THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY
SINGULARITY SUMMIT 2011
AUGUST 20-21
RMIT UNIVERSITY MELBOURNE
What will tomorrow look like?
Few could predict just how fast and dramatic the social, economic and political impacts of computer technology could be in our lifetimes.
If present trends are to continue, computers will have more advanced and powerful ‘brains’ than humans within 25 years.
This August, leading scientists, inventors and philosophers will gather at RMIT to discuss the upcoming ‘intelligence explosion’ that many now refer to as ‘The Singularity’- a technological breakthrough that promises to eclipse previous computing developments with the creation of super-human machines.
The ‘Singularity Summit’ – a part of National Science Week – is an unprecedented opportunity to engage with today’s leading experts on emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, nanotechnology and brain-computer interfaces – right here in Melbourne.
As a pre-summit launch, the Australian premiere of documentary ‘Transcendent Man’ – featuring leading futurist, singularity advocate and recent Time Magazine cover star ‘Ray Kurzweil’ – will be held at Nova Cinemas, Carlton on August 19.
The screening will also feature a prerecorded message to Australia from Ray Kurzweil and producer Barry Ptolemy, and a Q&A session with documentary participants and Internationally renowned Artificial Intelligence (AI) experts – Dr Ben Goertzel and Dr Hugo De Garis – both of whom will also be presenting at the summit.
The 2010 Singularity Summit drew over a hundred local, interstate and international enthusiasts to hear first-rate speakers from a range of fields.
In 2011, we have again assembled a stellar line-up – Including leading Artificial Intelligence experts Dr Ben Goertzel and Professor Steve Omohundro, popular scientist Dr Lawrence Krauss and renowned philosopher Dr David Chalmers. This years summit will also feature exciting robotic demonstrations by Professor Raymond Jarvis, and others.
The summit will explore the important ethical and philosophical dimensions of the Singularity – whilst sharing the very latest scientific and technological breakthroughs.
There’s simply no better way to glimpse the future of these exciting technologies.
Seating is limited, so Secure your tickets for the 2011 Summit Here >>
The conference will be held at Casey Plaza at RMIT or a larger venue if needed.
http://summit2011.singinst.org.au/
Speakers and subjects include:
- David Chalmers Leading Philosopher of Consciousness “The Singularity – A Philosophical Analysis”
- Lawrence Krauss – Leading physicist and best-selling author of “The Physics of Star Trek” – “The Future of Life in the Universe”
- Ben Goertzel – Renowned AI researcher and leader of the OpenCog project – “AI Roadmaps”
- Steve Omohundro – Renowned AI researcher – “Minds Making Minds: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity”
- Ray Jarvis – “The Envy of Roboticists – the Future of AI in the Material World”
- Alan Hájek – “A Plea for the Improbable”
- Ian Robinson – “Rationality & Transhumanism”
- Kevin B. Korb – “Bayesian Artificial Intelligence”
- Ben Goertzel Leading AI researcher – “Artificial General Intelligence”
- James Newton-Thomas Machine Intelligence Engineer – “Advances in Science and Technology”
- Burkard Polster – “The Problem With Probability”
- David Dowe – Artificial Intelligence – “AI and Solomonoff Induction”
- and many more…
This conference is brought to you by Humanity+ @ Melbourne (Victoria, Australia). Humanity+ explores how society might use and profit from a variety of creative and innovative thought.
Join in an exciting weekend as we explore the surprising future. See you there!
And please feel free to pass this on.
It is hypothesised that Machines will out think humans before mid century.
Professor Hugo de Garis says in History Channel’s documentary Prophets of Doom “It is only a question of time now before humanity can build artificial brains that are far more intelligent than human beings. So this is a huge issue that will eclipse any other human issue this century…I call this ‘Species dominance’.”
Although this sounds like science fiction, lately ‘The Singularity’ been taken this very seriously. This year it has made the cover of Time Magazine, sprouting like mushrooms in news reports in the aftermath of IBMs AI ‘Watson’ winning at quiz show Jeopardy, and the topic of feature and TV documentaries (i.e. ‘Transcendent Man‘). You have people like Larry Page (CEO of Google), Steve Wozniak (Co-founder of Apple) and Justin Rattner (CTO of Intel) taking an interest in this stuff, prominent public figures willing to associate their names with the Singularity, the idea is moving away from the fringes, and if it is not mainstream yet, then it is definitely a lot closer.
“If you go back 500 years, not much happened in a century. Now a lot happens in 6 months.” says Ray Kurzweil in documentary Transcendent Man. “Technology feeds on itself and it gets faster and faster, it’s going to continue, and in about 40 years it is going to become so fast, the pace of change is going to be so astonishingly quick that you won’t be able to follow it, unless, you enhance your own intelligence by merging with the intelligent technology we have created.”
This conference will challenge and enhance your view of the future.