Op Ed

Singularity University Video Tour

by Socrates
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After posting a few pictures from my first 4 days at Singularity University I received emails asking for video. So, when I saw that last Sunday afternoon the NASA Ames campus was nearly deserted, and most SingularityU students were either out or still recovering from the previous night’s big birthday bash in San Francisco, I seized the opportunity and went around filming some video around campus. It was a very bright and beautiful Sunday afternoon, though the wind did interfere very notably with the audio. Anyway, my narrative is still audible and I hope you find it interesting. Enjoy my Singularity University Video Tour: Part 1: NASA Ames Campus Part 2: Singularity University Main Building and Lecture Hall Part 3: Computer Lab and BBQ Area

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Snap-shots from My First 4 Days at Singularity University

by Socrates
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A few of you have asked me to post my class schedule. So, here it is: Singularity University GSP11 Schedule Now that you’ve seen it, perhaps you would forgive me that I barely have any time to post articles on SingularityWeblog.com. I will do my best to publish as much interesting pictures and/or information as I can, plus a surprise or two here and there, but please be patient if I can’t post every day. Anyway, as a result of your numerous emails, today I thought I’d give you some snap-shot glimpses of my first 4 days here at the NASA Ames SingularityU campus: A group-shot of Ray Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis with all summer Graduate Studies students for 2011. Peter Diamandis is handing me a Singularity University pin at the invocation ceremony which was held at the San Francisco [...]

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Singularity University Day 2: Failure is an Option

by Socrates
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My second day at Singularity University started by taking a few pictures at the entrance of the NASA Ames campus. After I got the evidence I actually am here, I run to three fantastic lectures: Introduction to AI and Robotics by Neil Jacobstein followed by Daniel Kraft on Medicine and Neuroscience and Ruby Gadelrab on Biotech and Bioinformatics. In the afternoon we had a 4 hour team-building bootcamp on one of the fields near NASA’s main office buildings. (Unfortunately my team did not win, though we did get much better by the end.) The culmination was a mind blowing lecture by 3 time astronaut Dan Barry called Failure is an Option. During his speech Dan told us both his and his wife’s life story and the almost infinite number of personal failures and rejections they had to go through before accomplishing [...]

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Singularity University Day 1: Meeting Ray and Peter

by Socrates
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My very first day at Singularity University was as intense as it was amazing. I got to personally meet and shake hands with both Ray Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis. Our very full schedule started at 7:30 am with breakfast and went through program overviews and introductions, eventually culminating with a mind-blowing spirit-pumping opening ceremony at the San Francisco Computer History Museum. At the consequent wine-and-cheese cocktail party we got to mingle with other SingularityU alumni and dozens of Silicon Valley VIP’s. For those for whom that was not enough there was a Greek-turned-Brazilian dance party in the main student hall on campus which went on until the early hours of the morning. *** A former student who took the program last year told me that after the end he went home and slept 14 hours per day for 2 weeks. [...]

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How I Almost Didn’t Make It to Singularity University: Moses vs The US DHS

by Socrates

“But I am a Canadian citizen” – protested I. After failing to evoke any sympathy what-so-ever I was desperate. I decided to use my last, and what I thought was my most powerful card: “And my wife is American.” “Son,” the DHS Officer said, “It is only me and you now, and not even Moses can part the sea for you” … “Unless I say so!”, he added after an expressive pause. I drifted back and thought about the way I felt a few hours earlier, as I was walking into the airport to catch a plane to Singularity University. On my way in, I felt like the king of the world – a near immortal walking on clouds. Six hours later, I stood there a changed man – not merely mortal, but very much vulnerable and totally insignificant. His [...]

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X-Men First Class: Transhumanism for the Masses or Aren’t We All Mutants?

by Socrates

Have you ever felt lonely, struggled to fit in and be normal or been rejected just because you’re different? Have you ever sought to find out who you really are? Have you ever wondered if there are others who feel like you? If you have, then, you will probably like the new X-Men: First Class. The fifth and, in my opinion, best installment of the series, is not a movie about being a comic superhero endowed with amazing powers. It is a movie about being human and facing all the accompanying eternal questions of the human condition. A movie about feeling different and trying to find your place. About striving to fit in, be accepted and normal. (Whatever that may mean?!) About finding out who you really are and embracing it all - the amazing as well as the imperfect [...]

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My Surprise Singularity Birthday Cake

by Socrates

Greetings friends, As I return to regular posting schedule the first thing I wanted to share with you is that last Friday was my 35th birthday. I’ve been lapsing in a period of denial and some blogger’s burn-out and thus didn’t plan to celebrate the occasion, however, my wife Julie and the family on her side had a little backyard brunch surprise for me right after my late morning bike ride. Few things can cheer one up better than lots of good food consumed in the company of good people, not to mention the presents, but the biggest, most pleasant surprise was the Singularity Weblog logo cake that Julie got custom made for me. I want to thank my family for being so great but also want to thank you for reading Singularity Weblog. I would have preferred to be [...]

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Irrational Certainty: Is Predicting the End of the World Different from Predicting the Singularity is Near?

by Hans Elde

I have to admit that I was excited when I woke up this morning, after all, how many times do you get to wake up at the start of the end of the world? It was May 21 2011, the day of Rapture, according to a Harold Camping; it was the day when true Christians would be whisked away to heaven while us heathens got 5 months to ourselves (admittedly it would be 6 months of ‘chaos’) before the world ended in October. I was pumped. I checked the page on Facebook for “Post Rapture Looting” (“when everyone is gone and god’s not looking, we need to pick up some sweet stereo equipment and maybe some new furniture for the mansion we’re going to squat in”), an event that has over 2 million invited guests but unfortunately only about 800,000 [...]

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