Connectionists: The Future of Technology - Singularity Summit Australia 2011

[Rose Josling]

‘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.











-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20110724/8afb094c/attachment.html