[extropy-chat] Singularity Summit and Survey

[Hal Finney]

We have not had much mention of the Stanford Singularity Summity coming
up May 13: http://sss.stanford.edu/ .  The list of speakers is a who's
who of what's what:

Nick Bostrom, Cory Doctorow, Eric Drexler, Tyler Emerson, Douglas
Hofstadter, Steve Jurvetson, Ray Kurzweil, Bill McKibben, Max More,
Christine Peterson, John Smart, Peter Thiel, Sebastian Thrun, Eliezer
Yudkowsky.

And guess what, the conference is free.  When would you ever get this
many interesting people in a room together?  Sounds like the conference
of a lifetime.  RSVP is required, probably so they know how big a room
to reserve.

Meanwhile the Speculist blog posts results of a survey asking readers'
opinions about the Singularity:

http://www.blog.speculist.com/archives/000730.html

Here are some of the questions with the main answers:

Will a technological singularity take place?

Yes (overwhelmingly).

What kind of singularity are we in for?

By far the most common answer was "Silent Singularity: The world changes
fundamentally, but once it happens it really doesn't seem like that big
a deal."  (Seems a bit odd to me!)

When do you think this will occur?

Biggest answer by far: 2025-2050. 

Where will the singularity start?

Biggest answer: widely distributed, no one location.  Almost as common:
USA.

How will the singularity start?

By far the biggest answer: Deliberately, primarily through AI research.

If you favor a negative scenario for the singularity, what will be the
greatest harm to humanity that will derive from it?

Biggest answer: Assumption of power by a group wielding post-singularity
technology.  Second biggest: Destruction of the human race.  Several other
answers were popular as well.

If you favor a positive scenario for the singularity, what will be the
greatest boom to humanity that will derive from it?

By far the biggest answer: The elimination of disease, aging, poverty.


See the blog for more discussion of other answers and for the many
comments from participants.

Hal