[ExI] An overdue introduction

[John Grigg]

Welcome, Jonathan!  I bet you will fit in very well around here.  And
I have a feeling it will not be long until someone puts you to work
with some sort of project! hee  Your list of interests and
accomplishments is quite impressive.

Best wishes,

John  : )

On 8/13/08, Jonathan El-Bizri <srndpty at gmail.com> wrote:
> (Members of the AGI list, forgive me for this essentially duplicate
> message.)
>
> Somewhere in this maelstrom of lions eating zebras and rounding up zealots
> for the rapture, an introduction was missed out. I am sure I have met a
> number of you at last year's singularity summit, which I assisted with, or
> will meet you at this year's, where I will be assisting again.
>
> I am in my second year of a masters in research psychology at San Francisco
> state. My (current) thesis involves the psychological constructs of the mind
> in regards to online entities: how we conceive and relate to synthetic
> groups, such as this email list, or your friends on facebook, and also
> complex non-human systems, as they become more nuanced and intelligent.
>
> I am also working towards PMP Project and Program Management Certifications
> (despite a decade of 'real world' work, one is still required to take an
> undergraduate class to qualify for the examination :/), with an eye towards
> a career bridging the worlds of research and engineering on graduation with
> some writing on the side.
>
> This scholastic endeavour is my second (third?) life: before this I was a
> dot-commer, working at start ups, before eventually getting swallowed by
> Microsoft and then Juniper Networks. And before that, I wrote video game
> soundtracks (I'm sure you've played some of my games :>) and tv commercials,
> and managed the production group at a small game firm.
>
> In addition to working on my thesis project, I am currently reviewing the
> developmental psychology texts of my undergraduate days, in order to refresh
> myself, and with the additional intention of writing a review of the
> literature suitable for the non-developmental, non-psychologist working in
> AGI (and as a springboard towards further research of this type). If anyone
> can point me in the direction of similar work of this fashion, it would be
> appreciated - so far, the topic does not seem well covered, which is good
> news for me, after a fashion.
>
> In any case, I am enjoying the chatter here, and will probably be lurking
> around here for quite a while, depending on the anticipated advances in
> extropian and life extension technologies of course :>
>
> Regards,
>
> Jonathan El-Bizri
>