Jason Silva: “On the Creating and Sharing of Awe”
You are a Receiver from jason silva on Vimeo.
From here.
Jason Silva will be speaking at Singularity Summit in October.
Eliezer Yudkowsky at the Winter Intelligence Conference at Oxford: “Friendly AI: Why It’s Not That Simple”
Winter Intelligence Conference 2011 - Eliezer Yudkowsky from Future of Humanity Institute on Vimeo.
Conspiracy Theory Nutjob Alex Jones Speaks on Transhumanism
(7:30 - 13:11)
If you've never seen Alex Jones before I recommend watching this for entertainment value alone. Smart people may think they're too smart to watch this crap, but I beg to differ. Have a sense of humor.
"This is the biggest issue, it's the only issue."
"What we got out of Bilderberg this year, and the whole transhumanist agenda."
"I can't enjoy being out with friends on a jetboat. I can't enjoy a beautiful vista anymore."
Immersive Gaming – iPhone + Laser Pico Projector
I thought this was interesting. From May 2010.
Transcendent Man Documentary
See a larger version here. You have to pay $4.99 to see it though, and be in the US apparently.
iPi Soft Motion Capture
This is a year old but it is still cool.
When will this be applied to parkour?
Layar: Impactful Augmented Reality for Everyday Life
They look pretty awkward holding up that phone... looks about time for a commercial scouter to be developed.
Extremely High Resolution Realtime Rendering of Grass and Trees: Kévin Boulanger, Creator of Neptune 3D
Download link here.
Other videos. Personal homepage of Kévin Boulanger.
Boulanger's academic website hasn't been updated in a couple years, this is because he was allegedly tapped to work for EA.
Michio Kaku on 2013 Solar Maximum: “It Would Paralyze the Planet Earth”
Maybe it's nothing at all! Maybe. Still, I have enough room in my thoughts to consider this, even if the probability is low. I don't think anyone has the expertise to say for sure one way or the other.
A real analysis would involve probability distributions over solar energy flux and expensive tests on electronic equipment.
This is a good test case for our reasoning on global risk probabilities -- are we quick to make unqualified judgments, or are we willing to spend the time to find the facts?
A commenter pointed out that scientists actually predict that this solar maximum will be the least intense since 1928, but this prediction is meaningless because below-average solar maxima can still be extremely intense:
"If our prediction is correct, Solar Cycle 24 will have a peak sunspot number of 90, the lowest of any cycle since 1928 when Solar Cycle 16 peaked at 78," says panel chairman Doug Biesecker of the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center.
It is tempting to describe such a cycle as "weak" or "mild," but that could give the wrong impression.
"Even a below-average cycle is capable of producing severe space weather," points out Biesecker. "The great geomagnetic storm of 1859, for instance, occurred during a solar cycle of about the same size we’re predicting for 2013."
Does this mean that every 13 years is a significant danger? If so, then that lowers my estimated probability of disaster significantly. The problem is that I've switched my opinion back and forth already based on the evidence, and I have no way of knowing if this will continue.
Anna Salamon at UKH+: Survival in the Margins of the Singularity?
Anna Salamon is a Research Fellow at the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Her work centers on analytical modeling of artificial intelligence risks, probabilistic forecasting, and strategies for human survival. Previously, she conducted machine learning research at NASA Ames, and applied mathematics research at the Rohwer Phage Metagenomics lab.
This talk considers the following question. Suppose powerful artificial intelligences are at some point created. In such a world, would humanity be able to survive by accident, in margins the super-intelligences haven't bothered with, as rats and bacteria survive today?
Many have argued that we could, arguing variously that humans could survive as pets, in wilderness preserves or zoos, or as consequences of the super-intelligences' desire to preserve a legacy legal system. Even in scenarios in which humanity as such doesn't survive, Vernor Vinge, for example, suggests that human-like entities may serve as components within larger super-intelligences, and others suggest that some of the qualities we value, such as playfulness, empathy, or love, will automatically persist in whatever intelligences arise.
This talk will argue that all these scenarios are unlikely. Intelligence allows the re-engineering of increasing portions of the world, with increasing choice, persistence, and reliability. In a world in which super-intelligences are free to choose, historical legacies will only persist if the super-intelligences prefer those legacies to everything else they can imagine.
This lecture was recorded on 29th January 2011 at the UKH+ meeting. For information on further meetings please see:
http://extrobritannia.blogspot.com