Photo courtesy of Hugo de Garis
The first panel discussion of AGI-08 was on the subject of research methods for artificial general intelligence. Session chair Eric Baum started off by responding to presentations by panelists Jonathan Connell, Joscha Bach, Wlodzislaw Duch, and Pei Wang. Questions on the first of the conference’s presentations then were taken from the audience.
Stan Franklin and Pei Wang at AGI-08
Many problems in the field of artificial intelligence can be traced back to the confusion created by differing research goals. In his presentation at AGI-08, Pei Wang clarified and compared five typical ways to define AI. He argued that though they are all legitimate research goals, they lead the research to very different directions, and most of them have trouble giving AI a proper identity.
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Ben Goertzel, AGI-08 organizing committee member and CEO/CSO of Novamente LLC, presented “AI and AGI: Past, Present and Future” during the First Conference on Artificial General Intelligence March 1st, 2008 at the University of Memphis. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) research focuses on the original and ultimate goal of AI–to create intelligence as a whole, by exploring all available paths, including theoretical and experimental computer science, cognitive science, neuroscience, and innovative interdisciplinary methodologies.
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.
Ronald Bailey and Jerome C. Glenn at Transvision 2007
Jerome C. Glenn is the Director of The Millennium Project on global futures research of the World Federation of United Nations Associations and the Executive Director of the American Council for the United Nations University. He is the co-author with Ted Gordon of the annual State of the Future of the Millennium Project for the past ten years. His presentation at Transvision 2007 was entitled “Global Challenges in Transition to the Conscious-Technology Age.”
Aubrey de Grey is the editor-in-chief of Rejuvenation Research, a medical journal which publishes cutting-edge work on anti-aging therapies in the laboratory and clinic. At the “Securing the Longevity Dividend” event in Chicago organized by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, he argued the scientific feasibility of anti-aging therapies by exploring the concept of longevity escape velocity and sharing interim results from research funded by the Methuselah Foundation.
Professor of Epidemiology of the University of Chicago, Jay Olshansky helped to introduce the concept of the Longevity Dividend: pursuing the sum of health, social, and economic benefits attained from a seven year delay in aging. A leading proponent of research into increased human longevity, he gave a presentation at the “Securing the Longevity Dividend” event in Chicago organized by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. There he argued for the necessity of reducing health risks by slowing the biological process of aging.
George Dvorsky is the Deputy-Editor of Betterhumans, co-founder and president of the Toronto Transhumanist Association, and the producer of the award-winning Sentient Developments blog and podcast. He is the co-director of the Cyborg Buddha project, and the winner of three 2008 Blogisattva Awards. At the July 23, 2007 Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies conference called “Securing the Longevity Dividend,” he discussed various popular arguments for and against radical life extension.
Public critics of radical life extension have made such various claims as “There is no known social good coming from the conquest of death,” and “The finitude of human life is a blessing for every individual, whether he knows it or not.” Ronald Bailey, who servers as science correspondent for Reason Magazine, set out to refute these assumptions in his talk at the 2007 event held by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies entitled “Securing the Longevity Dividend” by noting the wealth of research suggesting that the trend toward increasing lifespan has resulted directly in greater overall wealth and social good.
Patrick Hopkins, Anders Sandberg, and Mark Walker at Transvision 2007
Anders Sandberg Ph.D. is a Swedish neuroscientist and futurist. He occupies the roles of James Martin research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, and research associate at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. In his talk at the July 23, 2007 Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies event entitled “Securing the Longevity Dividend,” Dr. Sandberg brought up four possible scenarios surrounding the public reaction to the emergence of radical life extension.
Ray Kurzweil has received the National Medal of Technology, was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and has been honored by three U.S. presidents. For the February 21 keynote presentation of the 2008 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, he gave a talk entitled “The Next 20 Years of Gaming” where he discussed the foreseeable ramifications of the accelerating price performance growth of information technologies such as those found in the videogame industry.
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