Who Cares About the Singularity?

Press articles once attempted to tap into the mystique of the Singularity by presenting it as a taboo topic discussed hushedly by the elites of science and technology. Now, it's a taboo topic discussed openly by the elites of science and technology (and a whole lot of interested laypeople, as well), and much of the mystique is gone! But don't expect journalists to drop that angle in the years to come; the Singularity is simply too complicated and controversial a concept to be presented honestly and straightforwardly by the media.

The format of the list entries will be as follows:

1. Name
2. Qualifications
3. Link to site - Number of hits for name on Google

The Google results were added as a loose guide for the "popularity" or "recognition" of a given person. Names are ordered by the number of results. I'm not trying to say that it's necessarily good for the proponents of the Singularity to be popular - some of the people with the most valuable insights regarding the Singularity are near the middle or the bottom of the list. In some cases, people possess common names, so we ran searches with a keyword reasonably likely to isolate the person we were trying to gauge the popularity of. (I.e., "James Hughes" ended up generating a lot of extraneous results, so we searched for "James Hughes", "technology" instead.)

Part of the reason there are so many well-known people from such diverse fields participating in discussion of the Singularity is that the Singularity is a profoundly interdisciplinary and convergent concept - acceleration has been taking place in nearly every scientific and technological discipline since their founding, and people are noticing. Although the actual event of the Singularity will begin with a concrete invention, many see this invention as the culmination of a process that has been taking place since the beginnings of life, or even the beginnings of the universe, making the Singularity an extremely inclusive topic.

Interesting facts: out of the 54 people currently on this list, 29 have published books, along with at least 30 who hold Ph.Ds. Over a dozen have owned businesses with over 20 employees, and several are world-renowned pioneers in the fields of computing, physics, nanotechnology, or AI. 13 have directed or currently direct non-profit organizations. The people on this list have appeared in articles in the New York Times, Popular Mechanics, New Scientist, the Wall Street Journal, and on PBS, CNN, BBC, and so on. The members of this list were not selectively chosen with popularity in mind.

In an interview, Singularity expert Eliezer Yudkowsky breaks down the number of people concerned with the Singularity; "In terms of total commitment, I would say at least two, but probably less than a dozen. In terms of being interested enough to put forth major efforts, I would say at least ten and less than a hundred. In terms of being interested enough to make minor efforts, I would say at least fifty and less than a thousand. In terms of talking about it, I would say at least hundreds and less than a million. In terms of having heard of the Singularity and thinking vaguely that it might be a good thing, it could be millions - who knows?"

The small concern here is that many of the people on this list see the Singularity as something important, something very interesting, but might not view it as something concrete that needs accomplishing - a humanitarian challenge. They might care about the Singularity (as the title of this page suggests), but "care" in the sense of anticipating a big historical event, rather than a better state they personally want to move the world towards. Considering the possible benefits of benevolent superintelligence side by side with the possible risks of human-indifferent superintelligence, this sitation is less than ideal.

Enjoy this list - perhaps some of the names will surprise you.

Arthur C. Clarke
Futurist, visionary, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Profiles of the Future
www.lsi.usp.br/~rbianchi/clarke/
225,000 results

John Robb
Former President and CEO of Userland Software
http://jrobb.mindplex.org/
70,900 results

Bill Joy
Software pioneer, formerly Chief Scientist at Sun Microsystems
http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/media/ceo/mgt_joy.html/
69,900 results

John von Neumann, Ph.D
Computing pioneer, information theorist, theoretical physicist, decision theorist
http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/VonNeumann.html
66,400 results

Stanislaw Lem
Science fiction author, philosopher
http://www.cyberiad.info/english/main.htm
50,100 results

Freeman Dyson, Ph.D
Former professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton
http://www.sns.ias.edu/~dyson/
30,700 results

Marvin Minsky, Ph.D
Professor of Computer Science at MIT, author of Society of Mind
http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/
30,500 results

Ray Kurzweil, Ph.D
Entrepreneur, futurist, author of The Age of Spiritual Machines and the forthcoming The Singularity is Near
http://www.kurzweiltech.com/
28,100 results

Vernor Vinge, Ph.D
Professor of Mathematics at San Diego University, author of A Deepness in the Sky
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~phoenix/vinge
27,700 results

William Calvin, Ph.D
Professor of Neurobiology at Washington University, author of A Brain for All Seasons
http://williamcalvin.com/index.html
20,900 results

K. Eric Drexler, Ph.D
Father of nanotechnology, author of Engines of Creation and Nanosystems
http://www.foresight.org/FI/Drexler.html
20,600 results

Sir Martin Rees
Professor of Astronomy and Cosmology, author of Our Final Hour
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/IoA/staff/mjr/
16,300 results

Douglas Engelbart, Ph.D
Computing pioneer, inventor of the mouse, professor of Computer Science
http://www.bootstrap.org/
15,800 results

Jaron Lanier
Software pioneer, Chief Scientist of Eyematic Interfaces, Inc.
http://www.well.com/user/jaron/
14,500 results

