Fwd: Re: How Kurzweil lost the Singularity

From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Thu Jun 20 2002 - 15:06:34 MDT


 From Max More:


attached mail follows:


At 04:13 AM 6/20/2002 -0400, Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:

>Max, I am fully aware of this, which is why I cited the Foresight
>Institute and Neural Signals, Inc., neither of which I am personally
>involved with, as well as the work of researchers who Kurzweil
>specifically mentioned as important at the Foresight Gathering.

Yes, I realize that. As I said, I share your general goal of boosting this
kind of research. The point of my message was not at all to dispute this
goal. It was to make a particular point that I felt I ought to make since
my silence on it, especially after being sent the message, could be
misinterpreted.

> (Perhaps I should have mentioned the Extropy Institute as well.)

No, I don't think so. ExI is not a research organization. If we had really
impressive sums, it could be. I aim to interview a certain
multi-billionaire tech enthusiastic soon who is already in the process of
pushing technological innovation. If I can encourage him in the direction
of IA work and superlongevity work (which I place just as high if not
higher in priority), I will.

> This is not about the merits of any one course of research, but a
> question of how we are to fulfill those moral obligations that devolve
> upon us when we become aware of the Singularity.

Yes, I largely agree with everything else you say here and following.

>What I fear is a world in which people hear about the Singularity and use
>it to rationalize whatever they were already doing.

I understand and fully agree. In a related context, it's common for
researchers to present their existing work to fit current enthusiasms
funded by universities and government.

I have no idea what research Ray is current doing or funding. I merely
wanted to call your attention to how some others may view your own work at
this stage.

Onward to all of us!

Max

"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare."
--Japanese proverb

_______________________________________________________
Max More, Ph.D.
max@maxmore.com or more@extropy.org
http://www.maxmore.com
Strategic Philosopher
President, Extropy Institute. http://www.extropy.org <more@extropy.org>
________________________________________________________________
Director of Content Solutions, ManyWorlds Inc.: http://www.manyworlds.com
--- Thought leadership in the innovation economy
m.more@manyworlds.com
_______________________________________________________



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