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<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> John
Smart [mailto:johnsmart@accelerating.org]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, June 30,
2004 9:40 AM<BR><B>To:</B> LAFuturists@yahoogroups.com<BR><B>Subject:</B> [LA
Futurists] Next Friday: Peter Voss on AI, Dr. Yosef Bar-Cohen on Bio-Inspired
Robotics<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><TT>Hello Futurists,<BR><BR>We have a wonderful
pair of passionate future-thinkers speaking next <BR>month. I really hope you
can make it!<BR><BR>Accelerating Change 2004 is shaping up nicely. Come join us
Sept. 10-<BR>12 at Stanford University. We've recently added Chris Anderson,
<BR>Editor-in-Chief of Wired, and Jaron Lanier, Founder of VPL to the 36
<BR>speaker lineup. Visit: <A
href="http://accelerating.org/ac2004/index.html">http://accelerating.org/ac2004/index.html</A>
to <BR>sign up, spaces are limited!<BR><BR>LA Futurists July Salon<BR>July 9th,
3rd Floor: Chair Circle, 7:00-9:30pm<BR>(Come on time if you don't want floor
seats!)<BR>Beautiful Barnes and Noble, Santa Monica Promenade (3rd
and<BR>Wilshire). Parking on 4th, S. of Wilshire (Structure 1), $3 after
6pm<BR><BR>New member intros, catchup, and article sharing about our
<BR>accelerating world.(7:00pm)<BR><BR>Speaker 1: Peter Voss, Adaptive
Artificial Intelligence, Inc. (7:30-<BR>8:30pm)<BR>"a2i2 and the Direct Path to
AGI – A Progress Report."<BR>Our Featured Book: Understanding Artificial
Intelligence, Scientific <BR>American (ed.), Rodney Brooks (fwd), 2002 <BR><A
href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?">http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?</A><BR>isbn=0446678759<BR><BR>Artificial
General Intelligence (AGI) is a very special field of <BR>inquiry in computer
science that has historically attracted only a <BR>small number of hard-working
researchers and theoreticians to date. <BR>Yet its potential payoffs for
humanity are enormous. What exactly is <BR>AGI? Why is it desirable? Is it
achievable? If so, how soon can we <BR>reasonably expect it?<BR><BR>This
fascinating talk will overview the essentials of AGI, exploring <BR>crucial
issues and assumptions, and consider the feasability <BR>of "direct" vs.
incremental and indirect paths. It will also explore <BR>the history of the
ongoing Marina Del Rey-based a2i2 project, an AGI <BR>research and development
effort that has involved a team of <BR>developers since 2001. What has been
accomplished to date? What are <BR>a2i2's future plans? For further reading,
Peter <BR>recommends "Essentials of General Intelligence: The direct path to
<BR>AGI" (<A
href="http://adaptiveai.com/research/)">http://adaptiveai.com/research/)</A><BR><BR>Peter
Voss is an entrepreneur with a background in electronics, <BR>computer systems,
software, and management. He has a keen interest <BR>in cognitive science and
the inter-relationship between philosophy, <BR>psychology, ethics and computer
science. For the past few years he <BR>has been researching artificial general
intelligence, and recently <BR>started Adaptive A.I. Inc. (a2i2), with the goal
of developing a <BR>highly adaptive, general-purpose AI engine. He is actively
involved <BR>in futurism, free-market ideas, and extreme life-extension. Come
<BR>join us for what will certainly be an enlightening look into the
<BR>opportunities and challenges of theoretical and applied general A.I.
<BR>activities here in 2004.<BR><BR>Speaker 2: Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Ph.D., Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (8:30-<BR>9:30pm)<BR>"Biologically-Inspired Intelligent
Robots" <BR>Our Featured Book (available for booksigning): Biologically-Inspired
<BR>Intelligent Robots, Yoseph Bar-Cohen (Editor), Cynthia Breazeal, <BR>2003 <A
href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?">http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?</A><BR>isbn=0819448729<BR><BR>Throughout
history, humans have always sought to mimic the <BR>appearance, mobility,
functionality, intelligent operation, as well <BR>as the decision-making and
thinking process of biological creatures. <BR>Recent progress in the field of
biologically inspired technologies <BR>led to the development of systems that
exhibit realistic appearance <BR>and behavior. Robots, which verbally and
facially express emotions <BR>as well as respond emotionally to such
expressions, are now being <BR>developed with enormous capability and
sophistication. Imagine a <BR>person walking towards you and suddenly you notice
something weird <BR>about him - he is not human but rather a robot driven by
artificial <BR>muscles. Your reaction would probably be "I can't believe it but
<BR>this robot looks very much real", just as you would react to an
<BR>artificial flower that is a good imitation. You may even proceed and
<BR>touch the robot to check if your assessment is correct but to your
<BR>astonishment, as oppose to the case of artificial flowers, the robot <BR>may
be programmed to respond verbally and/or physically to your <BR>touch. This
science fiction scenario may become a reality as the <BR>current trend continues
and robots that appear and behave as human <BR>or animals will appear
increasingly realistic. This capability is <BR>becoming feasible as advances are
being made in such related <BR>technologies as artificial intelligence, muscles,
vision and others. <BR>In this presentation, the state of the art will be
reviewed with <BR>emphasis on the emerging technology of artificial muscles,
which is <BR>a key to enabling the development of such robots. <BR><BR>Dr.
Yoseph Bar-Cohen (home page: <A
href="http://ndeaa.jpl.nasa.gov/nasa-">http://ndeaa.jpl.nasa.gov/nasa-</A><BR>nde/yosi/yosi.htm)
is a physicist specializing in electroactive <BR>materials and mechanism as well
as ultrasonics. He is a Senior <BR>Research Scientist, and Group Leader at Jet
Propulsion Laboratory <BR>(JPL) responsible for the NDE and Advanced Actuators
(NDEAA) Lab <BR>(<A
href="http://ndeaa.jpl.nasa.gov/).">http://ndeaa.jpl.nasa.gov/).</A> He is a
Fellow of two technical <BR>societies: SPIE and ASNT. Dr. Bar-Cohen received his
Ph. D. in <BR>physics (1979) from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. He
has <BR>authored or coauthored over 250 publications, and some of his
<BR>notable discoveries include the leaky Lamb waves (LLW) and polar
<BR>backscattering (PBS) phenomena in composite materials. He is the
<BR>initiator of the SPIE Conf. on Electroactive Polymers (EAP), <BR>chairing it
since 1999. For his contributions to the field of EAP, <BR>Business Week named
him in April 2003 as one of five technology <BR>gurus who are "Pushing Tech's
Boundaries." He is a recipient of the <BR>2001 NASA Exceptional Engineering
Achievement Medal and SPIE's NDE <BR>Lifetime Achievement Award. Come hear about
the history and future <BR>of biomimetic robots from one of the leading
innovators in this <BR>rapidly changing arena.<BR><BR>As is customary, dinner
afterward at a local restaurant for those <BR>socially and culinarily inclined.
See you soon! <BR><BR>[Note: LA Futurists is a future-oriented Events & News
list, not a <BR>discussion list. An average of one post per month per member is
<BR>requested. Set "Edit My Membership" <BR>(<A
href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LAFuturists/)">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LAFuturists/)</A>
to "Special Notices" if <BR>you want monthly salon reminders
only.]<BR><BR></TT></BODY></HTML>