Ben Goertzel, Ph.D
Professor of Mathematics, AGI researcher, entrepreneur, author
http://www.goertzel.org/
14,400 results

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
AGI researcher, Research Fellow of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
http://yudkowsky.net/
14,200 results

Greg Egan
Science fiction author, computer programmer
http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/
13,600 results

Max More, Ph.D
Professor of Philosophy, Chairman of the Extropy Institute, business consultant, futurist
http://www.maxmore.com/
12,600 results

Hans Moravec, Ph.D
Roboticist at Carnegie Mellon University, author of Mind Children
http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~hpm/
12,200 results

Eugen Leitl
Chemist, transhumanist writer and speaker
http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~ui22204/.html/eleitl-cv.html
11,500 results

Anders Sandberg, Ph.D
Professor of Computer Science, neurobiologist, transhumanist writer and speaker
http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/cv.html
10,200 results

Damien Broderick, Ph.D
Futurist, author of The Last Mortal Generation and The Spike
http://www.panterraweb.com/the_spike.htm
9,840 results

Peter Voss
AGI researcher, entrepreneur
http://www.optimal.org/peter/peter.htm
9,400 results

Stephen Hawkings, Ph.D
Theoretical physicist, author of A Brief History of Time
http://www.hawking.org.uk/
9,270 results

Gregory Stock, Ph.D
UCLA bioethicist, author of Metaman and Redesigning Humans
http://research.mednet.ucla.edu/pmts/Stock.htm
8,880 results

John Smart
Systems theorist, futurist, author of SingularityWatch.com
http://www.singularitywatch.com/bio_johnsmart.html
8,460 results

Hal Finney
Futurist, engineer, cryptographer
http://www.finney.org/~hal/
7,120 results

Samantha Atkins
Software architect
http://www.singinst.org/comments/statements.html
5,920 results

Robin Hanson, Ph.D
Professor of Economics at George Mason University
http://hanson.gmu.edu/
5,810 results

Bart Kosko, Ph.D
Professor of Electrical Engineering, author of Heaven in a Chip
http://sipi.usc.edu/~kosko/
5,580 results

Christopher Phoenix
Director of Research, Center for Responsible Nanotechnology
http://xenophilia.org/
4,790 results

Christine Peterson
President of the Foresight Institute, nanotechnology speaker and writer
http://www.foresight.org/FI/Peterson.html
4,630 results

Nick Bostrom, Ph.D
Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University
http://www.nickbostrom.com/
4,620 results

Frank Tipler, Ph.D
Professor of Mathematics at Tulane University, author of The Physics of Immortality
http://www.math.tulane.edu/~tipler/
4,410 results

James Hughes, Ph.D
Director of the World Transhumanist Association, author of the forthcoming Cyborg Democracy
http://www.changesurfer.com/Hughes.html
4,200 results

Hugo de Garis, Ph.D
AI researcher, neural network pioneer, futurist, author
http://www.cs.usu.edu/~degaris/
3,440 results

Francis Heylighen, Ph.D
Research professor, author of the Principia Cybernetica Project
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html
3,340 results

I.J. Good, Ph.D
Computing pioneer, probability theorist, polymath, author, futurist
http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Good.html
2,970 results

Alex J. Champandard
Programmer, AI researcher, webmaster of AIDepot.com
http://ai-depot.com
2,790 results

Brian Atkins
Venture capitalist, Director of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
http://www.posthuman.com
2,580 results

Pei Wang, Ph.D
Professor of Computer Science, AGI researcher
http://www.cis.temple.edu/~pwang/
2,260 results

Natasha Vita-More
President of the Extropy Institute, transhumanist writer, artist
http://www.natasha.cc/
2,240 results

Bruce J. Klein
Life extension activist, founder of the Immortality Institute for Infinite Lifespans
http://imminst.org
1,600 results

J. Storrs Hall, Ph.D
Professor of Computer Science, nanotechnology pioneer
http://www.imm.org/HallCV.html
1,490 results

Michael Anissimov
Advocacy Director of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, primary writer for this website
http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael
1,200 results

Mike Treder
Executive Director, Center for Responsible Nanotechnology
http://www.kurzweilai.net/bios/bio0219.html
1,030 results

Stephen Reed, Ph.D
Professor of Computer Science, AI researcher for Cycorp
http://www.sl4.org/archive/0205/3754.html
919 results

Joseph N. Pelton, Ph.D
Professor for the Institute for Applied Space Research
http://www.clarkeinstitute.com/lecture8.html
770 results

Gordon Worley
Programmer, Singularity advocate, transhumanist
http://homepage.mac.com/redbird/
1,240 results

James N. Gardner
Complexity theorist, science essayist, cosmologist, author of The Selfish Biocosm Hypothesis
http://www.biocosm.org/
583 results

Mike LaTorra
Director of the World Transhumanist Association, teacher, author of The Modern Tao
http://www.transhumanism.org/speakersbureau.htm#LaTorra
906 results

Lyle Burkhead
Nanotechnology critic, futurist
http://www.geniebusters.org/
216 results

Phil Bowermaster
IT and Telecommunications company manager, blogger
http://www.speculist.com/
618 results