One of the most brilliant people I have ever met is Michael Vassar.

We are both focused on minimizing the probability of a planetary disaster that wipes out all life, be it biological, nanotechnological, or infosci in origin. Today, myself and Vassar share membership in two organizations: the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) and the Lifeboat Foundation. At CRN, we are both members of the CRN Global Task Force, and at the Lifeboat Foundation, he is Director of Long-term Strategy while I am Fundraising Director for North America. We are also big advocates of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Following are links to some papers of his, which you should consider checking out:

Corporate Cornucopia

The development of Molecular Nanotechnology (MNT) promises to rapidly lead to cheap superior replacements for a large majority of durable goods, all existing utilities, a substantial fraction of all non-durable goods and some services. For this reason and due to the relatively low expected cost of developing nanofactories, MNT represents the largest commercial opportunity of all time. Unfortunately, the very size of the opportunity, combined with its extreme suddenness, military significance, potential for disruption of existing institutions, and ease of duplication create certain severe complications which lead to difficulties in capturing the value created.

Memes and Rational Decisions

Although Transhumanism is not a religion, advocating as it does the critical analysis of any position; it does have certain characteristics which may lead to its identification as such by concerned skeptics. I am sure that everyone here has had to deal with this difficulty, and as it is a cause of perplexity for me I would appreciate it if anyone who has some suggested guidelines for interacting honestly with non-transhumanists share them at the end of my presentation. It seems likely to me that each of our minds contains either meme complexes or complex functional adaptations which have evolved to identify “religious” thoughts and to neutralize their impact on our behavior.

Sky High: What Distinguished the Highest Performing Team of All?

Radar, digital computation, and of course nuclear fission; World War 2 brought in the age of big science with a flurry of revolutionary technologies, each developed in only a few years with the help of government funding. Since then, the super well funded research project has continued to be an important model for scientific development, despite both the warnings of such illustrious figures as Freeman Dyson and Norbert Werner and the visible fact that it has lacked any noteworthy successes for a period exceeding thirty years.

Flexible Automated Manufacturing

The integration of distributed information systems with modern manufacturing techniques promises to enable a massive change in both production and distribution. Techniques are described. Economic and regulatory implications are addressed.

Pollution Credits

The molecular Manufacturing Revolution, like the Industrial Revolution and the Agricultural Revolution, should allow humans to live with a much smaller ecological footprint than their less technologically enabled ancestors could, but like previous revolutions it will also greatly increase the possible ecological footprint of a single individual. Transportation is one of the better examples of this.

Nanoscale technology energy products

Nanoscale technology promises several advanced and even breakthrough technologies that may reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. For many of these technologies, practicality requires advanced software controls and a very low cost per feature, but not molecular manufacturing.

There’s also a talk of his at a Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies event in NYC in May 2007, it’s called “Lead Me Not Into Temptation: Folk-Psychological Conceptions of Willpower and Their Implications for Policy”.