Future Current

To be practically useful, the measurement of aging rate (by monitoring the decline of a global index of functional capacity, expressed as a rate function) must be relatively easy and inexpensive. Measured aging rate should enable empirical testing of purported anti-aging interventions in relatively short-term human clinical trials. This is the primary objective of the Kronos Longitudinal Aging Study. Chris Heward, President of Kronos Science Laboratory, presented on strategies aimed at intervening in the aging process at the 2007 Foresight Vision Weekend, including a brief overview of the study and its intentions.

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The 2007 Foresight Vision Weekend offered fifteen intense hours of mind-blowing creativity.  From the biggest picture of tomorrow’s web, to the tiniest picture of nanotechnology, the emphasis was on how to steer rapid change for the benefit of civilization, instead of being run over by it. Brad Templeton introduced the second day of the unconference organized by the Foresight Nanotechnology Institute, touching on the tremendous opportunities attending living in the midst of a historical revolution in converging technologies.

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Brian Wang and Michael Anissimov at the 2007 Foresight Vision Weekend

Michael Anissimov co-founded the Immortality Institute in 2002, a life extension advocacy organization that today includes hundreds of members and an online community. In 2003, he founded the SF Bay Area Transhumanists. He has also written numerous articles for the Q&A site WiseGEEK, offering “clear answers for common questions” on technology. Michael is Fundraising Director, North America for the Lifeboat Foundation, and serves on the Global Task Force for the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology. At the 2007 Foresight Vision Weekend, he gave a presentation on the measures currently being taken by the Lifeboat Foundation to address existential risks, or possible human extinction event scenarios.

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In the not too distant future you may be able to buy an inexpensive video camera with the size and aerodynamic characteristics of a mosquito. Even earlier, we will see the proliferation of cameras on lamp posts designed to deter crime. Ultimately, this could lead to a society where nothing is private. At the 2007 Foresight Vision Weekend, Professor David D. Friedman gave an overview of three destabilizing technologies that could usher in a world of ubiquitous surveillance in a preview of his upcoming book Future Imperfect.

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At the 2007 Foresight Vision Weekend, Ralph Merkle and Robert Freitas in a joint session discussed research toward diamond mechanosynthesis. The two co-founders of the Nanofactory Collaboration offered a preview their recently accepted paper “A minimal toolset for diamond mechanosynthesis” to be published in JCTN (Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience). The talk included a description of nine molecular tools and all reaction pathways involved in their synthesis from raw materials. This took the co-authors three years to finish, and they view it as the critical next step in developing molecular nanotechnology for atomically-precise manufacturing.

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Intuition is a vital component of intelligence; few of our daily activities actually require logic and we solve most of our daily problems using intuition-based methods. This includes body movement, understanding and using language, and learning new skills. Artificial Intuition may well be a stepping stone to full-blown AI, should be much easier to implement, and has many economically important applications. At the 2007 Foresight Vision Weekend, AI researcher Monica Anderson provided an analysis of the problem domains of Artificial Intelligence, and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of intuition based approaches.

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On November 4, 2007 at the Vision Weekend Unconference held by the Forsight Nanotech Institute, Ben Goertzel spoke on the subject of creating artificial general intelligence in virtual worlds. His company Novamente has partnered with the Electric Sheep Company to roll out virtual animals such as dogs and parrots in Second Life. He believes that gradually climbing the scale of behavioral and cognitive complexity, eventually it will be possible to create human-level virtual agents in online virtual worlds.

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At the 2007 Foresight Vision Weekend, Self-Aware Systems founder Stephen Omohundro led a discussion in which participants were asked to design the year 2030, assuming the existence of both self-improving artificial intelligence and productive nanotechnology. The speaker illustrated some of the likely characteristics of systems based on these technologies, including drives toward efficiency, self-preservation, resource acquisition, and creativity. The following group discussion focused on identifying rights and obligations that would provide potential societal benefits while preventing the inherent dangers of such advanced technologies.

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Brian Wang is a member of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology’s Global Implications and Policy Task Force and a scientific advisory board member of the Lifeboat Foundation. At the 2007 Foresight Vision Weekend Unconference, he gave a presentation called “Converging Technology.” The talk presented proposals for using previously unrelated technologies together for mining the ocean’s $720 trillion in uranium, while further examples of converging technology proposed for revolutionizing space capabilities at lower cost while reducing risk.

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Virtual worlds can be described as open-ended video game or 3D chat room environments connected over the Internet where participants may have the freedom to build the world, their avatars and structure all activities and interactions. Second Life is the largest virtual world to date with over 10 million registered users and a concurrency of 30,000 - 40,000 (the number of people in-world simultaneously at any time). The economy is routinely over $1 million U.S. dollars per day.

As with any new medium, digital world participants have at first attempted to replicate physical world activities such as building houses, offices, stores and other familiar landscapes, introducing social interaction mechanisms and constructing commercial marketplaces for products and services. A new phase then occurs with a fuller exploration of the medium and a creation of concepts unique to digital environments. Featured innovations include simultaneous worldwide interaction with automatic translation, multi-threaded communication and novel collaboration in group settings, and the ability to filter and structure personal views.

In her presentation at the Foresight Vision Weekend Unconference, Melanie Swan shared an interactive overview of the current status and use of virtual worlds, including a recent standards announcement, and a review of the Metaverse Roadmap released in September 2007.
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