RE: Miller's The Mating Mind

From: Ben Goertzel (ben@goertzel.org)
Date: Sat Sep 28 2002 - 15:24:07 MDT



> In any case, I would advise against thinking in terms of deep pocket
> donors, and suggest that you think in terms of building a Singularity
> movement. The things you'd do to build a Singularity movement are, in
> fact, the same things that would result in people in categories
> (1) or (2)
> hearing about us. And as a mode of thinking, it lends itself to
> going out
> and building, rather than eternally waiting for a killer strike.
>
> --
> Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://intelligence.org/
> Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence


I fully agree with Eliezer here.

I would add that what will change "interested potential donors" into "actual
check-writing donors" is likely to be one of:

A) demonstrable achievements, showing that the organization in question is
really doing something moving toward the Singularity

or

B) greater popular acceptance of the Singularity notion (so the donor won't
feel like as much of an ass when he tells his friends and neighbors where he
donated his money)


There are plenty of potential donors interested in hi-tech stuff out there
right now -- people who are "sorta interested" in possibly donating to
things like SIAI or Real AI Institute. It's just a little too offbeat and a
little too speculative... it might not take that much of A or B to improve
the situation significantly...

Of course, another factor is the economy overall. At the moment, all but
the very wealthiest and the most adventurous and farsighted are holding onto
their money, not looking for new ways to invest/donate it.

Perhaps when the economy next swings back up, the Singularitarian movement
will have gotten a little more of A and/or B, and we can see a synergetic
effect.

In spite of the quibbles some of us have with Kurzweil's take on the
Singularity, I think it's very clear that his forthcoming book on the topic
will be helpful with B).

-- Ben G





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