success, as thousands of internet users started making their songs with Hatsune Miku. Sega made a game and helped with organizing the first solo live perfomance in Tokyo on March 9, 2010, titled "Miku no Hi Kanshasai 39's Giving Day"(Miku's Day Thanksgiving). The concert included some of the best songs made by users, performed by Hatsune Miku and a band of human musicians. The concert in LA on 2nd July, 2011 should be the second of a kind and the first one outside Japan of that level (there was another event, and it is said to be not that good without Sega's involvement; but now the organisers promise "a few improvements over the original event")

Examples of Vocaloids in action:

Vocaloid Sweet Ann (English): Let it be (the Beatles)

Vocaloid Hatsune Miku (Japanese): Nebula (Tripshots)

The previous event "Miku no Hi Kanshasai 39's Giving Day"(Miku's Day Thanksgiving) on March 9, 2010 at the Zepp Tokyo in Odaiba, Tokyo

Nice fragment on YouTube (HD too)

torrent of the whole thing in HD

What seems to be the official event page:

Hatsune Miku 3D Live in Los Angeles

It looks like the tickets are sold out, but maybe it will be possible to buy some tickets at the event or something?. I would try if I was not living half the globe away.

I think that it's fitting for a community of people interested in the possibility of a technological singularity to take interest in the kind of entertainment that pushes the envelope of what's possible with technology. Human voice was the last musical instrument unconquered by synthesis. Now this page of human history is turned, and for me, Miku is the symbol of it. If there are technically better voice synthesizers (which is quite possible, since Miku was released in 2007), they don't have their own concerts yet.

Sorry if this is unappropriate.