The Singularity is the technological creation of transhuman intelligence. Singularity activists judge that transhuman intelligence will soon be technologically feasible, and that such a development would be highly desirable to humanity. Benevolent transhuman intelligence could assist humans in inventing social technologies (like democracy) that maximize choice and freedom for everyone, while avoiding unintended consequences. Transhuman intelligences, being smarter than human beings, could come up with smarter-than-human ideas to clean up the environment, stop war, handle the dangers of nanotech,cure poverty and aging, increase our self-determination and help us all create the futures we want. It will be able to quickly implement those ideas using smarter-than-human techniques and technologies unimaginable to us today. Alternatively, a poorly handled Singularity could result in the creation of smarter-than-human intelligences without empathy for human beings, resulting in our extinction or the permanent curtailment of our potential.

The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI) is currently the primary outlet for Singularitarian efforts. Since smarter intelligence seems likely to arrive in the form of Artificial Intelligence (AI) before it arrives in the form of enhanced humans, many Singularitarians focus on the technology of AI. If AI is indeed in the lead for smarter intelligence, that means that improving the integrity of AI means improving the integrity of the Singularity. SIAI is devoted to doing exactly that. Our initial strategy was outlined in the book-length Creating Friendly AI, the first serious attempt at turning the field of AI morality into a real discipline. The latest update to SIAI's theory of ensuring the integrity of the first transhuman AI is called Collective Volition (CV). SIAI's theory of general intelligence is called Deliberative General Intelligence (DGI). DGI will (hopefully) be used to build the AI, CV will be used to ensure that AI works with humanity, rather than against it.

SIAI is trying to build the first human-equivalent or human-surpassing AI, but of course our success cannot be guaranteed - this is a huge, difficult, long-term project. But someone's bound to do it eventually, and we want it to be us, or someone else who understands the complex field of AI integrity. Even if our chances of success turned out to be very low, we would still pursue the project. That's because we see the problem of AI integrity as difficult, and don't expect any random government organization or corporation to get it right by accident. Creating an AI that works with humanity rather than against is much harder than just creating a "generic AI" and just asking it to be a nice person; the task basically requires a Ph.D in a field that doesn't exist yet. Although it's obvious that not all Singularity enthusiasts will qualify as AI programmers, we can engage in a variety of productive roles related to supporting the programmers. These include becoming donors, publicists, arguers, speakers, writers, graphic artists, networkers, grant writers, columnists, and so on. Incidentally, the following suggestions could probably be applied to the promotion of any transhumanist idea, or even any idea in general, not just the Singularity.

1) Do the required reading. So you may have read a few pages, even a few hundred pages, on the Singularity and you think it's a wonderful idea. But wait. The Singularity is such a complicated idea, with so many varying interpretations, it is very unlikely that you have a well-balanced or even complete perspective on it yet. In order to ensure that your opinions and perspectives contribute to the Singularity movement rather than take away from it requires that you gain a sophisticated understanding of the relevant concepts. The only way I know of doing this is reading nearly every respectable paper on the Internet that focuses on the Singularity, along with assorted readings in cognitive science, transhumanism, and nanotechnology. Some of these papers should be read multiple times and understood very thoroughly.

Yes, I know that's a lot to ask. But before you can help the Singularity, you need to understand the relevant issues in some detail, and there are many. Otherwise your words, regardless of your innocence in speaking them, can do harm to the Singularity movement just as easily as they can do good. This point is critical. It can offend some people. But it must be respected for the Singularity movement to work. The "threshold of understanding" necessary for contributing usefully to Singularity dialogues is very high. There is a wide conception that any concept that can't be explained in 15 minutes is pragmatically useless, or that if someone can't explain a concept in 15 minutes, they don't actually understand it. These conceptions are very wrong. The reason why Singularity-oriented dialogues sound so far-out to everyday people is that a great deal of reading in the areas of science, philosophy, and technology is required to even set the foundation for discussion. You must do this reading, or you will be lost.

2) Create a personal website. Your website is your megaphone, your mouthpiece, your way of communicating with the "real world". Unless you are a high-profile academic, futurist, or businessperson, the relevance of your immediate world of physical encounters and daily trials is tiny in comparison to what can be accomplished by putting your ideas on the Internet. There is a tendency, even among technophiles, to view the Internet as a place that's "not really real", to overestimate the importance of a real-world conversation with a few people relative to discussions on mailing lists. A mailing list is not "just a mailing list", it's an ongoing virtual conference with dozens or hundreds of attendees. In a conventional conference, you can only communicate with a few people at once (unless you're a speaker), but on a mailing list, every list member will potentially read what you have to say.

