DARPA Grand Challenge 2005 (Wikipedia)

Significant artificial intelligence – “AI” – is just around the corner. 2011 has been a particularly good year for it: IBM computer Watson beat the two top Jeopardy! quiz show contestants in February. But some of the other milestones of AI have been particularly memorable.

The first major AI event many remember was when IBM’s Deep Blue computer beat chess master Gary Kasparov in a series of games. This was only in 1997. It was preceded by a number of attempts to beat a chess master – which failed.

Then in 2005, Stanford University produced a robot which drove alone along a desert trail for 131 miles. This was the DARPA challenge. Similarly, the previous couple of years saw attempts which failed.

Human ingenuity is such that we keep trying until we get there. And so with AI.

It’s been said that it’s about time that we started to focus the debate on how to deal with the emerging technology before it’s too late to influence it.

The Singularity Institute Is A Leader In Approaching AI

The Singularity Institute – whose leading light is brilliant inventor and thinker Ray Kurzweil – is pushing forward a programme of “Friendly AI”. They quote PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel who says:

“I’m interested in facilitating a forum in which there can be… substantive research on how to bring about a world in which AI will be friendly to humans rather than hostile… [The Singularity Institute represents] a combination of very talented people with the right problem space [they're] going after… [They've] done a phenomenal job… on a shoestring budget. From my perspective, the key question is always: What’s the amount of leverage you get as an investor? Where can a small amount make a big difference? This is a very leveraged kind of philanthropy.”

Donate To “Friendly AI” – And Double Your Effect

Thanks to benefactors, every pound you donate to the Singularity Institute for AI will be used to study and think through the important matters of how to keep AI safe and friendly.

They say: “…the Singularity Institute has been thinking about how to create safe and ethical artificial intelligence since long before the Singularity landed on the front cover of TIME magazine.”

We need to be thinking about this important matter now – and I have donated. I hope you will too – you can do so here:

http://singinst.org/2011summerchallenge

Related articles on Artificial Intelligence

• SIAI $125,000 Summer Singularity Challenge Launched (acceleratingfuture.com)
• Artificial Intelligence 7/29/2011 (empressoftheglobaluniverse.wordpress.com)
• 2001: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (moviehart.wordpress.com)

We Need To Think Through Artificial Intelligence Now is a post from: Living To 150

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Ray Kurzweil’s assertion is that the progress of society is occurring at an ever faster and faster pace. This means that advances in technology are happening at a logarithmic rate of progression – they happen faster and faster.

Mankind’s early discoveries – using fire for cooking, the wheel, growing crops – took millions of years to evolve. Nowadays, evolution happens much faster.

I can remember thinking about early computers: “Well that’s interesting, but what can you do with it apart from play silly games?”

Then came Windows, and then the Internet – in rapid succession. Modems gave way to broadband: and now fibre optic is present for millions (and around the corner for the rest).

Just ponder the thought that 10 years ago we did not use search engines, – Google was not heard of.

In this video Ray Kurzweil expands on that vision and predicts what the next 10, 20, 30 or 40 years holds for us. It’s going to be an exciting ride.

Ray Kurzweil – Futurist

[Recorded July 13 2009] Ray Kurzweil is a 21st century scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, author, visionary and futurist. As a scientist and inventor he has pioneered work in optical character recognition (OCR), speech recognition and invented the first electric piano.

Related articles about Ray Kurzweil

• Sean McBride: Futurist Ray Kurzweil isn’t worried about climate change (kurzweilai.net)
• The Immortal Ambitions of Ray Kurzweil: A Review of ‘Transcendent Man’ (scientificamerican.com)
• Transcendent Man, a Documentary About Futurist Ray Kurzweil (laughingsquid.com)
• Ray Kurzweil in Time Magazine (speculist.com)

Ray Kurzweil Predicts The Future is a post from: Living To 150

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Genius Ray Kurzweil has long predicted the time when a computer will be able to think at the same rate as a human.

He predicts that this time – which he calls the Singularity – will occur around 2045. It will have tremendous repercussions for humanity. Kurzweil explores the Singularity on this video.

Do let me know what you think – leave a comment.

Ray Kurweil – The Singularity: When Computer=Brain is a post from: Living To 150

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I have now had my treatment plan from the Harley Street dentist.

At the bottom left I have three teeth all with large fillings which are the ones she is most concerned about. She thinks these are ‘doomed’ to break down sooner rather than later without intervention. So this means three crowns.

Upper left I have a tooth which has crack at the root and fallen out. I knew this would need treatment. She plans to remove the remaining root, let it heal for three months, then have a titanium screw inserted. She has shown me on an xray that there is plenty of bone at this point to put the screw.

This part is no different from the treatment planned by my usual dentist.

Upper right, the back half of the back tooth has previously been mainly filling and a big chunk of this has fallen off. Another crown there.

Lower right a cusp has cracked off a tooth with a big filling. A crown for this – again, as proposed by by usual dentist.

The differences are – this dentist proposed taking much more action immediately as this is, as she calls it, ‘conservative’. I supposed you could say ‘conservational’. In other words, my teeth will last longer. And that is what I want.

I will go ahead with the plan.

Dental Treatment Plan is a post from: Living To 150

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Livingto150.com is a blog of Malcolm Simmonds, acupuncturist, herbalist, naturopath, based near Brighton, on the southern coast of the UK.

“I became fascinated by longevity, or “life extension”, after reading Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever, by Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman. Having been interested in alternative healthcare for many years, I decide to study this topic further.

This resulted, eventually, in my visiting Dr Terry Grossman co-author of the book mentioned above, in his anti-aging clinic in Denver, Colorado, for a 2-day consultation/checkup. One of the test I took reckoned that I should be 39 years old, from the measurements it took, rather than my 57 years in actuality. That was very pleasing; and I thank my parents for my genes

I return to the USA every couple of years or so for 80 or so blood tests to keep track of essential features of my health. It is massively cheaper than doing the same in the UK. My last visit was in April 2011.

I spend much of my time now working on my herbal supplement company, Specialist Herbal Supplies, a supplier of high quality herbal supplements; as well as a good deal of time on producing various websites and blogs.

About is a post from: Living To 150

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