Starting on May 28th, the Singularity Institute ran a one-week Rationality Training Camp. Our exit survey shows that the camp was very well-received, surpassing the expectations of the organizers and the participants.
Knowledge and skills taught and practiced include:
- Testing one’s beliefs, updating on evidence
- Designing and modifying desires
- Avoiding rationalization and overcoming biases
- Using probability theory, Fermi calculations, and microeconomics in everyday decisions
- Motivation, productivity, and efficient scholarship
- Effective communication
- Body language, social touch, and fashion
- Optimal philanthropy
- Existential risks
Participants volunteered to teach from their own fields of expertise, too, and led lessons on business, martial arts stretching, salsa dancing, and more.
Participants are positioned to have current and future impact on the world in math, artificial intelligence, philosophy, finance, optimal philanthropy, software engineering, and other fields. They continue to share the minicamp’s impact on themselves, and the impact they are having on others as a result, via an online mailing list and regular Skype video chats. There are also ongoing strategic discussions, for example concerning how best to persuade AI researchers of AI risks.
Oh, and we became friends, too. 
Data concerning the minicamp’s effect on participants’ rationality and life success are still being collected.
Interested in emerging technologies?
Fascinated by the potential in transformative nanotech?
Come explore the future with…
FORESIGHT@GOOGLE
25th Anniversary Conference Celebration and Reunion Weekend
Google HQ in Mountain View, CA
June 25-26 2011
A rockstar lineup of speakers and panelists include:
⢠WILLIAM ANDREGG – Founder/CEO of Halcyon Molecular
⢠MIKE GARNER, PhD – Chair of ITRS Emerging Research Materials
⢠MIKE NELSON – CTO of NanoInk
⢠LUKE NOSEK – CoFounder of Paypal, Founders Fund Partner
⢠Keynote: BARNEY PELL, PhD – Cofounder/CTO of Moon Express
⢠PAUL SAFFO, PhD – Wired, NYT-published strategist & forecaster
⢠SIR FRASER STODDART, PhD – Knighted for creation of molecular “switches” and a new field of nanochemistry
⢠THOMAS THEIS, PhD – IBM’s Director of Physical Sciences
⢠Keynote: JIM VON EHR – Founder/President of Zyvex, the world’s first successful molecular nanotech company
For the full speaker roster, as well as information on our exclusive 25th Anniversary Banquet, see our conference website:
http://www.foresight.org/reunion
Space is limited!
For $50 off, register now with our organization’s special discount code: SIAI
Coming up this June 4-5 in Salt Lake City! Register now in the lower right hand corner of the site.
The Summit will begin with Michael Vassar discussing the strange time-lag between technological invention and mainstream adoption. Deepa Kulkarni will share her story of the doctors who told her that her lost fingertip couldn’t be regained, and how she researched a known but little-used procedure for tissue regeneration. Jaan Tallinn, a founding engineer of Skype, will Skype in to speak on the lessons of his career. Dr. Zheng Cui will present his discovery of a white blood cell transfusion with a 100% success rate for cancer treatment in mice; and his collaborator Dr. Dipnarine Maharaj will talk about the clinical trial of this and other transfusion therapy at his Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Treatment Facility. After lunch, Ray Kurzweil will join us via telepresence to share his vision of the future of artificial intelligence and of mankind’s fusion with machines. Paypal Co-Founder and Founder’s Fund Partner Luke Nosek will discuss genomics investing and Halcyon Molecular’s vision of DNA sequencing. Khan Academy President Shantanu Sinha will explain how his nonprofit is using technology to revolutionize the education system. And finally Aubrey de Grey, the Chief Science Officer at the SENS Foundation, will conclude with his view of how technology can and should cure aging. We all hope to see you there soon!