Your website can speak to more people per unit time than you could ever manage alone. This point must be grasped viscerally, not vaguely acknowledged on some abstract level. It must be processed using the same part of your brain that urges you to speak up during an important class discussion or work meeting, not the part of your brain that passively watches TV or movies. The Internet is not a television show. You can reach out and interact with others, influence others, in important and lasting ways. If you are bummed that your real-life friends don't understand the basic concepts of nanotechnology, much less superintelligence, then you are wasting emotional energy on the wrong thing. Your real-life friends and associates only represent a tiny subset of the people you can potentially influence by exploiting the communicative power of the Internet. If you care about an idea but don't have a website that explains that idea in detail, it renders you pragmatically mute.

Even if you only explain what you have to say in a few sentences, that is better than nothing. It lets the relevant communities know that another person exists that holds these ideas, and that these ideas are steadily gaining support. Here is a Technological Singularity demo site I created in one minute. Would it be so hard for you to create such a website? Do you have one minute to spare, to display your support for the Singularity? Every individual matters, every individual shows that another unique thinker is concerned with the Singularity. Part of gaining credibility for any movement depends upon quantity of adherents rather than quality. No matter what the quality of the arguments, humans are social creatures, not rational ones, and will be more inclined to listen when they see that a great deal of thoughtful people are pioneering an unusual idea. Right now, Singularitarian views are unnecessarily marginalized because few Singularity enthusiasts take the time to put up simple web pages like that demo site. If you do create a site, feel free to encourage others to link it (very important) and be sure to submit it to the Open Directory Project's Singularity category.

3) Speak out for the Singularity on mailing lists. As mentioned above, mailing lists are virtual conferences with hundreds of attendees, not "just mailing lists". Posting on a mailing list could easily be a more effective use of your time, Singularity-wise, than what you would be doing otherwise. Pro-Singularity arguments are developed and solid, and if we have the appropriate background, we should not hesitate to share them. Unfortunately, it seems that many Singularity enthusiasts are either 1) shy, which actually fulfills the stereotype of Singularitarians as nerds, 2) lazy, i.e., harboring a severe lack of initiative, 3) nervous about their reputation if they spoke out, or 4) combinations of the three. Please don't be bashful, lazy, or nervous to speak out for your convictions. There are many fascinating discussions in store for you if you just get out on the lists and engage with people. Lists receptive to Singularity-oriented thinkers include WTA-talk, Extropy-chat, SL4. Each list has hundreds of subscribers, and high standards for posting is strongly encouraged.

4) Ask other Singularitarians what you can do, and keep asking until you get a useful answer. Feel free to put aside your pride, and ask more experienced Singularitarians what they think you can do to effectively help the Singularity. I'm not saying you should blindly obey other Singularitarians, but if your personal plan was to just sit around, asking someone for something specific to do is far better than doing nothing. Unfortunately for us, Singularitarians are just normal Homo sapienses, and will often require advice and encouragement before they start to accomplish anything significant. Also, circumstances within the Singularity movement and related currents of thought (such as transhumanism) are constantly changing, so asking for advice or feedback from those who keep a close watch on the issues is always advisable. The return on investment for various types of action is continuously fluctuating - some actions make a lot more sense than others. Close attention and careful planning with the cooperation of other advocates will be required to take full advantage of our available resources and knowledge.

5) Be an online social networking butterfly. Join Orkut, LinkedIn, and Tribe. Join groups, make postings, browse profiles, send messages to interesting people. It's fun and productive, and talking to other thinkers will ensure that your thinking and arguments stay fluid. If you're a shy person, you should make a serious effort to overcome your shyness. If you want to join these networks but discover that you're lazy, please try to overcome your lack of initative. The Singularity is an issue that could personally effect the lives of every human being on these networks, and they at least deserve a heads-up. If they are not convinced that the creation of transhuman intelligence is something worth paying attention to, then you can always move on to new people. Remember that human beings evolved in memetic environments where ideas are passed around within a 200 or so person tribe, so if your idea isn't accepted by a chunk of the tribe within a week or two, continued efforts to communicate it are probably politically unwise. But in today's world, there are thousands or millions of people willing to listen to your ideas, and even if you fail to convince 99.9% of listeners, some ideas are still worth making the effort to spread around.

6) Write articles, or learn how to write articles. Even if your article is only half a page, that's better than nothing. Write two or three articles, add a short bio, and you've got yourself a website on the Singularity! Seriously, I can't stress this enough. Most people capable of reading the necessary literature will also be able to write short articles on their thoughts. The factors holding back most Singularity activists from writing articles are very human - shyness, laziness, nervousness, lack of inspiration or motivation. If you're truly a poor writer, then you shouldn't waste your time on trying to write, but I would estimate that at least 80% of typical Singularity activists are fully capable of writing short articles. If you're part of that 80%, you should spend some time to write down your thoughts on Singularity-related issues - and there are many. Each article shows that another unique thinker is concerned with these topics. Even if the article is viewed by only a few dozen or hundred people per month, that is more people than you would be able to talk with directly, and that number is better than the alternative - no one.

