From: Ramez Naam (mez@apexnano.com)
Date: Wed Apr 30 2003 - 20:01:39 MDT
From: Ben Goertzel [mailto:ben@goertzel.org]
mez:
> > > b) Giving you more direct credibility. Scientific publications,
> > > technical books, and mainstream credentials all increase your
> > > ability to raise funds from private sources, acquire funds in
the
> > > form of grants, and convince others of your ideas.
eliezer:
> > They increase them very little.
ben:
> Actually, i don't think this is true. I think that official
> credentials would significantly enhance your chances of
> raising funding. However, I'm not sure they have to be
> *your* credentials. Having SIAI allied with a few people who
> have good names in the AI community would certainly go a long
> way toward enhancing the funding outlook.
Indeed. If you look at where R&D dollars come from in this country,
it's primarily two sources:
1) Industry
2) Government grants
In this context, one way to acquire resources for your project would
be to take Ben's approach - mate your long term goals with short term
products you can sell. I presume you've already thought of this and
rejected it. That's fine - there are plenty of valid reasons why that
approach might not be right for you.
As far as philanthropy goes, that doesn't seem like a likely source,
even with the credentials. Philanthropists generally give money to
causes they understand (which pretty much rules out SIAI).
Philanthropy also provides a fairly tiny amount of money when compared
to the other two sources, and that proportion is shrinking.
So then the other realistic source of funding is grants. Granting
agencies like credentials. They like PhDs and publications in peer
reviewed journals. As Ben said, these credentials don't necessarily
have to be yours, but they're useful for someone on the team to have.
mez
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