[extropy-chat] singularity conference at stanford

Sun May 14 22:38:48 UTC 2006

What a great day.  The singularity is much nearER the day after the
summit than it was the day before.  Or maybe, just maybe, IT HAPPENED,
yesterday.  Who can really tell and how would we really know, after
all?  Odds are that we won't ever "see" it anyway, but in hindsight.

People from all over the country were there and in comparison to the
120 or so from the earliest Accelerating Change conference (according
to my new buddy Dennis, in line before the event), the Singularity
Summit was more than 2000 strong!  The meme is spreading and the more
it is scrutinized, deconstructed, and smelted under the blistering
heat of the public spotlight, the more refined and effective it
becomes.

Eliezer Yudkowski: Many extra credit points for focusing on the
Intelligence Explosion and refusing to be held hostage to our limited
vocabulary.  GREAT pace and tenor of delivery.  "Singularity" is
certainly a compelling term and idea, but as you rightly explained, it
has nowhere near the organizing potential of "ecology."  We need "the"
word to vitally mobilize these efforts and actively embed them into
the global cultural fabric.  Thank for for defending the perimeter
from fruitless and innane religious debate.  That does not mean the
topic itself is unimportant, it was just not the right venue for it.
Assignment from Eliezer: Solve reflectivity, and you get a gold star
on your paper!

Max: Seemed like a bit of a ProP infomercial, but if I hadn't already
been familiar with ProP, I probably would have felt otherwise.  I have
say that in order to somewhat restrain my otherwise dopey, starstruck
admiration for your work.  One should grow out of that, at some point.
 Of course, the burden of providing that ultimate meta-context for the
tribe is heavy, heavy, heavy, man, and you bear it well.

Cory Doctorow: How did I go this long without knowing this name?  I
must have had some seriously faulty circuits somewhere, selective ADD,
or some out-of-phase, de-tuned info-filter in my brain, but I'm glad
that the summit corrected for that gross oversight on my part.
Brilliant orator and apologist for all things singularitarian and
digitally millennial. Everyone: Support the DRCMA!!!

John Smart: we KNOW you are a brilliant and illumined brother, but 90
slides in 20 minutes? Perhaps it was a sense of urgency to get all
that information out when the opportunity presented itself, but we can
get the information any time, thanks to your fantastic writing and web
site.  At a conference, we want to get to know YOU a little more.

I convey only a deep respect when I suggest to try and relax and know
that your station is assured, your seat at the table perpetually
reserved.  We all know that we can't keep up with you, but if you want
us to FOLLOW, we need a trail guide that glances back over the
shoulder to make sure the peloton is in tow.  Study Ray's PACE of
delivery ... he's hit a sweet spot for sheer volume of intellectual
content throughput.

And  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to both Doug Hofstadter and (live
by the most bitchin' gadget of the conference, Teleportec) Bill
McKibben for their much needed cross-examination.  If not for their
ever loyal incisive contributions, the Singularity would rapidly
implode under the weight of it's own self-centered gravity.  Doug: It
might be time for "A  Coffeehouse Conversation" update on this 25th
anniversary of the May 1981 Scientific American essay. :)

Nick Bostrom: That which "seems 2% likely" to occur, ACTUALLY OCCURS
42.6% of the time.  Everyone: adjust your Expectation Meters
accordingly!

WE NEED TO HELP DR. CARLOS FEDER!

Finally, and perhaps most importantly: I sat next to Dr. Carlos Feder,
of Stanford Medical Center. His focus is on AI in Medical Diagnosis.
Dr. Feder's draft book may be a crucial foundation for this specific
application of AI.  There is no way that today's physicians can keep
up with the amount of information published daily and we are missing
out on many healing opportunities.  Incorrect and under-informed
diagnoses are escalating due to the Human Brain Bandwidth Constraint.
There is a kind of AI that can solve this.  We need to reach into
"mind-space" and pull out an AI that will fill this vital need.  It's
a very palpable  and attainable goal for short-to-mid term artificial
intelligence.  The problem is focused, increasingly well-defined, and
an essetial step down the extropian road.

When Max was pressed for predictions I interpreted his response as,
"Predictions are for amatuers or astrologers.  Let's set TIMELINES and
GOALS and get to work.  It will happen when we PLAN it and MAKE it
happen."

So what are we waiting for?  Let's get to work helping Dr. Carlos
Feder and make Medical Diagnostic AI a fully funded priority.
Jurvetson, Thiel, get out the checkbook and let's "git 'er done!"

On 5/14/06, Natasha Vita-More <natasha at natasha.cc> wrote:
> At 12:43 AM 5/14/2006, Spike wrote:
>
> >That was a terrific conference at Stanford today, ja?  I was cheered to see
> >many old friends there.
>
> Glad to hear this and I wish I could have been there.
>
> Natasha
>
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