A common objection to writing articles is "what can I say that hasn't already been said?" The answer: a lot. Everyone has their own unique way of introducing and explaining the Singularity and related ideas, and every new perspective has the potential to inspire and inform readers in new ways. Plus, most casual surfers aren't aware of all the Singularity-related literature that you are. Consider the number of people you might be able to introduce to these concepts who wouldn't have otherwise been introduced - this number could range anywhere from the dozens to the thousands, depending on how much exposure you are getting. Try explaining why you think the Singularity or Friendly AI is important, in your own words, and provide links to articles which examine the topics in more detail. Then upload the article to an available server or ask Accelerating Future for a chunk of server space. If you're a Singularity activist who is willing to donate surfer space to host Singularitarian articles, please let us know.

7) Study SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Search Engine Optimization is the study of writing informative web pages that hold high rankings in search engines such as Google. There are few skills more relevant to our Google-centric world of information. Knowledge and intelligence are usurping brute wealth as a primary indicator of power, just as wealth usurped physical force as a primary indicator of power thousands of years ago. To make ourselves prominent in an environment of descriminating (and powerful!) knowledge-seekers, we must ensure that the information we have to offer is 1) comprehensive, 2) accessible, 3) intelligent, and 4) SEO-savvy. The last variable can make the difference between pages viewed by mere hundreds of people or thousands/tens of thousands. Even without our oversight, the Singularity would eventually be a topic discussed by millions of people. We're just acting to accelerate the process, attempting to expose millions to the Singularity meme in this decade rather than the next. The Singularity is a concept ahead of its time, and we want to see it being discussed widely as early as possible. Pages such as Search Engine World are good introductions to SEO.

8) Become a regular donor. Consider donating to SIAI on a regular basis, even if it's only $10/month. Small donations matter. We need to gather the resources to implement Friendly Artificial Intelligence swiftly and safely. (Preferably before nanotechnology gets off the ground.) Why are the world's religions so darn powerful despite their archaic belief systems? Because many of their adherents contribute 10% of their salaries to support them. If working professionals in developing nations contributed to 10% of their salaries to the causes they valued, it would do a lot to helping get those causes off the ground. The more resources we have to implement Friendly AI, the easier it will be (up to a point). Every programmer or SIAI employee will require between 10 and 50 generous donors to work full time on these important issues, and a full-time team of dozens will likely be required to execute a Singularity successfully.

9) Join StumbleUpon.com. The Singularity Institute and other Singularity activism-oriented sites (such as this one) get a lot of traffic from this popular service called StumbleUpon. It's a free toolbar that allows surfers to rate sites, make comments, send messages to surfers with similar interests, etc. It has a "stumble" button that sends you to a random site based on your interests and the recommendations of surfers with similar interests. Downloading and installing it takes about 5 minutes. Download and install the software, upload a small avatar, specify your interests, cruise to your favorite sites, give them a positive rating, and leave an intelligent comment recommending the site. Make lots of friends with people who have to similar interests to yours. Use the toolbar a few times per day, and your "audience" will expand, meaning that your ratings have a higher influence on which sites people "stumble" upon. Well worth the time.

10) Work on a Wikipedia article. Wikipedia is a collaborative encyclopedia that anyone can contribute to. Because it's an encyclopedia, editors want well-written, authoritive articles on topics the mainstream considers relevant. Although most of the words in, say, the Accelerating Future lexicon are probably too esoteric to write Wikipedia articles for, there exist a variety of commonly acceptable, Singularity-related topics currently lacking corresponding articles. If you're a good writer who can handle formality, give it a try. Wikipedia entries already exist for Technological Singularity and Friendly artificial intelligence. Before submitting an article, it is suggested that you share it with other Singularity activists for review. Poorly written articles will reflect negatively on Singularity activists and the idea of a Technological Singularity, while well-written contributions can do a lot for increasing the credibility of the Singularity movement. Any given Wikipedia page will get hundreds or thousands of hits per month.

Needed pages include Hard Takeoff Singularity, recursive self-improvement, general intelligence, Artificial General Intelligence, seed AI, self-improving AI, weak self-improvement, strong self-improvement, smartness, accelerating change, human-equivalent AI, human-surpassing AI, AI ethics, superintelligence, AI Box Experiment, Nick Bostrom, Hans Moravec, Singularity forecasting, Brain-Computer Interfacing, intelligence enhancement, nanotechnology, dangers of, nanocomputing, Phoenix nanofactory, Merkle assembler, malevolent AI, computronium, Singularitarianism, Riemann Hypothesis Catastrophe, existential risk, smarter-than-human, kinder-than-human, and transhuman intelligence. I'm sure you can think of more.