Singularity Summit 09
August 19th, 2009
If the human race ever constructs an entity far smarter than ourselves, the importance of that event in the scope of human history would be hard to overstate. The outcome might be a world we highly value, but it will be the last time human beings truly hold the reigns of our future, at least as we know ourselves today. But we do still hold the reigns of the future, including how we handle such a development. As one of the few venues for discussing it, this summit may be one of the most important things happening on Earth right now. So just in case you’re looking for something interesting to do, you can register here (link not repaired after site rebuild).
I registered just today, slipping in on the last day for early registration, though I’m not actually sure I’ll be going. The transportation and lodging bring the cost up to nearly a thousand, much more than I’m accustomed to spending on just a few days. I also don’t yet have a lot to contribute so I’d mostly just be observing, and in terms of the presentations I can do that from home. It’s the personal conversation and networking that I’d be most looking forward to. The unknown is how much my efforts and those of others will be helped by that, in comparison to doing something else with the money. With my limited experience in such things that’s still a pretty big unknown, but I expect to be discussing it in the coming days and weeks. And if I decide against attending then all I’ve done is donate a few hundred to the Friendly AI effort, and I don’t count that as much of a loss.
Tags: AI, Friendliness, SIAI