Michael Anissimov is Media Director for the Singularity Institute and Fundraising Director, North America for the Lifeboat Foundation. He is a science/technology writer and “futurist”, which just means someone who makes educated guesses about speculative technological probabilities. After taking a few math and science classes at the City College of San Francisco, he left in 2002 to found the Immortality Institute, a grassroots life extension advocacy organization, and do fundraising work for the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, an organization devoted to research on safe artificial intelligence. Concurrently, he pursued a freelance career in science and technology writing. To that end, he has contributed over 1,600 short factual articles to WiseGeek.com, a website that promises “clear answers for common questions”. WiseGeek received over 62 million visitors in 2008.

In January 2006, Michael expanded his capacity to hound others about the wonders of technology and its central significance to humanity’s future by starting a blog, Accelerating Future. Since its founding, the blog has received over 5 million visits and been featured on G4.TV’s Attack of the Show and SciFi.com. Posts of Michael’s have appeared on the front page of Digg and Reddit. Since appearing on the scene, Michael has received some light media coverage, being interviewed by Psychology Today in 2008. Throughout 2009, his articles have appeared in h+ magazine, which hit newsstands for its Fall 2009 issue. Since 2003, Michael has given talks on the risks and benefits of emerging technologies at conferences and seminars in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Palo Alto, and at Yale University.

The topics that Michael focuses the most on are artificial intelligence, molecular nanotechnology, transhumanism, intelligence enhancement, and extinction risk. He believes that humanity could rise or fall in the 21st century depending on how we handle these technologies. His views on the dangers of advanced technology are very similar to those presented by Bill Joy in his WIRED article, “Why the future doesn’t need us”, except Michael believes that relinquishment is infeasible. Instead, he advocates selective development — the acceleration of beneficial technologies (especially intelligence enhancement and Friendly AI) so that their problem-solving capabilities can be brought to bear on the risks of other advanced technologies.

Michael has been a consultant for a variety of future-oriented non-profit organizations and for-profit companies including the Methuselah Foundation, Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, and Kurzweil Technologies. On behalf of the Lifeboat Foundation and the Singularity Institute, Michael has briefed the representatives of organizations such as the US Navy and spoken informally with reporters at outlets such as The New York Times, New Scientist, Financial Times, The Guardian, and many other regional newspapers.

Michael is 25 years old and resides in San Francisco with his long-time girlfriend Sarah Rose, who is pursuing a dual major in English and Theater at San Francisco State University. He was born in Burlingame, CA, and moved to San Francisco in 2000. Around San Francisco, he enjoys hanging out at the beach, in Golden Gate Park, downtown, and on the peaks of the City’s many hills. Michael has climbed (though not necessarily summited) several mountains, including Mt. Shasta and Mt. Whitney in California and Mt. Elbrus in Russia. His favorite dish at the moment is curry, and his favorite ecosystem is the Hawaiian Rainforest. His ethnic background is roughly 90% Russian, 10% German/Bulgarian/Latvian.

For media inquiries and speaking requests, please email Michael at michaelanissimov(at)gmail(dot)com.