From: Ben Houston (ben@exocortex.org)
Date: Thu Apr 26 2001 - 14:19:14 MDT
> Damien, let's face it- Ray has tons more "media power" comparatively.
> Maybe it's all those prizes he keeps winning, or something else, but
when
> he publishes that book I guarantee you there will be some sort of
media
> frenzy. Perhaps someone on the list could help explain to us the
tricks
> of the trade- *hint* *hint* *hint* (you know who you are).
If there is an old boys network in the computer science / artificial
intelligence field he is definitely part of it. One cannot
underestimate how nice having a supportive group of powerful friends is.
Of course, he has been in the field of AI now for over 20 years and he
is a personable individual thus it is to be expected.
Cheers,
-ben houston
http://www.exocortex.org/~ben
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-sl4@sysopmind.com [mailto:owner-sl4@sysopmind.com] On
Behalf
> Of Brian Atkins
> Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2001 12:26 AM
> To: sl4@sysopmind.com
> Subject: Re: Journalism
>
> Damien, let's face it- Ray has tons more "media power" comparatively.
> Maybe it's all those prizes he keeps winning, or something else, but
when
> he publishes that book I guarantee you there will be some sort of
media
> frenzy. Perhaps someone on the list could help explain to us the
tricks
> of the trade- *hint* *hint* *hint* (you know who you are).
>
> Damien Broderick wrote:
> >
> > At 11:54 PM 4/23/01 -0700, Ben and then Samantha wrote:
> >
> > >> Anyway, it's clear from this conference and from Kurzweil's
> forthcoming
> > book
> > >> that the Singularity concept is going to seep into the tech media
> over the
> > >> next couple years.
> >
> > >It will go further than the tech media. It will soar into general
> > >awareness, for good or ill. Time to get those beneficial meme
machines
> > >cranking.
> >
> > I hope this does not seem off-topic or pettily self-interested, but
I
> get
> > increasingly Bent & Twisted when I see such remarks. The updated
edition
> of
> > my popular science book on the Singularity, THE SPIKE, has been
> available
> > in the USA now for three months. As far as I can see, it covers much
the
> > same territory as Ray Kurzweil's forthcoming book, with much the
same
> > optimistic attitude to the coming changes. Yet I see almost zero
> response
> > to its existence. That is, damn-all reviews in the States (despite
some
> > nice endorsements from transhumanists in forums such as the
Extropian
> > list), little acknowledgement that the thing exists.
> >
> > It's a beneficial meme machine, *in potentia*. But of course a meme
that
> > isn't taken up and circulated isn't a meme at all.
> >
> > Damien Broderick
> > [`the meme rath outgrabe'!]
>
> --
> Brian Atkins
> Director, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
> http://www.intelligence.org/
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